Yanque

The last day before leaving Chivay I took a van to Yanque 20 minutes west along the south bank of the river. I had been told of an interesting garden at a hotel there. Assuming it being a small village it would be easy to find this garden, I asked at an art gallery on the plaza but the artist had only a guess and it turned out to be a wild goose chase. The village was small but the associated area was large. The hotel I got to after a 10 minute taxi and a 10 minute walk wasn't the one so I wandered back in the direction of town. I did find a very unusual prickly Orange flower on a prickly vine, A woman spinning alpaca yarn as she walked along and a group of men hauling 100 lb. loads of firewood 200' down a steep winding trail and a hot spring. But the day was too hot and the road back to town too steep and long for a bath at that point.

The next day I boarded a bus bound for Arequipa. As it stopped at Pata Pampa, I waved out the window at my fellow strandees. I thought they might look up and give me a little wave but no. All the artisanas grinned and waved ecstatically and the younger of the teenage girls ran towards the bus waving and chattering greetings. I aws sad to have to leave without stopping but the bus wouldn't wait.