June 26 – 29
From Puno, we took a tour bus to Colca Canyon, one of the deepest canyon on earth. The highway, part of Pan-AM highway itself was quite spectacular traversing the high ridges of Andes.
Above, highest point was 4900m (16,000 ft). The area is surrounded by volcanoes.
We descent towards Chicay – one of the main town in the Canyon.
Natural hot spring near our resort, above. Volcano actively spewing.
Colca Canyon
Watching the Andean Condors was one of the trip’s highlights.
Giant hummingbird, largest member of hummingbird family.
Alpaca – above, Llama – below
Arequipa
Peru’s second largest city was our final stop.
Its Plaza de Armas is my favorite.
Our hotel courtyard and variety of freshly squeezed fruit juices were universally offered as part of breakfast.
Arequipa is surrounded by 3 huge volcanoes – the Misti above, and suffers from traffic related smog.
Plaza de Arms in the day time. Our visit to the unique Santa Catalina Convent was a lot of fun.
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