We discover the Andes

We were picked up early in the morning for our trip to the Colca Valley. Bus rides in Peru can be long and exhausting, especially when you have to overcome the altitude and deal with altitude sickness. To reach the Valley of the Condors, we crossed a pass at an altitude of 4900m, while the valley itself is located at about 4000m. But the Colca Valley, with a gorge of 1200m, is definitely worth it. The condors (currently 40 in number - we saw 6) that live in this gorge actually flew past us at a distance of about 10m - so fast that they were hardly captureable in photographs.

There are about 400 volcanoes in Peru, 8 of which are active, 3 of them are located near Arequipa. On the way to the valley, we were accompanied by the plume of smoke from one of these volcanoes in the distance.

After 2 impressive days, we traveled from Arequipa to Cusco - the capital of the Inca Empire.