DAY 3 - SATURDAY - TOTORA to QUISUARANI

3 hour bus journey via Calca to start of trek at Totora. 3 - 4 hours trekking before lunch.

Then another bus journey to camp in the afternoon as the weather was too bad to walk safely in.

6.52am: One of the 3 buses we travelled in to the start of the main trek

Dot leading aerobics in Calca where we had a 20 minutes stopover for last minute supplies

7.40am: Calca main square

Janet's walking pole purchase for 5 sols (£1) - you can't see
so well but it has a lovely peruvian woven top

9am: Putting the sun tan on (if only we'd known about the hail and sleet we were heading into)

Totora village

Totora village

And we're off!

Oh look - llamas (or are they alpacas?) - must get a photo!

off they go........probably not see anymore......better take another another photo...

Oh what's happening? They're turning round!

ah - that's it - they're OUR llamas! Good job this young lad's got them under control!
(and in fact we saw quite a lot of them)

9.30am - getting into stride

10am: rest stop...these children were walking with us (llama handler in the centre)

12noon - this is after about 1.5 hours of hail and sleet! Lunch was on the other side but a rope was needed to get us over. By the time I'd taken this photo the water had got too high so I had to walk on another few minutes to cross at a narrower point!

a very wet dog and children

walking back to lunch on the other side of the river now

Ossy's (our head guide) brother releasing a condor into the wild

How do they prepare food like this half way up a mountain?!

Katherine's looking pretty chilled

attempting to dry off and warm up

(this was until Ossy's bare legs starting frazzling as he stood too close)

everyone is cold and wet

afternoon walk is cancelled so the bus took us to camp instead - this is the weather on the way!

2.30pm: glad we're not walking! 4390m pass

an urgent pit stop for five ladies (action replay!)

Katharine, Lorna, Dot and someone who's hiding! Dot told us later she wasn't as desperate as the rest of us but came for the adventure (which it was as we raced in vain around a village to find a suitable place while 'following' a Peruvian guide who hadn't a clue what do with desperate women!)

5pm: at camp finally. I don't remember it being this scenic - think my brain was frozen at this point!

We had one tent between two - if we were lucky. Some were on their own which was actually a disadvantage as it's a lot harder to warm up a tent with only one person in it. They were spacious enough for two people and all our bags in between.

Local families sold items at the campsites - my first purchase was a cold beer (6 sols - £1.20) which wasn't quite so refreshing as anticipated on an already very cold stomach! My second purchase was a Peruvian hat (10 sols - £2) with earmuffs. For wearing in bed so no photos! My third purchase was gloves. Which were handy for drinking the cold beer on subsequent nights.

Bubbles for the local children....or for the trekkers and hound?

5.25pm: We got bowls of popcorn, biscuits and hot tea (coca and various other types),
coffee or Milo every night when we got into camp

Dark at 6pm

more amazing food served up a mountain - spicy beef

Spanish omelette and yukka vegetable

7.30pm: Dinner time

Dot and Lorna

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