Day 27: Chivay, Peru

Chinese Version / 中文版本

Before starting off the Colca Canyon trip, I had had a chat with the hostel staff in the reception (Actually I doubt if I stayed in the same room with her last night, but I could not recall anything at all). The staff is indeed from La Paz. Her boss arranged her to give training to the staff here in Arequipa, so she has been staying for a long time already. She had been an exchanged student in upstate New York before. Though she was happy to stay there, the living standard was actually very high comparing to Bolivia. Her parents supported her finance there (and I wonder, 'The money they earned in La Paz could really support her living in the states for a year? It's unbelievable!'), she had to come back at last regardless. She also told me she missed Olive Garden very much, which reminded me that I did not go there once even I lived in the states for 4 years!!!

The volcanoes we saw on the way

El Misti

When our chat went on fiercely, the driver finally came pick me up. I was the second last person, so I was forced to sit in the back again! In fact, there was one empty seat in the middle in the front. The German couple indeed know each others, but somehow they did not sit together. When the last English couple got on the bus, they were compelled to separate because of this German couple. I never knew foreigners could be that uncivilized too! Meanwhile, the couple who sat beside me was also very weird. They were like the Inca stones which could not be divided while always sticking with each others. The dude is from England and the girl is obviously a local Peruvian. They always made strange noise in the back of the car. Apparently, they should have got a room instead of joining this tour, it's seriously disturbing!

Llama and alpaca are the loveliest animals on earth

One llama was lying down to sleep!

Llamas for tourists to take photos

The major routine of today was to visit the hot spring, I was so excited about it!!! On the way, we did stop in some spots to take photos with the volcanoes and llamas. When we approached to the town of Chivay, the car stopped at one scenic spot for us to take photos again. At that moment, I saw a very lovely domesticated alpaca. It loved to eat and constantly followed the milk bottles on its owner's hand, despite its owner was very busy to deal with the tourists. It made me so want to buy one alpaca......but I asked the tour guide, he said only local people could buy llama or alpaca in Peru, maybe I should buy it in Bolivia...... (smirk)

Overlooking Chivay

Hungry alpaca was chasing the milk bottle

This alpaca was so cute

As informed by the travel agency, lunch and dinner were not included in the package. Therefore, they drove us to have buffet again. I was clearly told by the travel agency that there would be other food to eat, but then I needed to give in when there was really nothing to eat. While I was having lunch, I took the opportunity to talk with that selfish German couple in German. For some reason my German became more fluent, perhaps deep down in my heart  I really wanted to blame them (Of course I didn't~~~). In the same tour, there was another weird South American. She needed people to take photos of her in every single place, including the mediocre ticket stand, I did not know the Hong Kong girl phenomenon also became a trend in South America!!!

Welcome to Chivay

After lunch, the driver drove us back to our 'hotels' we are staying for the night. The English couple, the Peruvian mom and daughter, the South American photo-freak and me are arranged to stay in the same place. The guide gave us 2 free hours to take some rest in our room first. In this 2-hr period, I could only watch TV and play iPad  (no WiFi) by myself. 

When we started to go to the hot spring, I officially got to know the English couple Chris and Tina. Tina is a Hong Konger born in England and she does regularly go back to Hong Kong to visit her family. Both of them are currently traveling around the world. Also, they just finished their Asian journey and will continue to go to Bolivia, Chile, etc in the later days.

The hot spring was fantastic, the water temperature was moderate and it was very comfortable to stay in there and talk with my tour-mates. What a pleasure!!!

The place I stayed overnight

Dinner time was a scam again! Every menu cost 20 PEN, choices were deep fried chicken Milanese, dried chicken breast, spaghetti......it's already very boring!