Monday 14th April
This morning we were up at 0630 to catch the 0730 bus to Cruz del Condor - the Condor viewing point. We got there about 0815, and within the first 5 minutes we started seeing Condors. There were lots of people there already, but the Condors didn't seem to be upset by our presence.
As you can see from the photos above, Andrew got some stunning photos (about 120 all together I think)! They are so graceful and beautiful, but boy are their faces UGLY close-up. They came very close to us a couple of times and were swooping right over top of us - very cool.
At 0900 we jumped on another bus to continue to Chivay. Once in Chivay we headed straight for the hot pools outside of the town and had a good soak there for a couple of hours (in a very picturesque setting, with steep mountains all around). Then we travelled back into town to a buffet restaurant for lunch - all you can eat of really yummy food - needless to say I nearly rolled out the door.
We caught the 1430 bus back to Arequipa, which actually arrived 5 minutes before scheduled at 1755 (that is practically unheard of in South America, where you add at least 1 hour to all scheduled times). After getting back to Casa de Avila and dropping off all our stuff, we headed out to the Plaza de Armas to see if we could satisfy Andrew's craving for pizza. We looked all around the square, and were disparing of finding any pizza's with more than two toppings when we decided to walk up Calle San Francisco and came across a Pizzeria called Brunno's, where we had a great Meat Lovers pizza and Sangria for S/38 (less than NZ$15). And of course being our last night in Arequipa we had to stop for cake on the way home - I had some really yummy choc mud cake!
Overall, I loved our trip to the Colca Canyon. The scenery was stunning and very dramatic (especially the rock formations), and it was very interesting learning about local village life along with way and interacting with the locals. And of course, the condors were a highlight at well. We've had so many fabulous experiences on this trip already and we can't wait for more!
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