activity upon activity...

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so there seems to be quite a lot to do in arequipa which got us a bit worried about the early starts we would have to endure and as ladies of leisure the rushing around was not going to be appreciated...well we had all set out to get ourselves organised after a little sleep and to book ourselves in for all the thing we wanted do .. well it turns out that the owner cornered us asked what we wanted to do and then said that he would book it for us..well now we werent quite sure what do with ourselves!! always a dangerous time for us especially as arequipa is filled with little markets and shops selling alpaca goods..well we had to venture in and though we were very restrained in not buying anything i think we could ahve stayed there for hours snuggling into the blankets and dressing ourselves up like david crocket complete with alpaca hat and slippers!!! if it hadnt been for the giant spiders that were being displayed (why...who is goign to buy them really??!!!) this muight have been our day!! well that night we were treated to a peruvian speciality cooked by there fair hands of the owners mother...it was guinea pig (no judgement mother you've eaten whale!!) well i know pig mice (As i liked to call them in younger days) were probably one of my favourites well they still are..the taste amazing! wasnt expectign them to have much meat on them but its kind of like eating the leg and wings of a chicken..which the do sort of taste like (like most things!!) but better..like a posh chicken if you will!! this set us up nicely for our next day of white water rafting...now i was fine with the rafting dont have a fear or anything until our guide starts bangin on about safety precautions (A shock to the system having been in south america for so long-these sort of minor issues never bother anyone!!) so then i got a bit nervous!! but i was brilliant such a good day out and luckily not as hard work as i thought it was going to be...only the sand flies at the bottom spoilt it..and if it bites and its going to itch-they love me!!! that night was saturday and eeryones favourite day to go out and as me and cara hadnt been out in ages we figured this would be the perfect opportunity...well we adopted another english girl and the owner of the hostel (Who insisted on looking after us in this club...not so much looking after as just letching-luckily not on us this time but on jenny...sowe had a break from sleazy latinos!!) well we thought we'd rescue her in the end after we'd had enough amusement at her expense! and trotted off down the road to a bar that had live music...where the lead singer was a transvestite...sold-this place was going to be great and indeed it was!!! having been so careful about not buying horrible food we gave in this night and bought a burger of the street...im sure there was no danger as the alcohol would have killed any bug that was trying to get through into our blood system!!! so the next day, hungover (for once me and not cara!!) we went off to a museum (yes cultured!!) it is university run and is where they store juanita..the inca sacrifce who was dicovered by climbers after an eruption destroyed her grave..but because of the ice she is still perfectly preserved...unfortunately she wasnt there ebcause during january and march she goes of for lab testing but her 'sister' is there and its so wierd to see this mummy crossed legged still with perfect hair on her head...theyve also got lots of offereings that went into the graves with the sacrifices that are still perfectly in tact and one vase is sealed and still has water in it!!! juanitas cloak is also on display with her blood on the shoulder where it would have fallen from her head...so interesting and absolutely amazing-wopnt bore you too much with the details because ill do that when i get home!!!! as historians me and cara were in are eliment though...

the following day we got up at 2am...yes thats 2am!!! and ventured off to the colca canyon...its the deepest canyon in the world and is absolutely breathtaking....well worth the early start..we also go to see condors soaring around on the hot thermals and although probably the world most ugly birds there size and grace when they fly do make them quite magestic...i think the whole experience was helped by the sandwhich we got made for us fresh on top of the canyon...that was also beautiful!!! arequipa its self is stunning, a really nice colonial city with a fair bit of history and we were also blessed with some lovely weather which probably helped!!! the following day we got ourselvs booked onto a bus and were told be at the bus station at 1am prompt...im not sure why they specify this as they are always late...as usual this was 2 hours late!! i was not heppy..luckily i wasnt feeling great though so when i got on the bus i fell straight sleep only to wake up in puno (on the border of bolivia) to find that the whole of the bottom of the bus was dented and none of the downstairs windows were there..they were all smashed up...apparently we ahd crashed during the night and i had slept through the whole thing!!!! a good start to get to bolivia..where the raods and buses are meant to be worse...!!

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