So on Friday, March 3rd, the Giardino van picked us up for the interpreted journey to Chivay and beyond to Coporaque and then, next day, the Colca Canyon. The journey was marred by the guide, a Peruvian supremacist who claimed to be a university professor--a part-time adjunct, I suspect, at a regional campus--and a Swiss woman who was unhappy about the service and argued interminably about what she had paid and what she was owed. Also about whatever wild claims the guide was making. Our policy has always been to go on guided group tours, however small, only as a last resort, only if there is no other way to see the site. That was the case here, and it confirmed the policy.
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| Early morning, I finally got to see Misti, alarmingly close to the city; and active |
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Arequipa swore off human vs bull fighting years ago (who likes the lop-sided
scores?), and is into bull vs bull fighting; thus the city emblem |
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| Way out in the burbs, Jurassic Park |
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| Up into the mountains; lots of people have died on this curve |
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| Big cement plant; minerals are Peru's biggest industry |
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| Backside of Pichu Pichu |
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Indeed; camelids, like guanacos, llamas, and alpacas; the vicunas
are wild, protected, on a national park preserve here |
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| Other side of Misti |
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| Alpaca country too |
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Alpaca drama along this Roman road; the newborn won't cross (our driver has
stopped and is waiting on the mom); really is a newborn--the placenta is still
not fully discharged from the mom; after a few minutes, the mom crosses and
retrieves the baby; all is well; we drive on |
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| At the pass; I recalibrated my altimeter before we left Arequipa |
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| All the peaks, volcanoes on the horizon thus identified |
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| Cairn city; only the Norwegians are this cairn-happy |
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| More alpacas, vicunas |
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| Descending, below, the town of Chivay |
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| Us, gasping |
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