Colca Canyon
6am:
We woke up early so we could drive further into the depths of the Colca Canyon to see if we'd be lucky and spot some condors.
As I had mentioned earlier, we were told conflicting stories as to how deep the canyon was, and whether or not it was the deepest or second deepest in the world.
Seem as if they can't get some scientific gear down there and settle it. Or maybe they like the ambiguity. Beats me.
We drove towards the condor lookout point, and ended up walking the last hour, so we could check out all the other wildlife... which included these weird large rabbits with long tails... looked like rabbit-rats. Also saw the tiniest hummingbirds I've ever seen, hawks, falcons, eagles, and a entire flock of green parakeets.
Above, a predatory bird (of some kind) with the canyon in the background.Once we got to the condor lookout point, I somehow managed to get a good spot... actually the best spot. Can you spot me? Not as high as the cross, but close enough.
My mom took the picture above, as it was taken into the sun I just messed with it a bit much...The next image, is another panoramic shot I took... it's not a final copy, and it's not available to view large, as I had mentioned before that I am trying to put a show together solely of pano's... just a taste:
I sat there for close to 2 hours, the air was clean and crisp, it was just warm enough in the sun, and although there was a crowd around me, it was almost perfectly quiet (something about noise, seems to bother birds).I even got to witness 2 hawks in an aerial battle with an eagle. The eagle had been sitting off to the left for over an hour, then decided to look around. I saw a total of about 7 condors, though I can't be sure whether they were all different. In the image above there is one flying below me, 75% to the left on the image, and perfectly in between the lady standing to take a picture and that last guy in black with the gray hat. Though once again, it isn't obvious. There are also two other birds flying. Either a hawk and an eagle, or a hawk and a hawk. Or maybe it was a falcon. Once again, beats me.
Just in case you're wondering what exactly a condor looks like (as I apologize, but my closest picture still wouldn't satisfy). Click here for an image. They are amazing when they fly... no wing flapping, just gliding around with their +3m wingspans.
The Road to Lake Titicaca
We left the Colca region, back in the bus (for 9 hrs) and on our way to the city of Puno, known for its proximity to Lake Titicaca!
View Larger Map
My mom took the following one:
...which became:
The photo that I took in the same spot, stitched together from 10 images: 
Out of the canyon, andon the way, we had some delays, protests of some kind, they wouldn't be our last:
Throughout the past couple days, the Peruvian landscape seemed quite dry, of course we were not traveling through the wet season, this way about to change when we neared the Lake Titicaca area. We wouldn't see the lake properly until the next morning as it was already getting dark. Below, you can see a couple wild flamingos mingling in the water:
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Around towns and villages it looked a little more like this
As I mentioned earlier, the following day we were to see Titicaca properly, and set sail on the highest commercially-navigable lake in the world (3,812m / 12,507 ft) to visit the artificial Uros Islands.
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