On the second day in Arequipa we were picked up at our hotel for the Colca Canyon and Cruz del Condor tour. Because everything was arranged by the Casa de Avila, we didn’t really know what to expect. Our guide David (Dabeed) spoke both Spanish and English which was handy because we had about half and half for the people on the tour. There were people from Chile, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, USA, and us from Canada. We met a super nice couple from St. Louis – Jill and Jason. David was actually pretty awesome. He knew a lot of information about the people, culture and areas we drove through. I learned more than I expected.

For the first day of the tour we drove from Arequipa to Chivay. We stopped several times at handy craft sites set up at strategic points along the route. (Pretty much every where you go there is someone trying to sell something.) We drove through the Salinas y Aguada Blancas National Reserve.

The reserve is home to thousands of Llamas, Alpacas and Vicuñas. Seeing the little camelids in fields on the side of the highway was sweet. I did feel like a total tourist taking photos of them–kind of like people taking photos of Big Horn Sheep on the highway in Banff or Jasper.   FYI:  The novelty wears off if you frequently see the animals on the morning commute.  In total tourist style, I took the photos!

The highest point along the route was Patapampa Pass at 4910m above sea level. (That’s over 16,000ft above sea level for you non-metrics.) We stopped for Coca tea and candies pre-trip. Neither of us had the tea, but both of us ate the candies. I don’t really know how they work, but they help with the altitude. The most we felt was a little short of breath and tight chests. I’m sure the Diamox helped negate any other symptoms we might have had. One poor lady on the tour was barfing from the altitude.  She was not doing well.

It was pretty amazing to see all sorts of stone piles, similar to Inukshuk, all along the road. I asked David  for an explanation.  He explained that the  Apachetas are built as an offering to Gods. The people believe that high points are sacred, and try to emulate that with the stones. First they dig a little hole and bury something of importance, maybe their own hair, and then they build the Apacheta on top of the offering. There were literally thousands of Apachetas along the way.

Our stop over for the night was in Chivay, which is this dusty little dust bowl of a town. The Colca Inn was amazingly cute accommodation, especially since we didn’t even select it ourselves. We went out for dinner as a group with everyone from the tour. There was traditional music and dancing. It was all fun and games until we had to participate in the dancing. One dance around the restaurant and I felt as though I’d run a marathon. Score one for altitude that night.