Peru trip - Colca Canyon

The day would prove to be a long exhausting bus trip, after we visited Colca Canyon and try to catch a glimpse of the famous condor sucking up thermals on the edge of a abyss at times more than 13,000 feet (4000 meters) deep.

We waited and waited, missed a few and then, César took us on a side trip farther away from the crowds and then we saw a few of the legendary Andean birds. All big, impressive and effortless in performing their cleaning work! After that main sight, the trip was long, uncomfortable and endless in a cramped bus and we arrived in Puno late and completely exhausted.

Our guide César had consistently remained a piece of work for the duration of his guiding assignment with us. All day, we hovered between 13 and 15,000 feet and this continued dose of extreme high elevations wasn't not helping our general discomfort. Before we reached Puno, we crossed the town of Jayllihuaya and were treated to its crowded thoroughfare with similar stores and businesses all grouped together in ways we had never seen before...

That night, we were put up into a pretentious hotel, the Jose Antonio, on the outskirts of town and we were so sick that we even took some oxygen in an attempt to revive us with little positive effect. Clearly, I was at a point where I was hitting the deep end.

Again, I couldn't sleep at all (Puno is still at 13,000 feet!) and was helped in this by some dogs barking all night just under our windows overlooking the beautiful Lake Titicaca. I felt so bad during that night that I was seriously thinking about going home the next day...