Chivay

We caught the bus to Chivay and realized that we were actually going to be on a tour instead of just being shuttled to a new place and being met by a local guide. That meant that there were lots of stops along the road to Chivay, which made the three hour drive much longer. But we got to see a lot of picunas, which are kind of like a cross between an alpaca and a deer, and then a ton of alpaca as we entered the wildlife refuge.

Alpaca!

I'm not really sure why it's actually considered to be a refuge, because all the alpaca are owned by specific people, but they do roam freely across the land for most of the year. But in early September, they are rounded up and shaved for their wool. And the way they round them up is they get a ton of people to hold hands in a circle around the alpaca, and then they make the circle smaller and smaller. Really interesting.

We've been coming across a lot of alpaca wool products, which tend to be pretty soft. They also have baby alpaca hair products, which aren't actually taken from baby alpaca.  It's just a measurement of how fine the hair is.  The other thing I learned about the alpacas was that they tend to travel in groups of maybe five to ten, but like with lions, there's only one male in the group. The lone alpacas tend to be the older males who have lost their groups.

Dance statue

We stopped at a store where they were selling cocka products, such as leaves and candies. It's one of the things that is supposed to help with altitude sickness, seeing as we were going high up into the mountains. I got some toffee, which was okay. But the leaves themselves taste pretty bad. I had a handful of them and only the sweetener makes it bearable. Otherwise, you're really just eating leaves.

And yes, before anyone asks, this is the same type of leaf that can be used to produce cocaine. But it has to be processed and a whole bunch of other stuff I know nothing about, so don't worry. No drugs for me.

After making it to the hotel, we changed and took a trip to the natural hot springs that are in Chivay. I was worried when we first got up there and could seriously smell the sulfur rotten egg smell. But once we got down into the pools we were fine. The water was warm and relaxing, and it felt good to kick back after time on the bus.

Local Market

After, we wandered downtown and found a bunch of strange statues along the main street.  Well, some were strange, but traditional I suspect. I'll ask the guide about them tomorrow if I remember. But the highlight of the night was definitely discovering the night market, where there were a couple little food stands all up and down the road, with benches to sit on as you ate. JS and I ended up getting a hot chocolate and sharing the bench with a few other locals, who had gotten bread and were dipping it in their warm milk. It was really cool to see the little stands and the locals eating dinner.

El Pozo del Cielo, our hotel

I forgot to mention how cute our hotel is. It's at the top of a hill overlooking the city proper, and has a bunch of little terraces and levels along with arches and stairs that make you feel like you're in the courtyard of a castle. Pretty neat! I think it's early to bed tonight, as we have an early wake up tomorrow morning to see Colca Canyon. It's deeper than the Grand Canyon! We'll see if it's also as breathtaking.