Ginny and Duncans Big Adventure

I barely slept.  Both the altitude and my cough kept me awake (and Dee too - sorry Dee!) last night.  I felt horrible... this cold has really got hold of me.. Kristen, however was worse.  Her stomach has been bad all trip and she needed to see a doctor as it was not improving.  So Dennis told us he would stay with her, while we all headed off for the day, and they would catch up with us later.  But first he and I went out to buy some cough medicine.  I need help and hopefully this will clear it up before we start the Inca Trail tomorrow. The weather was rainy and our day's guide, Joel, bundled us into a minivan. We had a day planned in The Sacred Valley the Sacred Valley comprising visits to various local community projects which G Adventure supports.  The valley itself is a stunning fertile plain surrounded by steep mountains.  The Incas built many terraces here, bringing the rich soil up the mountain to grow potatoes, corn and quinoa....

We woke a couple of hours after our earthquake excitement for our early flight to Cuzco. Everyone swapped earthquake experiences (some actually slept through it, although goodness knows how!) and we learned that it had caused a lot of damage near the coast. Despite Dennis' foreboding of frequent delays or bad weather in Cusco making landing difficult, we had an easy, and on-time, flight, putting us in our hotel by 10am.  We immediately went out for a walk around the centre - Dennis taking us to the gorgeous main square surrounded by colonial buildings and cathedral, plus no less than 10 churches.  Beyond we were surrounded by green mountains.  Cusco has a population of 1 million, making it the the fastest growing city in Peru.  And you can quickly understand why. It has lots of coffee shops, restaurants, massage places, good shopping - everything from expensive alpaca and vicuna wool products to hiking kit (both branded stores and good quality knock-offs)....

Colca Canyon I woke up feeling considerably better although still with a slight headache and bunged up. It's impossible to tell whether the headache is from my cold, or due to not having acclimatised to the altitude yet.  I managed breakfast and we all piled back into the van to drive to the Colca Canyon and Condor Cross.  As we rose out of Chivay, the valley narrowed and steepened. It also became more green and lush.  The volcanic soil here is naturally very fertile, so they grow all sorts of crops; potato, quinoa, avocado, corn and more.  Plus grazing pastures for cows, llama and sheep.  The earth's bounty.  The road was surprisingly good, although we could see the remains of one on the opposite valley wall which was destroyed in part with rock slides during the last big earthquake.  It's impassable now. Condor Cross Local traditional dress We stopped an hour later at the Condor Cross - a rocky outcrop with locals wearing colourful tr...

Cocoa leaves and stone We set off early on our 4 hour minibus ride to Chivay, which lies in the Colca Valley at 3600m.  To get there we traveled through high plains, quickly rising to 4000m.  We'd stopped early on to buy cocoa leaves, at our local guide's recommendation.  In the van, she showed us how to roll 6 to 8 leaves with a tiny piece of soft stone and then chew slowly on one side of the mouth to release the juices.  The stone provided some sweetness to the slightly earthy taste of the cocoa.  It wasn't exactly unpleasant, but after just a couple of 'chew bundles' none of us felt we'd manage to consume our entire bags - which is what the guide was recommending - before we reached the pass at 4910m. In fact the most anyone managed was 3 - we all decided we'd rather rely on drugs if we need to! As we drove through the rocky landscape, slowly rising, we started to see our first wild llamas, alpacas and vicuna - the softest of all.  Valued so hig...

The overnight bus drive took us from 1300m to 2400m.  So while we had reclining seats and leg rests, the twisty turns and gravel roads made for a pretty patchy night's sleep. We 'landed' at 8am, blear-eyed and feeling the altitude, we gathered our bags and drove to the hotel.  Sunny but cooler than Nazca, Arequipa is surrounded by volcanoes, El Misti being the most obvious.  We had good views, other than the very top of it being obscured by cloud, and I loved the very Spanish feel to the city as we drove into town.  Our hotel was in an old colonial building - big wooden doors and an indoor courtyard, all painted in white.  Arequipa is known as 'the white city', not because it's painted white, but due to the fact that all the original buildings were built in sillar, a type of locally sourced white volcanic rock. Inglesia de las Compania It was too early to check into our rooms, so Dennis took us out on a walking tour, initially to find a well known pancake ...