The Canyon...not the Grand but still pretty great

I tried booking a trip to trek the 2nd deepest canyon in the world, but apparently something got lost in translation, and I didn't realize until I was already back from the amazon that he had in fact booked me for the wrong excursion. I would have made a fuss and changed things up, but Danny agreed to go with me on the bus tour. I thought I might poke out my eyes riding the bus alone, but with a ridiculously optimistic travel partner, I thought I'd give it a go.

Turns out, the bus ride wasnt even close to miserable. We started off strong, when we were forced to eat copious amounts of coca candy (in the form of chocolate and toffee). After that, we twisted and turned through beautiful mountain scenery. The bus stopped every half hour or so for picture taking, souvenir shopping, and coca tea.

We made it to Chivay by lunchtime, where we were greeted by an all-you-can-eat buffet. Turns out, Danny can eat a lot, which means I ate a lot. After plates of alpaca, avocado, beets, deep-fried bananas, French fries, and Inka kola jello, we were two happy campers.

The rest of the day was spent at the hot springs. I'm convinced that if I go to enough hot springs this hip will heal eventually.

The next morning we got up early to see the canyon. There wasn't nearly enough hiking for me, but it was still gorgeous. Nothing like standing above a canyon watching condors sweep down toward us.

That evening, we explored Aeriquipa. And by "explore" what I really mean is we went to McDonalds, Starbucks, and RadioShack. It took care of any homesickness I had previously experienced, and Danny was happy because he got to eat for the 8th time that day. Then I dragged Danny into about 38 little shops, so we could find the perfect earrings for my Grandma.

The trip ended beautifully, when we found a cute little rooftop restaurant that overlooked the plaza. We got there just in time for the sunset, so we got to snap photos as we listened to the local band and sipped on tea. Well, I sipped on tea. Danny ate a milkshake. Seriously, that boy can eat!