Locals sometimes say ´when the moon separated from the earth, it forgot to take Arequipa.´ This beautiful city has grand colonial buildings, built from a light-coloured volcanic rock called sillar that is simply stunning. The modern city of Arequipa was founded on 15 August 1540, by Garcí Manuel de Carbajal, an emissary of Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro. Today, Arequipa is the 2nd largest city in Peru with a population of approximately 750,000. Throughout history Arequipa remained relatively isolated during colonial and early republican times, but that changed in 1870 when a Southern railroad to the coastal port of Mollendo was inaugurated, opening trade via the Pacific Ocean. The building and expansion of more roads in the 1930s also led to a direct connection with the Pan-American Highway, strengthening Arequipa's links to the rest of the Americas. ... read more

I´ll just quote the following from the Lonely Planet, because I simply can´t say it any better than this. ¨Oasis attract flocks and there´s no exception here. A once-humble stop on the trans-Andean cattle drive, San Pedro de Atacama (altitude 2440m) is now prime real estate. In one dcade a proliferation of guesthouses, eateries, internet cafes and tour agencies have wedged their way into its dusty streets, molding it into a kind of adobe-landia. There are all the cons of fast development (steep prices, cranky tour operators and exaggerated offers) yet...there is incredible quiet, psychedelic landscapes, courtyard bonfires under star-scattered heavens and hammock-strewn hostels ... this is a damn-good place to kick back. ... While this oasis conjures up delectable culinary treats (with a variety that far outshines most of Chile), guests pay dearly for their ... read more

Potosi lays claim to being the highest city in the world at an altitude of around 4000m, but in itself is not an overly impressive town, although at one stage in history (when the mining industry was booming) it was larger than both Paris and New York. Which brings me to the reason for going to Potosi, to enter a still active mine. A tour of the mine is not really for the faint hearted as the conditions down there are quite extreme and the life expectancy of a local mine worker is decidedly less than your average local. The mining industry in Potosi does not have a great track record they have been mining the same mountain Cerro Rico for around 500 years and have lost something like 8 million indigenous indian lives in that ... read more

Copacabana was pretty unexciting for me. I spent the night on a bus to get here so I could sit on the shore of Lake Titicaca, which I did for a few hours. With not much else to do, I hopped on a bus to La Paz (buses are super cheap here in Bolivia, a 3.5 hour ride for $2).... read more

The Sacred Valley is an area within an hour or so north of Cusco. Within a few hundred kilometer distance are some pretty amazing Inca ruins. For a very brief bit of history, the Inca people were dominant in this part of South America for 4 or 500 years ending in the mid 1500's. They primarily lived in the mountainous regions of Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile. As I'm somewhat pressed for time this entry will be pretty short (once again), but I'll include lots of photos as usual.... read more