An early morning start for us. We are supposed to be picked up between 7:30 and 8:00 AM so need to be packed up and have our breakfast well before that. Our hotel in Arequipa has a language school. There a bunch of students from BC coming to learn Spanish and stay at Home Stays. They also have some of their teachers along with them and they are staying at our hotel.
The pickup is a bit late due to other passengers not being ready on time. We are on the road at about 8:20 for a 4 hour ride in a minibus that has the capacity for 14 passengers. It takes us a least an hour to clear the city limits of Arequipa. Very busy traffic. We make one stop and Stu purchases some Coca leaves.
As we are heading to an altitude of 3,635 meters which is above the magic line of 2,500 meters where altitude sickness can affect you, our guide on the bus, Omar demonstrates how to chew Coca leaves.
We are heading into the mountains where we see Vicuñas . Vicuñas are a part of the same family as Llamas and Alpacas. In Peru they are a protected species. Killing one could land you in jail for between 5 and 10 years. Their wool is considered to be the finest quality and a sought after material. Even though they are wild and protected they are gathered every year to be sheared for their wool.
From the bus we can see this volcano. It is one of many surrounding us on this journey.
Erosion creates some other interesting landscapes along the way.
We also come across a herd of Alpacas. Alpacas and Llamas are domesticated and graze along the highway. They are both sheared for their wool. Alpaca is also on many menus in this area.
This is the road ahead at one photo op stop. As this is a tour bus that we are joining just for transportation, there are a number of stops for photos and shopping 🙂
We reach the highest point on the road to Chivay. 4,910 meters above sea level.
This spot is marked with many markers pointing out various volcanoes in the distance. This one points out Volcan Sabancaya which is 5,976 Meters above Sea level.
We are nearing Chivay. It is this little town way down there in the beautiful green valley.
Tonight we are attending a Folk Dance and Music performance at a local restaurant with some of the other people on the tour. Alpaca is on the menu here as well. Quite tasty, but I found it a very large portion.
Here are the dancers performing one of their traditional dances. They changed costumes and performed about 4 dances. Audience participation is always encouraged. 🙂
Another very interesting evening.
This is a late post. The Wifi in our hotel in Chivay is not the strongest and I don’t know what we will find when we move to Cabanaconde on Saturday. I’ll try to keep up 🙂