Hi all!
I made it to Arequipa which is where I am now writing this. It is known as the white city, as many buildings are made of the white volcanic rock quite common around here. Excuse my English, it´s taken a nose dive (along with the Spanish!).
Anyway, Arequipa is nice, much smaller than Lima! It is higher also and surrounded by beautiful volcanos topped with snow.
Anyway, after a day exploring Arequipa (which is where my Step Mum, Silvia, hails from) we went to the Colca Canyon. Or rather, we stayed at a small village near it. It was so nice to get out to nature again... such beauitful countryside. We reached some high altitudes - 4900 metres at one stage. We were chewing on coca leaves and drinking coca tea... it was chilly and overcast on the way there, it is now the rainy season. On the way back though it was very clear and very beautiful.
Apparantly Colca also means Cold Case or refrigerator. The Incans and the Spaniards and the locals before all of that have used the canyon to store food. Little shelves lie in the rock along the river. It is said that one of the volcanos around here also is the source of the Amazon river.
We drove to a nice remote spot... where we met several hundred other tourists... all perched on rocks with cameras a-ready to catch that great shot of the infamous condor bird. We got some great views too but I only took a few photos as I was intent on enjoying watching them. Sorry! I did take some photos of sharky eating some tourists though. Sharky is having a wonderful time but everyone agrees he needs an orthodontist. But then so probably do I!
Tomorrow we fly to Cusco... and then we do the Inca trail to Machu Piccu. So a few days hiking in the freezing cold! I can´t wait! I bought some more thermals just in case. Then to Lake Titicaca... and then... Bolivia, then Chile.
Hope you are all well... I miss OZ!
Mez
