Our first sleep over 2,500 meters.  I am feeling tired and find myself out of breath quite quickly while walking up hill.  I think that this is to be expected.  We have almost 2 weeks before we begin the trek, so I expect I will feel much better by then.  I know it still won’t be easy, but easier than right now. 🙂

 

Stu comes across this lady herding her sheep through the little town of Chivay.  Not something we see much of at home.

 

 

Then as we cross the little bridge that connects the area where our hotel is to the rest of the town we see this flock spilling down the stairs between these two large statues of a woman on the left a man on the right.  The are both wearing traditional dress.  We do see older women today dressed this way, but so far not any men.

 

Here is an example of a bit younger woman in different traditional outfit.  The poncho/backpack can carry anything from groceries, crops, to babies.  While we were in Arequipa women dressed like this were looking for photo op tips.  Not so in Chivay.  Just the way they dress.

 

 

 

I must say I was taken in by this little con man!!.  Leslie and I are wandering down the main street looking at the many colourful statues they have there.  He is maybe 2 1/2,  he is giving me the thumbs up.  So I give him one back  🙂  When he sees that I am clearly dense, he points at my camera.  OK  ,I get get it.  So I take his picture.  He puts on this squishy smile.

 

 

Then he wants to see.  So I show him the photo.  Then he holds out his hand!!  Oooohhh   I seeeeee!!!  Since I have no change I call to Stu who picks through his change and hands the little guy about 80 centavas.  He looks at it and says “Grande!”  We say no and then he drops the coins on the street.  A woman, we don’t know his relationship to, begins to scold him.  He does pick up his coins, but he is not happy about it.

 

 

We are seeing these interesting vehicles around in many towns  They are called Mototaxis.  The whole thing is covered, the driver sits on a motorcycle seat and he can carry up to 3 passengers in the back and maybe some cargo behind.  Some are very very fancy.

 

High up on the hill behind the town church there is a cross on the mountainside.

 

 

Here we are off exploring and trying to keep active while getting acclimated to the altitude.  This is a very rustic little town as you can see.

 

We think it might be chilly on the hike, at least in the morning and evenings.  We did’t bring toques.  We also heard that the local crafts are very very expensive in Cuzco.  So we have a look at the local market here.  I pick up this little number for 25 soles (10.50 CAD)  and Stu found another hat for 6 soles (2.25 CAD)!!

 

I posted a photo the other day of the glass bottles on the top of the walls in Arequipa, that are their version of barbed wire.  This is how they do it in Chivay!  Very spikey Cacti

 

.