Colca Canyon, Condors and COLD

 

Today we were picked up at 6:15 and we continued the bus tour from yesterday.  We bought a tablecloth in Yanque, which is a nice little town, they sure put on a show for the tourists, dancing around the square in traditional dress.  They also had llamas wearing sunglasses, which I thought was hilarious.

We then stopped at some viewpoints in the Cola Valley and then Canyon of the Condors.  At first not much was happening, They warned us that it often is too cold in the morning for the birds to fly. But then after about 1/2 an hour, the birds started appearing in the sky. These condors are huge and they're very cool to watch flying around. We must have watched for at least another 1/2 an hour before getting back on the bus.  

After a bit we stopped for lunch, which was pretty good. After about two more hours on the bus we arrived at the Lagunillas Lake overlook, near Puno.  It was REALLY windy and cold.   The elevation here is 14478 feet.  They had a gift shop which was a good way to get out of the cold.  We bought a couple of souvenirs here.  Before arriving in Puno we stopped for gas and a potty break. We got out of the bus and stepped into a cold gale.  Temp was 40, the real feel was19.  At the lake overlook the wind may actually have been stronger and the temp colder.

At the end of another long day we arrived in Puno, which is the city on Lake Titicaca.  We had a good dinner (with kind of poor service) in the hotel restaurant looking out at the lake and city through floor to ceiling windows, pretty nice (but still cold)