Off to Cruz del Condor

We woke up early at about 6 am to freshen up and catch the 7 am bus towards Arequipa. On the way, just about 12 kms from Cabanaconde, we planned get off at Cruz del Condor.
Cruz del Condor is a marvelous place to see the huge Andean Condor. Its the national bird of Peru and was a constant fixture in the Inca icons. The condors start flying early in the morning, taking advantage of the updrafts created by the thermals due to the heating of the land in the early morning sun. From what we had heard, they normally fly away by about 10 am since the early morning thermals are gone by then.
There are only 2 local buses towards this direction in the morning, one at 7 am and the other at 9 am. We decided to catch the 7 am bus.
After having a quick breakfast at the main square we caught the 7 am bus for S/ 2 per person. The bus got really full as all the locals use it to travel between the villages. A lot of them got off within the next 10-15 min at various places on the way.Read more