Bus trip to Colca Valley

We took a tour to the Colca Valley from Arequipa. There were about 20 people on our tour bus. The Colca Valley is about 3 hours from Arequipa by bus. We made several stops along the way. The road was quite desolate and as we went over the "pass", it was not paved, about 15 miles of it. These were the restrooms on one of our stops (the only stop with restrooms). They were quite primitive. The mens urinals were in full view as you walked up to the door of the women's restroom. Thankfully, there were doors on the women's toilets. There was a little snack place at this stop and we all had "coca" tea. Peruvians seem to believe coca tea is a cure-all for everything---altitude sickness, stomach aches, headaches, etc. The coca tea was basically coca leaves steeped in hot water. They also put another plant that I didn't know. I asked our guide and he said it was "chacha chulpa". I couldn't find it on google, so I'm sure I don't have it spelled correctly.

We drove through a wildlife preserve and saw alpacas, llamas, and vicunas. I didn't know before this that they are all cameloids, members of the camel family. But, after I learned that, it was very obvious. This is part of the reason that they can survive so well in the arid climate of these mountains.

This is the sign entering the vicuna preserve. Vicunas are the smallest members of the camel family. They are a national symbol of Peru and are protected because they were almost extinct several years ago because of poaching. Trade in their fleece was banned in 1975 and just recently begun again because the numbers are now up over 150,000, but the animals are still endangered and harvesting the fiber is under government regulation. The fiber is considered to be the finest and warmest in the world---even more than cashmere. Their fleece was worn only by the highest of Inca nobility.

You can see from this picture that these vicunas have recently been shorn. The guide told us that they are captured in the old way. A group of people join hands to make a human chain and encircle the vicunas and then they are captured and shorn. Peruvians like to participate in this activity, which only happens every 4 years, because it was the way the Incas did it. They are difficult to shear and only produce about 1 pound of wool a year.

We were high in the Andes here, on what is called an altiplano, a flat plain, where not much vegetation grows and the temperatures can be quite harsh. The altitude here was somewhere around 13,000 feet.

Here's a link for more information about vicunas:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicu%C3%B1a

I know it's wikipedia and it isn't always accurate, so here's another if you're really interested:

http://www.essortment.com/all/vicunawoolwhat_rhwq.htm