...make your moments last...

After the big break up I decided to seek solitude with the gliding condors around the deepest canyon in the world. Its called the Colca Canyon. Getting there is as much fun as the hike. Its a dusty, back jerking, seriously tightly packed, 6 hour bus ride to Chivay. The locals on the bus do this like a sunday drive. They are great to chat to and are always smiling in there brightly colours hats, so all you can do is smile back.

The 3 day hike takes you down about 1500m on the first day to the first lodge in the bottom of the canyon.

As with most hikes while the scenary is the big draw, the people on the hike really make the experience one worth living. This one was no exception. Early on it became apparent that the characters where so diverse and interesting that Dickins or Twain would have had a tough time trying to get their descriptions right.

The first lodge was definitely the most "eco friendly" place we stayed with no painted walls, straw roofs , mud/cemented walls and doorless toilets and showers which made for some seriously memoriable throne time. The second day was meant to be a liesurely stroll in the bottom of the gorge. However the group had a vote and decided that 4 hours in the hot springs in the afternoon was too much and they would prefer to tackle the 1800m climb as soon as possible. I was keen to do this with the sun rise at 5 am but for some reason I was alone in my feelings of "crisp sunrises are the best". So after a quick dip we set out on what I can describe as two Batoga Gorge climbs in one. So after 3hrs of straight up hill, we staggered into the "only" hostel in

Peru with no hot water. (The Peruvian travellers will know how much of a joke that is). However all was not in vain as a couple of us discovered two very unique and special Peruvian attributes.

The first was a quiant, musky, dark (except for the candle light tables) bar, which had a small wood fire kilm in the corner and served warmed spiced wine. The atmosphere was like none I have experience in Peru before and was quiet unique even on a global scale.The second attribute was the discovery of the economical Peruvian wine called "Gato Negro". This stuffs great, as it comes in a 1 lt or 2 lt carton for the brave foke. Hint take it with a 2 lt bottle of "sin gas agua". Needless to say I awoke feeling very glad to be at the top of the canyon. We then headed to see or should I say gaze at the condors. I say gaze because thats what ones does when you see something which gives you a feeling of relaxation/soothing/chilliness or in spanish simply,"tranquilla". The birds were huge and the very relaxed and their gliding attitude seems to rub off on you. When you up on the edge of a 1800m cliff this is probably not ideal. I found this out the hard way when my slop decided it was his turn glide.