13/12/18 We went back to the same restaurant for dinner and took a taxi to the bus terminal.
Our night bus to Arequipa was 1h late but it was the same luxurious bus as the one we took earlier. After 10 hours of driving through the desert we arrived at the guide’s hometown. The hotel was keen to still serve us breakkie while we arrived a bit later than expected.
Paul took us on a walking tour and about half way through Sasha didn’t feel too well, probably due to the altitude (Arequipa is at 2300m) so she stopped on the main plaza and we finished the tour with Paul before we all met for lunch at Mamut, Paul’s favourite sandwich place. Sasha went back to the hotel to rest and Lori and I visited the cathedral first, from where we have a nice view on the rooftop. They also have a collection of crowns and clothes worn by priests and popes. We then entered Santa Catalina convent. We stopped by a few local shops to buy some souvenirs and back to the hotel to change before going out for dinner at Zig Zag, recommended by the guide.
15/12/18 Our bus could not drive in the backstreet of the hotel because a car parked in the narrow part. The owner was not nearby and there was no alarm on. The guides with some locals decided to push the car a bit further on the street so our bus could just pass through.
We drove about 1.5h and stopped to watch vicuñas on the way (lamas like), then drove through the Andes. We could see some volcanoes on the way and had a break at a local cafe in the middle of nowhere where we had some coca leaves tea to help with the altitude. Sasha stayed in the restrooms during the entire time feeling really sick, but we all seemed ok. I could feel myself breathing more and with a little headache but I didn’t feel any other effect.
After a few more hours of driving, we peaked at 4900m then kept driving down back to about 3500m pretty quickly.
We passed by Chivay and arrived at Coporaque where our hotel, Mama Yacchi was located. A domesticated lama was eating the garden flowers. We had lunch there and met the German couple travelling with us. Lori was not hungry which was quite unusual and her headache was getting worse. By the time we went to the room she threw up as well, no wonder she was not hungry after all.
The guide suggested a walk that I am keen to do but I am worried my turn might be next…
The walk was fine, I didn’t feel any altitude effect. I sat at the swimming pool while the German couple enjoyed the hot water then the mini bus took us back to the hotel. I checked on Lori who was still in bed and after a little rest we all met at the shared table for dinner. The food was delicious (pumpkin soup, chicken with cheese and tomato sauce with rice and a house made still warm cake).
16/12/18 The breakfast buffet was made of a big variety of seeds, cereals and powders to be mixed with milk or yoghurt and honey, as the locals eat it. I only recognised a few like quinoa and wheat. The view from the hotel on the Colca valley was really nice and we could see the snow on the volcano far away. The area is really peaceful, you only hear the birds.
The bus drove us through the Colca valley with its typical terracing landscape and we saw some of the 54 storage warehouses used by the locals to store grains and vegetables along the river.
Among the 20000 terracings built over the centuries, only 17000 are still used to grow corn, quinoa, potato, etc.
We stopped by the Condor viewpoint and saw a few birds coming close to the visitors before stopping by the lagoon where we spotted flamingos.
Back to Chivay where we had to transfer buses, we stopped by a café for a hot chocolate while we wait for the bus away from the rain.
Our bus drive was a 6h journey to Puno, but as there was a terrible accident a few vehicles in front of us we only reached the city after 8h of driving. A van tried to overtake in a turn where there is no visibility and crashed into a truck coming the other way. Many tourist vans take that road but also many convoys that drive slowly on the steep and corny road so you need sometimes a lot of patience before you can actually overtake safely. Our guide told us that his wife had a car accident on that road too.
We met Megan and Anthony, an American couple from Colorado who will join us for a few days.
