We travelled to Chivay in our own little coach,the driver was Huber a very nice man and our guide was Jesus,pronounced Hesus,he was a very interesting young man who was passionate about his people and his country.It took five hours to get there from Arequipa but we stopped on several occasions to eat,to drink coca tea as we were climbing higher and higher.We had lunch in Chivay then travelled a few miles further to our hotel,wow it was beautiful,it was built into the landscape with a thatched roof and everything,all the people in the valley wear traditional clothes,they are mainly farmers.We shared the road with cows,donkeys,bulls!!,Llamas,they were all very nosey and liked to look at you up close. We were now at a height of 3,800m our highest point on the journey was 4,900m.

After we got settled and had another cuppa coca we went on a hike,this was our first test to see if we were fit for the Inca Trail.I was feeling the high altitude in that I wasn´t breathing deeply enough but the old legs were fit for anything.The hike was absolutely wonderful,Hesus took us right back to the Inca times and through the Spanish invasion,what an arrogant bunch of individuals we Europeans are,we couldn´t just come and visit people,we had to kill them off with our bugs and impose our ways on them,however their history survived and it is absolutely fascinating,especially when you have a good guide.

That night we went back to Chivay to the hot springs,it was busy but Alison and I found a little one that was partly enclosed and we had it more or less to ourselves.It was as warm as a bath but the smell was a bit pongy!!

We were up with larks next morning,in fact we were up before any creature as we were heading off to the Colca Canyon to catch the first sight of the Condor rising.The drive was unbelievable,when we left what they called the main road we were on original Inca path for hours.We headed up to the viewing point,climbing again!! there were a lot of people there but I was able to shut them out and concentrate on the wonderful scenery.The couple standing next to me were from the Lake District,they got great photos of the Condors only because Alison saw them soaring up first so they were quick in snapping them,they have taken my e mail address and are going to send me some copies.what beautiful birds they are,they glide up and down without any effort,I used the binnoculars well that day.

We were at the view point for about one and a half hours,then we went on a hike around the area of the Canyon we were in.

The Colca Canyon is the second deepest in the world at 3191m,it´s neighbour is deeper by 150m,both are twice as deep as the Grand canyon.The whole Canyon is 160k long.We saw some amazing flowering cacti and villages inside the Canyon that are only accessable by foot.

We then made our way back to Arequipa,it took about three hours but our guide Hesus kept us well informed of what we were seeing along the way.

Next day we were up early for a short flight to Cusco.