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Oh bloody hell that was a good night sleep! I slept solid until the alarm woke me up, it wasn't very pleasant getting out of bed though and not having any heating on, Scott quickly jumped out of his bed and put the heater on and then I ran into the shower. Where the hot tap apparently doesn't mean very much here, holy crap it was cold! I put one limb under at a time and waged my hair upside down with just my head under the water. Fresh. My luck then continued with the hairdryer continuing to cut out by over heating on the lowest power. This resulted in me sitting on the floor with my back against the heater lying my hair on top of it. It worked and I was warmer..
Bread for breakfast - what a surprise! Don't want to see another piece of bread for a while!m after this trip!
I think it may be partially right what they say with it not mattering how fit you are when your at high altitude, Nicola was tired brushing her teeth last night. And I can't seem to walk up three flights of stairs with out feeling dizzy and out of breath!
We left the hotel at 6.30am, it was sunny but very chilly! Very nice really. We drove for around 45 minutes before we stopped accidentally due to me and Scott wanting to take a photo of the scenery, it was a good spot because got to have a photo with an alpaca and it's owner. They are so cute!
Scott is definitely in the full swing of animal mind now, it hasn't taken long! Every single dog or cat or donkey or any sort of animal we see he points at and says 'aww' as if he feels sorry for them when really they most likely have a home it may be that thy haven't had a hair cut in a while or a wash. I was getting excited when he would point out the window of the bus because I thought he had something interesting to see, but now I just ignore haha!
I notice when we pass a young child on the street or an elderly person he doesn't go all 'cooey' and mushy!
We got further into the canyon, I couldn't believe how high the terraces were up the mountain. This was because hundreds of years ago they were used for crops because the population was so big but not they aren't used because of the small population. When the Spanish came to invade people escaped and retreated further up the mountains, living at at least 5000 metres above sea level, there are still people living as high as 4500 metres today. It's crazy!
We got off the bus further into the canyon again and walked along the edge of the canyon in hope of spotting the heaviest and biggest wing span bird in the world. They weigh 12-15 kilos and don't have a laracs (apparently) so it means they don't have a mating call? This i need to google!
They eat any animal, mainly their insides and the fattiest part of the body. Wow! Was hoping we could dangle a French man over for them to smell and come out from their cave nests, no such luck though!
We sat there for almost two hours, no luck! They are definitely in that area of the canyon because the wind whirls around there so it helps them glide because it takes too much energy to flap their heavy wings to fly.
Around 10am we were heading back down the mountain with a few stops along the way in a few little villages, and of course there was prime opportunities to make friends with alpacas. I should tell you though... their breath is not so good! My new friend Alfred the Alpaca wanted a peck but not until he invested in some toothpaste!
We were on our way after a little cheeky souvenir shopping and a passion fruit lollipop that I could not resist!
Chivay sang long away, perhaps and hour and half and with the English tunes playing we were good to go, love a little bit of Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi and spice girls to mix the journey up a little!
Chivay still had festivities going on and marching bands all around the square, it was really nice to see but my god they must be tired! They must be having the good cocoa leaves (if you know what I'm saying) they've been going since 10pm last night!
We went to the same restaurant for lunch, a few went else where around the square and we all met back in at the bus for 1pm ready to hit the road back to Arequipa for our overnight bus to Cusco tonight!
Everyone fell asleep now the bus in a food coma and lack of sleep from last night because apparently I'm the only one that slept right the way through the night. Renzo said that at high altitude we are expected to be
constantly bloated - awesome one for me at the best of times...
Waking up lots of times throughout the night - clearly not a problem for me
Head ache and nose bleeds
...interesting!
The bus journey took around 3 and half hours, we stopped for a much needed toilet break half way. We got back to the hotel Arequipa Inn where we left our bad yesterday and all re packed our things in to the big rucksacks.
Everyone was pretty damn tired now and ready to get on the bus at 8pm and completely crash until 6am tomorrow when we arrive in Cusco. Apparently we won't find Cusco altitude too bad because it's lower than where we have been anyways. I still think the trek will be difficult at times because, well we are hiking at high altitude!
We got back to the hostel and dumped all of our stuff in the rucksacks it was way warmer down here Han up in the mountains! Me and Scott went and got a cheeky mcflurry and strawberry sundae from the rare McDonald's in Peru. We strolled back and got some water, had a freshen up with my face wipes as we aren't actually going to be able to shower till at least 11am tomorrow!
We got warned by another traveller from another G adventure tour at the hostel to not take our eyes off our stuff when we get to Manchu pitchy because she had everything stolen - s***!! I will not be letting my bag out of my sight at all!
Looking forward to the 10 hour bumpy ride to Cusco!
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