Hi all,

Been a bit behind on the old posts as haven't had access to t'internet. Lots of blogs therefore being posted but you've only been notified about this one. Just arrived in Lima and it's 13th May. Anyway, back to 7th.......

On Thursday we had an early start after saying goodbye to our new parents and then a long drive to Chivay where we went to the local hot springs (the town is surrounded by volcanoes). They were pretty nice and it was great to immerse ourselves in them when it was so cold outside. Unlike any other hot springs I've ever been to, they served alcohol here so we bobbed around drinking pina coladas. Dinner was a frustrating affair as it took about 10 reminders to the useless waitress to bring our wine and when it came it was disgusting (there was a bottle of Black Tower on the bar which should have been the warning signal!).

Another early start on Friday as we headed to Colca Canyon. Now, here's a weird and interesting fact. This canyon is twice the depth of the Grand Canyon at 3,191m and it's the 2nd deepest canyon in the world (the deepest being the neighbouring Canon del Cotahuasi which is 163m deeper) YET nobody (well nobody in our group) has heard of either of them. Anyway, our main reason for coming here was to see the condors that nest in the area and come out like clockwork early in the mornings and late afternoons. These are apparently one of the largest birds with wingspans of up to 3m and bodies of up to 1.2m. I don't know if it was just the perspective of the canyon and I couldn't really gauge the size but I wasn't overly impressed (even though the crowds were oohing and ahing like a bunch of idiots!). I'm just clearly a hard woman to impress! Anyway, there are about a million photos of the beasts on picasa so make your own mind up. Oh, and if you scroll down through the millions of shots, there are some others of flora and fauna and a nearby town we stopped at.