From the end of the world to the top of the world

We left yesterday morning for a 2 day trip to the Colca Canyon and Cruz del Condor! A 4 hour bus journey took us through a windy road out of Arequipa to an alti plano where we saw alpacas and lama and reached a massive height of 4,800 metres. The air really was hard to breath up there with Cate feeling small effects of the altitude sickness (a bit dizzy, pale and nausea - good practise for Machu Pichu in a few days). A few cups of coca leaf tea was recommended and did help!!!

We arrived in a small traditional village, Chivay for lunch and a chance to meet some locals and have a look around. As you can see from the photos they are interesting characters, and boy, what a life they lead. Not much else to do but agriculture, farming and knitting baby alpaca wool! We were lucky enough to arrive on the first day of their 3 day nativity festival, a great combination of their traditional culture (Inca) and Catholic religion. The different families in the community created their own nativity of silverware and childrens dolls as an offer to the festival which will be burned and danced on at the end of the festival. The dance symbolizes both war and love and has a lot of meaning for them.

We also watched a band perform in Chivay of which will be the first of many panpipes we will hear over the next few weeks.