02/15 - out of the Canyon

We had to leave the lodge at 5am. We took a much more direct route out of the canyon. Pretty much directly UP. Thankfully, we started before the sun was up, and it was slightly overcast, so the heat did not murder us. It was absolutely exhausting, but we made it out. We even took a group photo of everyone at the top. Unfortunately, that photo was on my lost camera. But that's one memory I am not afraid of forgetting. It was quite a feat. I am pictured stretching my sore, sore legs.


  

We hiked to the nearby village of Cabanaconde for breakfast. There was a pair of parakeets in a cage by the bathroom. They were sweet. We got to wander around a bit while we waited for another tour group to join our bus. We met a local woman who was keeping a small courtyard full of chickens, cats, and guinea pigs. She brought them a backload of cornstalks, and the guinea pigs went crazy munching on them. It was incredibly cute, and surprisingly loud :).

Our bus went back through Yanque, and we stopped for about an hour at a hot springs there. The sun was shining, and the pools were clean and clear, (unlike some hot springs we would later experience.) It was nice to soak our tired, canyon-climbing bones. After the hot springs, we stopped for a huge buffet lunch in another small village. We got back to Arequipa around 6pm. I turned in pretty early, exhausted and sunburned. We were heading for Puno in the morning.