Chivay, Peru 🇵🇪

Woke up after a surprisingly warm and cosy nights sleep.  We packed our stuff and walked to the pub for breakfast.  I was surprised to see it ready, not surprised to see the owner still hadn’t cleaned.  Our breakfast was perhaps the strangest so far, a peeled and textured banana with two chocolate cookies and a flourish of chocolate sauce made a smiley face on the plate.  Yogurt in a wine glass, bread and jam along with a boiled egg.  The coffee was good and I happily wolfed it down before our short stroll to the plaza to meet the return bus.

As we waited I admired the traditional skirts and hats the woman of the area wear.  They are very colourful and the hat looks great for sun protection.  The group that hiked out of the canyon this morning looked tired and were quiet as the bus sped out of Cabanaconde.  We passed the condor viewpoint to see lots of birds flying around today, guess yesterday just wasn’t a good day for them.  Our first stop is a mirador that shows panoramic views of the inca terraces, laid out similar to rice fields in Asia.  We stopped in traffic and spotted an ash cloud being thrown out of Sabancaya volcano.

We stopped at thermal baths outside Chivay which the hikers loved, but I obstained as my ankle is still swollen.  A tasty buffet lunch followed and then two brief stops, one to see the alpacas in the reserve and the other at the highest point (4190m) to see the volcano range which includes Ampato, where Juanita was found.

We arrive back in Arequipa and Ali had messaged us that she had arrived in the city this evening.  With Nicole getting on a bus this evening it was a quick dinner but a great catch up and sizzling steak selection at Zigzag.