Okay...I know I've written about some bad bus rides, but this one combined with the 'tour' of Colca Canyon was by far the WORST! We certainly should have seen the bright red flag waving at us when our hotel conceirge told us the tour was 15 hours! We assumed this would be on a comfortable bus...oh no, my friends...these were the worst seats we've sat in yet. Completely straight up--uncomfortably straight up, no option to recline and after only 15 minutes, we realized we had 15 hours in these things. Not good. Plus, to top it off, our tour started at 2:30am. Well, that's what we were told...so, we, the responsible girls we are, arranged for a wakeup call at 2:00am. We were called alright, and right on time. However, they called back about 3 minutes later and asked why we weren't downstairs and that our tour group was waiting for us. Right! So we rushed and got our butts down there in no time flat. Well, at 2:30 in Arequipa, Peru, it's downright COLD!! So...we're cold, tired, upright, and certainly looking forward to the included breakfast with a nice hot cup of joe. We finally arrived at the included breakfast, only to find breakfast was cold bread (all we could eat mind you), butter, jam, and hot water with coca leaves to add in order to make a tea. THAT'S IT! What kind of breakfast is that...certainly not enough fuel for what we had in store for us......
We got to our next stop, one of the tiny little towns, and it was kinda weird and extremely geared to the tourist. (see me above taking photos...what else are you gonna do on the tour from hell?)
Mind you, it's about 6:30 - 7:00am at the time these photos were taken. These Peruvians were in full garb, with their eagles, falcons, and llamas, all out pimping their stuff for us paying tourists. Really, it was all just a bit much, enough to make you ill.
Just before this, this group was dancing to very loud music coming from the loudspeakers. AGain....strange thing to see so early in the morning. 
I'm telling you, anything for a buck. And we bought right into it.
We tried to remain positive, even though the signs of 'bad tour' kept coming right at us. 
Looks like I'm enjoying beautiful, serene Colca Canyon on my own, right?
WRONG! There must have been 600 other tourists out there all doing the same thing...trying to spot Condors. 
Example of the people proliferation. 
Really, it was bad. We were not told about this part of the tour. All these people snapping photos, looking for condors; which for the longest time there were none....sooo.....
Deb did a condor dance, and sure enough we starting seeing some condors.
But soon, we got tired of the condors...really they just look like eagles or falcons or whatever it is we have back home, and in our boredom, started complaining about the number of stupid tourists (of course, we're perfect...so we're not included in that group! Ha!), so we started taking photos of silly tourists, since our condors photos were just as ridiculous. I mean really...I love alpaca stuff too,,,,but COME ON! 
Searching for condors in peace. (we all know the truth.)
Colca Canyon, outside of Arequipa , Peru really does have some of the worlds deepest canyons and as you can see here, they are quite stunning. 
Again...still trying to remain positive. Although, by now we've told our tour guides that we feel like were being put through a duplicating machine...and just feel like a number. Also, that we can't hear them at all in the tour van. They were just awful tour guides.
Long, dusty, bumpy trail through Colca Canyon.
But beautiful...it's saving grace.
Next little town...more pimping out of captured birds of prey. Beautiful...but shouldn't really be there.
This one was trained to jump on the hat when the guy put it on tourists heads.
Atun sold by local girl...Atun is prickly pear fruit from the top of cactus. I remember having this as a kid at home...Three different colors and flavors...my favorite was the pink. Sweet. 
A couple other fruits we bought...if I was a smart tourist I would have written down the names. They were good nontheless. The yellow was really tart with big seeds to chew, the green was kinda like a kiwi just not nearly as juicy, the pink, lots of little seeds, but sweet.
Our next stop should have been lunch...as it's now noon and we haven't eaten anything but bread and water since 6:00am...BUT OH NO...we keep going folks. Our next stop was the thermal baths, in which we had to pay extra to enter. I said, 'oh hell no!' So, I hiked down the hill to the river, where I found my own little spot for a nice pausa. 
We did see some nice churches along the way.
These two tried to hussle me out of some money. When they saw me in the church with my camera, they asked me to take a photo of them...seemed all excited to see it afterward, but then WHAM! They asked for la propina...the tip, la moneda....I told them I didn't have any. UGH...sometimes this tourist thing can be downright disheartening. 
We finally were dropped off in Chivay, another little town for lunch at 1:10pm...Our tour guides simply said, 'okay you've got an hour for lunch'. No help in maximizing our time by pointing out a few of the local restaurants, just get out and be here an hour later. By this time, we were no longer positive. We simply had to endure the long trip back to Arequipa out of Colca Canyon. 
I did meet a sweet little 80 year old lady who lived in this small town of Chivay her whole life. I quickly realized, I was almost 1/2 her age. That scared me a little bit.
But, on with the tour we go. We were supposed to stop at an Alpaca farm, but after all that had happened, I think even our tour guides were ready to be done with the trip...so this is the best shot I could get of them as our small tour van sped past. 
This is one of our tour guides sleeping on the way back. Professional, huh? Every now and again, he'd wake up and feign effort to tell us about something we were passing by.
This is the kid that vomited sometime around 9am I think. (also along the way home around 4:00pm) Deb was asleep when he threw up, so it was pretty funny when she woke up and asked "what is that smell?" Ha!!!! Ah yes, these are the funny moments that you remember fondly even of the crappiest tours. :-)
Alpaca crossing sign. Again, best shot as we were speeding by. NEVER AGAIN!!! Tours are EVIL!
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