Arequipa - The Colca Canyon - El condoro passo

Why are all trips at stupid´o´clock in the norning? We get picked up hours before we should get up and meet our bus partners looking equally as sleepy and horrified by the hour! We set off along the Cusco road for our destination in Colca Canyon to the north. We pass through the Barrios of Arequipa which are common to all South American towns. These are unique in the fact that they are in the desert that flanks Areqipa which appears completely uninhabitable...this is no deterrent and large provinces are springing up living mainly it seems on repairing punctures for all the lorries that pass this way between Arequipa and Puno/Cusco....´The Vulcan Valley´.
We reach the Altiplano and there are large amounts of Vicuna, Alpaca and Llama families roaming around the grassy flatland. Baby Vicuna demands about US$120 a kilo whilst Alpaca about 20 sols a Kilo (US$6). In addition you only shear a Vicuna once every two years, Llamas and alpacas every year. Unfortunately walking around Arequipa the variety in price is evident...Alpaca sweaters being about a tenth that of the baby Vicuna....also all the designs seem to have been stolen from ´Frumpy Jumper´ or the ´leaping reindeer foundation´
We arrive in Chivay check into the hostal and then set out to see the Colca Valley from higher up in the hills where there are pre-columbiano tombs. All the South Americans bound up the hill like Alpaca, the europeans (thats us) and pacific rim teams (Callum, mark and Hannah from NZ) come up the rear with their tongues lolling out of their mouths like pink duvets gasping for any available oxygen! The tombs are a little dubious, the skeletons seem a little too fresh (perhaps the last tour that ventured off the path) but the view is spectacular. We stumble back to the hostal to get ready for an evening of ´celebrity come nosh and dance´ at the local hostelry. This turns out to be more fun than ´ritual humiliation in local dress´ and the evening passes without incident.
We have to be up the next day at ´sparrows´ so we all make our way back to the hostal to listen to the unidentifiable animals scurrying across the ceiling.
In the morning we go for a photo-shoot at the local town of Yanque...the locals have been dancing since sunrise for our benefit, with a collection of hawks and llamas. They are fantastic people and exhibit patience beyond the calling.
Finally we get to the lookout point for the Condors. This is a very deep canyon, the deepest in the world bar the one in the next valley...3845m -ish, a pop deeper than the Grand Canyon. Immediately the Condors start rising on the thermals and come towards us down the valley on their way to the coast or other hunting grounds. Road kill is a good bet judging by the quality of the roads and driving! As they pass close by you can appreciate their size and it´s also possible to hear the wind swishing through their enormous wings...what a sight!
In this area you can tell the difference between the two major groups of people, the Cabanas and the Collaguas. The Cabanas have tall hats which is a current manifestation of their propensity to squeeze their children at the temple from birth to make their skulls tall and thin...the Collaguas wear flat hats..they squeezed top and bottom to produce flat skulls. I prefer the hats...
We make our way back to Arequipa and revel in the scenery once more....it was great to return to the Casa de Melgar...it really feels like home and Arequipa is a gem in Peru.