Today I woke at 530 and noticed the music from the discoteque next door was still going. Peruvians know how to party! I grabbed a quick bite for breakfast and was picked up at 610. We set off out of the city in the 15 passenger van, while I tried to nap best I could. As we drove up and up into the highlands, the scenery once more got desolate with scrubland and imposing looking mountains as far as they eye can see. We stopped for banos and I got to pet a 2 day old alpaca! More desolation, higher altitude and a bit of conversation with Aimee, an American girl from New York. We passed by the Forest of Stone, a natural formation of freestanding rock that was quite beatufiul. We stopped at a small restaurant/store/sheep farm in what felt like the top of the world and had egg sandwiches of all things. For some reason, the tourism agency chose this spot to hand me off to a different van, so I joined a group of mostly Americans and a couple Germans with Jesus the tour guide. We proceeded on to a view point a bit above 16k feet where we could see 5 active volcanos in the distance. The mostly older group were all wheezing and having a poor time of it. One lady fainted in the bus and had to be revived. I guess I was fairly acclaimated by then, but I still took it easy to avoid sickness. We began the decent to Colca Canyon, admiring the many alpacas, llamas and vicunas (a smaller relative) grazing in the mountains. We arrived in the small town of Chivay and spent some time walking around the market area, snacking and admiring the town. They had a series of creepy statues along the main walkway that were modern takes on classic Peruvian folk tales, including a guy in military dress, holding a snake and wearing a devil mask. I am confused.... We then drove down a mostly paved road to get to the very small pueblo of Coporaque and checked in at the fairly nice hotel. No wifi, the horror! A buffet lunch was served with grilled alpaca steaks and Cuscueno beers. After lunch, we set off back through Chivay to the hot mineral baths. These are 80C hot spring fed baths that were swimming pool sized and hotter than most hot tubs I've been in. We sat and sweated and talked for a couple hours until it started to rain and then hail! We ducked under the water, but the hail pellets hurt my poor, sunburnt head. They lasted surprisingly long in the hot water! We sheltered until the hail passed and then got right back in despite the rain. Here I had an odd experience where the little girl selling drinks told me 5 Sols for the gatorade I wanted, but then said she didn't have change for the 20 Sol bill I gave her. I gauruntee she had the change, but wouldn't make it and seemed a bit insulted that I would pay for something so small with such a large bill. I was very confused by this. Maybe I'm a rich American who should know better than to throw around large bills? I'm still scratching my head. Finally, the swimming had to end and we went back to the hotel. Mirjam, a nice German girl, and I went to the local shops to try to find some chocolate. The first shop had nobody tending it, until a 3 year old girl finally came out clutching a puppy. They were both impossibly cute. We did finally acquire some candy bars at the next shop (how many can a town of 1k people support?) and sat by the fire at the hotel, chatting until dinner was served. This accidently being my 4th meal of the day, I wasn't that hungry, but made a game effort of eating the chicken dish set before me. More beers were had and everyone retired early, tired after the swimming.