Started the journey to Arequipa by scrubbing out a burnt porridge pot as the cook group decided that porridge was a good idea on a travel day :P Arrived in Arequipa after a full drive day (approx 10-12 hours travel) to a (very) welcome pisco sour by the pool and treated ourselves to a blow out meal at ZigZag restaurant - Alpaca steak with sauteed potatoes and ratatouille, a small bottle of local red and a shared cheeseboard. Possibly the best food so far :) Vistited the Ice Princess Juanita museum and the Santa Catalina Convent which was closed for 4 decades and was like a small city itself- the walls were all painted blue or red and there were flowers everywhere. 5 am set off to Colca Canyon to see the condors, but after a 5 hour drive, they obviously weren't interested in being photographed, as only 1 turned up just as we were having a group photo taken!! Had a huge buffet lunch of typical Andean food and headed to the hotel to lie down as the altitude was really killing my head. The hotel was about 3600m above sea level, and the highest point we reached during the trip was 4,900m!! Went to the hot springs in Chivay village, where we pretty much had the 39 degree pool to ourselves - bliss :) Yesterday was another full drive day to Cusco, so not much to report except a lot of boredom and staring out the window. Today, after a sleepless night trying to ignore my snoring roommate, went out for brekka at Jacks- full English brekka (called Gordo in the menu which means fat) and black coffee, it was heaven on a plate after all the bread and jam in the previous places. After this momentous start to the day (it really is the little things when you're away from home), set off for he Macchu Picchu museum, the Inca Museum and the Chocolate museum. Tried chocolate tea and bought little chocolate treats for the trail. Now to get ready for the Inca Trail... 4 days of hiking up to altitudes of 4200m above sea level!!
