El condor pasa

You can fit so many things into your day if you start it at 2:30 a.m.! Like hopping into a van with a bunch of other early birds, driving up into the Andes over bumpy roads, crossing a 4,900m pass, descending into the Colca Valley, having breakfast in Chivay, a lively little town surrounded by Andean terraces, heading on to several miradors with breathtaking views over the Colca Valley and later the Colca Canyon, realizing how thin the air becomes above 3,000m, watching condors sail on the winds around the cliffs below the Cruz del Condor, walking into a cheerful Christmas procession in a small village, seeing peasants work on their steep terraced fields like they have done for centuries, observing life in mountain villages and towns, spotting lamas, alpacas and vicuñas in the pampa, discovering flamingos at over 3,000 metres of altitude (why did I always think they lived in warmer surroundings?) and taking in overwhelming views of the Andes all along the way... It feels like everything I've seen came straight out of a documentary about Peru and its mountain villages, complete with kids in chullos, typical Peruvian hats, and women in colorful dresses who carry kids and goods in woven fabrics tied around their necks. Overwhelming day.