Colca Valley, Peru

Today we started our journey to Colca Canyon by driving into the Andes and Colca Valley. During our journey through the High Plains we saw grazing wild vicunas, and domesticated llamas and alpacas. At one stop we saw a native woman in her brightly coloured traditional dress walking with a little boy who was very shy and a baby alpaca who was not shy at all! The lady laid out her handicrafts on the ground and while I looked at the the baby alpaca took a liking to my jumper and tried to eat it. He was adorable. It was also at that stop I snapped this shot of the grazing alpacas.

After a pit stop for some coca tea (to help with altitude sickness) and beanie buying (to help with the cold), we headed to the highest point of our trip (4910m) to enjoy views of the rocky snowcapped landscape below. iT was extremely cold and I definitely felt a little light headed and short of breath when I tried to walk a short distance to the toilet. As altitudes sickness goes, we were all very lucky!

We then continue to Chivay the capital of the provence, and after buffet lunch and dropping our bags at the hostel, we headed to the local hot springs. I just can't describe how surreal it was to bathe in a 38 degree pool, sipping cocktails, surrounded by the Andes mountains and watching humming birds feed from flowers. It was spectacular.

Before dinner we had some free time so we took a stroll to the town square which, fortunately for us, was buzzing with life due an annual festival being held. We got to sit back and people watch for some time, which was an incredibly enjoyable experience.
We then had dinner, eating delicious wood fired pizzas and watching a show of traditional Peruvian dance and music.