Arequipa and Colca Canyon

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Arequipa is a very cute colonial city. The central plaza, white buildings and cobbled streets are very picturesque. We visited Santa Catalina, a convent that housed nuns from wealthy families... at some point the archbishop had to ban them from having more than one servant each! The convent is like a little town, with streets, little houses and several pretty courtyards. We also visited Juanita, a 500-year old frozen girl who was sacrificed on the top of a mountain by the Incas.

At our party hostel we met Chelsea (an Australian journalist) and Jens (a German medic), who apparently liked us enough to join us on a trek to Colca Canyon. So after a big night out we cured our hangover in the terminal terrestre and got onto a 6-hour bus to Cabanaconde. Here we had a delicious alpaca stir-fry and an early night.

The next morning we set off, down into the canyon. The view was spectacular all the way down, but we were happy to reach San Juan de Cuccho, where we had a rest and lunch. Then we continued along the canyon, past a couple of villages and reached an oasis by nightfall. We stayed in a hostel with impressive views of the almost-vertical red mountains surrounding us. All in all, a tough day of trekking, but the scenery definitely made it worthwhile!

The next day we had a steep four-hour climb back to Cabanaconde, where we took the bus back to Arequipa and witnessed a breathtaking sunset in the mountains.

Next stop: Cusco!

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