Our gateway to Colca Canyon was via Chivay, which was only 3 hours from Arequipa but 300m closer to the gods (at an altitude of 3635m). The scenery on the way was quite spectacular, which is through a national park and includes views of ice-capped mountains, intensive ancient terracing and we also stopped off regularly to photograph llamas, alpacas and vicuña (the wild version of llamas said to have the softest wool).

On arriving in Chivay we were subjected to an expensive (for Peru anyway) buffet lunch (25 sols - £6.25). Not content with this, Sara, Katie and I gave a proverbial 'V' to it and disappeared to find our own munch. The women settled on a small sandwich shop but given my stomach of steel I was more adventurous and found a local street stall selling alpaca meat, potato and salad all for 2 sols! Definitely more value for money and I can only describe alpaca meat as tasting similar to something like kidney or liver.

We have been at altitude for some time now, nonetheless Fredy and our local guide Umberto thought it would be a good idea to take us on a bit of a hike (to acclimatise us further in preparation for the Inca trail). It was a bit of a shock to the system and didn't help Sara's concerns about not being able to do the Inca trail. Climbing steeper inclines you would lose your breath quicker than normal, but as long as you took your time to recover your breath it wasn't a problem. So much so that after the trek most of us guys played football against the locals - it was hard work but always good fun. We also witnessed an annual traditional celebaration in a local residents courtyard before getting a deserved early night. I must note that it was refreshing that even though tourists come here, it just felt like a normal local village where the people were very welcoming and friendly with big rosy cheeks from the cold which looks very cute on the kids.

The next day was the reason why we came to Chivay, to go into Colca Canyon, and more specifically to visit Mirador Cruz del Condor (up to altitudes of 4800m). Here are where the mammouth condors nest and we watched them circle up from the depths of the canyon hitching a free ride on the heat plumes. Once they had disappeared we were left to admire the breathtaking scenery, and then you guessed it, go on another hike...this time in the blistering sun. Gladly this was not so steep but at least it gave us a taste of the sweltering heat that we are likely to experience on our Inca trek. However, Sara had finally been struck down by the stomach bug and struggled a lot with the walk. Of course I was the only one of the group not to have got it.

On our return to Chivay the group split between more trekking, going to hot springs and sleeping. No prizes for guessing Sara went to sleep (to be fair she was ill) but I opted for the chilling in the warm baths. This put me in good stead for the evening ahead. Firstly we went to a place where typical music from the region was played for us. This then swiftly incorporated traditional dancing where when accosted you had no choice but to partake! Beginning to become well lubricated we moved on to a more lively scene where our guides keenly paired us up with some locals to dance salsa. It was a great way to make a fool of ourselves apart from Kasper who appeared dab hand, probably from his years of practising his technique of 'putting an egg in each basket' to maximise his chances!

Anyway the antics of the day had exhausted most, so that only left 5 of us and the best part of 4 bottles of rum...lets just say we had a good night but the same could not be said for the bus journey the next morning!

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