With a bus full of people -- bathroom stops are a big part of the day. Also, being in remote Peru suitable or available need to be tracked down.
Another thing I was not to fond of with this bus thing was that there is a lot of picking up and dropping off of passengers at different hotels and restaurants.
One group was in a nice place beside a river -- which meant a five mile bumpy dirt road drive in, and fives miles back out -- all extra driving time after already driving all over these mountain roads!
This picture above is one bathroom stop that was just past Condor Cross -- and the shade structure is made to resemble a condor.
Most all of the lands is terraced and farmed. Here also water is quite abundant, there are springs with water running everyway.
We are told that National Geographic surveyed the Amazon River in 2001 (I think she said) that the source of the Amazon is that sharp mountain peak just above and to the right of the guy in the orange shirt.
Me, the dork posing below the Amazon River headwaters mountain peak.
Here's the van that we bounced and twisted all over these parts of Peru. This is the square of Chivay, or if it isn't -- it's the square of a little town just before Chivay.
OK -- it's not Chivay. I remember this vendor -- I was trying to buy juice, but became frustrated with their actions and stormed off. That is a bit dramatic -- but I did change my mind.
This lady is scraping the spines off of the cactus fruit to make the juice I never got.
One last picture then off to Chivay for lunch. I said to her "Your alpaca doesn't have any legs." She said, all serious "Yes he does, they are underneath."
Here is the lady working on what was supposed to be my juice.
Finally to Chivay and lunch. Buffet again. Alpaca, ceviche, deep fried bananas, fruit I have never had. Very good.
Chivay is a cute little town -- and would be a nice place to stay for the best part of a week. The hotel I stayed at was nice, priced at S/ 80 -- a bargin.
Chivay is pretty much a real Prevuian town, small, town square, central market, beautiful old rustic buildings -- such as this door.
The door above, and this window are in the restaurant I ate at.
Here are several pictures from about town:
I have just about lost track of time, places and all. I am writing this after these stops and places of course -- and I am using my iPhone to take the pictures and to do the blogging. The iPhone keeps the photos in time order, which I use to help me remember -- but there is mixing a bit, and also I visited some places more than once. Almost all towns have been visited at least twice -- and stop inbound, then a stop outbound. Sometimes these stops are on the same day -- and sometimes they are separated by an overnight stay somewhere else.
Anyway -- the bus shot above shows the long, straight, lonely road leaving Chivey, back to Arequipa.
A photo of someone taking a photo of themselves with a volcano. This is at the rest stop, high altitude, our second stop -- once in, once out. That I remember accurately. I was taking to someone on a train this last Friday, she asked me when I was leaving, I said Sunday. She asked me when I got here, I said Thursday. She said oh, short trip, huh? I was stunned because it seemed long to me, then, many seconds later I cleared a bit and said -- oh, no -- I arrived two Thursdays ago.
I am writtng this Saturday evening, which is probably six days after the trip. Everyone here is napping so I have the time. Also it is a real fight to do this. The iPhone's battery runs down rather fast as I write, take the pictures and all -- all on the iPhone. I have just bought a 220 volt charger, but still, there is not a lot of places to plug in. Also I want to write when I am not doing anything!
OK -- let's put Colca Canyon to rest as I must have made it back to Arequipa!
Next is the condors.
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