We spent all day touring the Colca canyon and valley, and as you´ll see from the pictures, its filled with terraces in 100 shades of green, all constructed by pre-Inka tribes 800 years ago and still used today.  At the condor point we saw three of them flying...pretty impressive to see them so close and with such a backdrop, but I expected them to be much bigger.  There was the usual array of 15 indiginous women selling exactly the same wares, but this time I actually bought something: gloves, a scarf, and a sweater, all handmade from alpaca wool for $12.  I dont know how they survive and sell seriously exactly the same things next to each other.  I see a possible MBA case-study project waiting for me here.

I was scared when I learned we had to return to Arequipa over the same 14,600 ft pass that had put me in hell most of yesterday. So I came prepared, having drank 2 litres of water, popped 2 aspirin, and already chewing triple the recommended dosage of coca leaves (guess I´m one of those first time addicts? )  before we got anywhere near that altitude.  Well I passed the summit feeling great, although it could have been the coca or just the aclimitazation from the day before.

Now I´m off to Puno, the city on Lake Titicaca for the night before I head up to Cusco, the major tourist center of Peru.