On Tuesday night we got on an overnight bus to Arequipa, and were met in the morning at the bus terminal to start our 2 day tour of the Colca Canyon. I think in my mind I was expecting it to be something like our jeep tour, a sort of rough ride through some amazing views.. But it really wasn't: we were with some other Peruvians, squished into a small minibus, which did some stops are small towns where we'd get out of the van, stay for 10 minutes, take a photo, have lots of people offering us things to buy, get back in the van, get out again half an hour later... It's nothing against these pueblitos or the people, it just gets kind of frustrating, especially when you've seen quite a few on the road already and really just want to see the Canyon.
We stayed at a hostel in Chivay on Wednesday night - I didn't mention that our overnight bus had no heating so we had a pretty terrible ride, so we skipped the evening activity of dinner and watching local dancing to catch up on sleep.
The next morning we set out early for La Cruz del Condor, a spot on the Canyon where lots of Condors hang out (also is Chile's national bird). That was pretty cool. There were loads, and very close. Adult and kid birds practicing their flying right by us. Was a bit of a shame though because we really got no scale of the Canyon itself which is 100km long and goes down to 3km deep.
We arrived back in Arequipa and that night our group split, as Phil and I took another overnight bus to Tacna, the Peruvian border town with Chile, and Dais and Rachel stayed on as they've got a few more days before heading back to Santiago.
In the morning on Friday Phil and I crossed back into Chile, which was painless, no queues at all, although we had a really friendly / mildly terrifying passport checking lady. Arrived at Arica and whiled away a day until another night bus to Calama - where our journey all began.
Calama is the town that the Lonely Planet called 'a shithole', so we were expecting a day even more horrific than the one before, but we had less time and ended up going to the cinema so it was fine. Got a flight back to Santiago last night, went back to the hostel where Laura and I stayed 3 weeks ago and thank God my luggage was all still there! Packed up this morning, having lunch with Phil in a bit, and starting my Delta flights home tonight! One day in Atlanta tomorrow and I'm back Tuesday morning.
It is so freaking weird that it's all over now, everything we planned and talked about for so long... I'm definitely ready to come home, and also so grateful I didn't have to come back straight after saying all my goodbyes in Viña either.
So, I suppose this is my last blog from this year abroad..!
Photos will be coming up next..........
Lots of love! XOX
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