Diane: Watching condors fly over a beautiful Peruvian canyon after enduring a bumpy 6-hour bus ride to be followed by a bumpy 6-hour return bus ride did not strike me as a pleasurable way to spend my time. Unfortunately it did strike Tom and boatloads of other travelers that way. Tom and I came to a compromise in that we would spend at least 2 nights in the canyon, if we were to go. I was hoping that perhaps we would do an overnight backpacking trip down into the canyon. Or maybe spend a day at one of the hot springs in the area.
The results are now in. Condors fly nicely in their native habitat.
The hot springs at the Colca Lodge were luxurious, although I could get neither Tom nor TM to join us for this night-time foray. We were told that you couldn't get to the Lodge from Yanque, the town closest to the Lodge. Then we were told it was not walkable. Then we were told that it was exhorbitantly expensive. Then we were told that you couldn't drive there from here. This information all came from different people, who genuinely had our best interests at heart.
This is so common in Peru that I've gotten used to asking different people the same question over and over, until I get the answer I want to hear or until I get close enough to be able to figure it out myself. This is not my usual mode of operation, but I have adapted. I remember when we first got to Peru, we were in a small town looking for the largest straw hat in the world. When I say small town, I mean a population in the hundreds, if you count the recently dead. We had no trouble finding the town, but once we got there, the local people sent us from one side of town to the other and back again. We must have asked at least 10 people, before we found it. I don't know why this was, but I do know that it was not due to a communication gap, since we were riding with a Peruvian who lived less than an hour away.
Given this history, Calliope and I eventually headed out on our own on foot in search of the hot springs. It was a bit of a challenge finding the route, ending in some narrow footpaths on a very steep incline. But the pools of varying temperatures overlooking a beautiful river and a clear night sky with a path lit by gas lamps made for a great adventure.
That was a couple of days ago. In the wee hours this morning, we arrived in Nasca. Nasca is another extraordinarily popular tourist destination in which I had no interest. From the air, you can see what look like stylized drawings of various animals. There has been a lot of speculation about aliens and UFO's over the years. In my opinion, once you've seen photos, there is no need to actually fly over them in an airplane. Tom and I struck up another compromise. If we could get in and out of Nasca on our way to our next destination, without staying overnight, I was game. So, off we went.
Calliope enjoyed sitting up with the pilot
Once up in the plane, you could really see just how dry this area is and that rivers used to flow here. You could also see just how big these "drawings" are by comparing them to the dry river beds and current roads in the area. From an airplane, the drawings are very obvious; unfortunately, it may be hard to pick them out in photos with low resolution. There was a spider,
a hummingbird,
a compass,
and a monkey
amongst others.
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