On December 23, I took an overnight bus from Cusco to Arequipa and booked into the Melgar Hostel near the centre square. The next day, December 24, I bought another bus ticket with the Inca Travel Agency to ride with a group of other folks to the Colca Canyon to see the condors. I was picked up around 8 a.m. The van climbed for hundreds of meters for 6 hours, past more post Colonial buildings and Inca ruins, into the dry and often arid desert areas in the Andes. We passed many lamas grazing and indigenous peoples dressed in colourful skirts, blouses and wide brimmed hats. Each small village seemed to have an identity of its own. In some places the children were dancing, in other places Peruvian pan music was playing. Our guide came from the Colcan region and was very knowledgeable and friendly. We stopped often to take in the atmosphere and to look, sometimes buy their soft handicrafts. We slept in three different small hotels in a place called Chiva. On December 25, Christmas Day, we were picked up very early to drive to the condor viewpoint, peak 3800 meters. Six of us hiked a short trail. This was the highlight of the day, to spot one condor, then another, then another, fly high into the sky, soar effortlessly through the blue, embracing the sun's rays. What a Christmas present!
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