It's been a while, but I have been busy.

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Hi guys, sorry it has been a while since my last update. Time justseems to go by so quickly here, and I always end up doing something.It is hard to believe that I only have weeks left in Peru. I amhaving to start to think about where else I am going to go too. I hadsuch a great time In Arequpia over the weekend. It is quite differentto Cusco. It was colonised after Cusco and the whole set up is quitedifferent. There are a couple of volcanos there that have eruptedover time so the city is made out of Volcanic rock. A lot of thebuildings are white and really pretty. The streets are a lot wider andthe city is a lot cleaner. There is not so much pollution. It wasnice being able to breath properly again. It was also about 1000 mtlower than Cuzco, so it was a lot easier to breath. I went with oneof my house mates Beth. It was really nice getting away with only oneother person, I appreciated the peace. Poor Beth has been quite sickas well, she got salmonella, from Mc Donalds no less, about a monthago. It took her quite a while to get over it and she missed out on afew cool trips. So she was really happy to get away for the weekend.We had a few dramas with the bus getting there. The company we wentwith lied about the type of bus they had available, we were supposedto get full Cama seats, which are like first class seats on anairplane that almost fully recline. Since Beth and I are quite talland it was a 11 hour bus ride we wanted to be as comfortable aspossible. So about 10 minutes before our bus was due to leave theytold us the bus wasn't available and we would have to have the otherseats. I had to fight with the guy to get some money back on ourtickets, then he tried to give me the wrong amount. We ended upgetting put on this bus that we had decided earlier that we didn'twant to go through, it looked quite dodgy. And it was. The seatswere like airplane ones and the driver was a little erratic, thankgoodness I still have some of those anti nausea tablets that Chellgave me. Also I had gone to the chemist to get something to help mesleep, which turned out to be Xanax. S./5 for 10 tablets, which worksout to be about $2.50 New Zealand. Got to love Peru and their Drugavailability. $45 NZD for a preventer inhaler, $2.50 for Xanax! Onthat note, it turns out that the antibiotic that the doctor prescribesus for upper respiratory and sinus problems is the one that they usein N.Z for Clamidia! The medical system here is interesting to say theleast.Anyway back to Arequipa, once we got there we were very stiff andrelived to get off the bus. First thing we did was book a ticket backfor sunday, this time with Cruz Del Sur They are a bit more expensive,but worth every cent. We got to our hostel which was really nice. Wehad booked a twin room, using the shared bathroom, ended up gettingour own ensuite. The staff were really nice and the place was reallyclean which was great. The dinner we had the first night was a littledisastrous. But we had a nice look around the city. In the morning wewent out for breakfast, which was really nice and for a little wonder.We had decided to book a city tour bus for the afternoon. We cameacross a old monastery that has been opened up for the public. Wedebated a little about going in, and decided to have a look. Wethought it would take 30min to 1 hour, but once we got looking it wasamazing. The place was huge and there was so much to see, it wasquite unexpected. It reminded me of the time that Dad and I spentabout half a day at the whale museum in Albany. We ended up having toleave because we needed to get to out bus tour. That was pretty greattoo. Got to see Mountains, farmland. I walked on grass and smeltflowers and clean air, it was great and just what I needed. The tourguide was really good and it was a nice afternoon. When we got back wefound a nice restaurant for dinner. They had dinning on the roof topand I got to eat fresh seafood. It was awesome. There was alsosomething going on at the cathedral as well. I think some priestswere getting Canonised. So that was all done up. There was also aprotest outside fro white ribbon day, protesting the church and theirtreatment of women. It was quite interesting to see. One side of thecathedral was filled with signs and people peacefully protesting, justsigns and and a bit of a sit in, on the other side there were allthese people excited about what was going on inside.The next morning we had to get up at 2am to do our tour of the CoclaCanyon. We found out latter that you could just take a bus out there,that would of been a much better option. At about 3am I was poppingmore anti nausea tablets, thinking that the bus driver was going tokill us all, and that Dad had told me to sort out a will! Some how wemanaged to get to our first destination alive. Really the bus driverwas overtaking trucks on blind corners in the dark. And if you thinkthe windy hilly roads in the Coromandel were bad these were 10 timesworse, and the shear drops are terrifying. At least when It was darkI couldn't see how far down it was. We stopped off in a couple oflittle villages which was kinda nice but I think the whole purpose wasjust to get us to buy stuff. I got a photo with a Condor on my arm,then the crazy guy just put his hat on my head and the bird justjumped up, It was quite a shock but made for a good photo. We finallygot to the Canyon which was quite nice, both getting there alive, andseeing the canyon. We had to go through this tunnel, which is quitelong. Never keen on tunnels in the first place, especially in anearthquake zone, but this one was a dirt track, and the driver didn'tthink it was necessary to put his lights on until about half waythrough.I have heard different reports about the Canyon. Some say it isspectacular, some say it is pretty good. It is the deepest in theworld, although that apparently is controversial. I thought it wasO.K It wasn't the most spectacular thing I have ever seen, but thenagain I have seen some pretty impressive stuff in N.Z and Aus. It wasa little bland looking. We then headed back. We stopped of somewherefor lunch, it was a buffet. Beth is lactose intolerant and hasstopped eating meat after her salmonella, So trying to figure out whatwe could both eat was a little tough. I have found that the wholedoes this have flour in question doesn't really mean you are going toget a proper answer. They will tell me it has no flour in it but itobviously coated in bread crumbs. Or in a lot of cases they justlie. Beth gets the same, they say it has no milk, but you can seechunks of cheese. There quite often is quite a lot of 'can you justtaste this' from both of us before we eat unknown foods these days.Lunch was pretty unspectacular . We then had a walk around the townfor a bit before getting back on the bus from hell. This time a fewof us took some Xanax. It was a 3.5 hour drive back and we were aboutat our wits end. The driver managed to get us back in a little over2.5 hours, somehow alive. That meant Beth and I had a little moretime in Arequpia, It was nice, we found a nice little coffee shop andhad a look around. We ended up having an early dinner at the roof toprestaurant. It is about 5 floors high, the highest point in thePlaza. The views were awesome and the food and wine was great. Itwas then back to Cusco. I was really sad to go, and a little nervyabout getting back on a bus again, but it was o.k we had a non crazydriver.So life back in Cuzco. The last few weeks have been a little tough.Beth left on Monday and that was really upsetting, we had grown quiteclose. I've had a few good friends leave in last few weeks

We had Thanksgiving on the Thursday before I left for Arequpia. It was a good day. We got together and planed the meal out, had to go with chicken not turkey though as we couldn't find one. It was great to be back in the kitchen though, but the oven was terrable. It just wouldn't heat up. It took a while to get everything together but the food turned outgreat and most of the house said it was the best meal they had had inCusco.I finally ended up getting gastro sick. I threw up at the orphanageyesterday, awesome. So much for my iron clad stomach and me nevergetting sick. It wasn't too bad and I feel better today. Probablysomething from the girls. I have a pretty chilled out weekend, mostof the house is away this weekend, so there will only be about 4-5 ofus, which I am really looking forward too. It is going to be my lastweekend with Kim who has been here the same amount of time as me, itis going to be quite sad to see her go, but as she lives in Auckland Iam sure I will see her again. I might head out to sacred valley forthe day on Sunday. It is supposed to be quite peaceful there. Kim andI are looking at decorating the house on Saturday for Christmas. Thatshould be fun.

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Photos

The drive out to the canyon
Surprisingly I was able to take this photo. Nice photo for almost dying on the way

I'm standing on grass!!
Got over excited when I saw grass that I could stand on