Blogs from Colca Canyon, Arequipa, Peru, South America - page 15

Hello again. I trust you have all had time to read our last blog where we were just about to get on a bus in Puno. We had seats 1 and 2 at the front of the bus and above the driver, with the large windshield protecting us from oncoming bugs and wind. It was somewhat reminiscent of going to the cinema! The bus went via Juliaca, a town much larger than Puno. Our seats gave us a great view of Peruvian life and we were amused to see the bicycle rickshaws carrying people with large tyres. We were more surprised when we saw these bicycle rickshaws carrying corrugated iron sheets, a 3 seater settee and even one with a wardrobe, all with a passenger frantically holding on to their newly purchased goods. Somehow I don’t ... read more

I only posted about M.P. a couple days ago but it has been over a week since I was there. That is my way of saying I am behind in keeping up with this blog. The great news is that I am about 98% healthy with only a runny nose. Feeling almost a hundred percent makes the trip so much more enjoyable and pleasurable. Leave Cusco, we took a plane flight to Arequipa which was beyond turbulant. I would almost consider it a rollercoaster ride due to the amount of times I lost my stomach. Listening to the structure of the plane crackel was a bit unnerving, but I am living to write this so all ended well. Arequipa , the second largest won in Peru, was mainstream and set toward tourism. The people were nice ... read more

After leaving the heady heights of Macchu Pichu and Cusco it was on to the coldest bus in the world for a night bus to Arequipa, where we had plans to spend a few days doing Spanish and a trip to Colca Canyon, most of which went to plan. The city of Arequipa was really beautiful, with lots of Colonial architecture and impressive buildings. The fact that it is also set deep in a valley in between an enormous active volcano and snow-capped mountains made it all the better. Our first day was spent in a tired haze looking for Spanish lessons which we believed had been successful and on tuesday morning it was up early with a bowl of Cornflakes (oh the luxury!) and off to Spanish school to broaden our minds. Our lesson began ... read more

The Colca canyon is the 2nd largest in the world and only a few hours from Arequipa, it is famous for being home to Condors. We booked to go on a 2 day tour with Colonial Tours, mainly as they did not pick you up at 3am as most of the others seemed to do............It was a cracking trip, the long and lonely road took you through desert type landscapes, with huge drops off the side of the road to a town called Chivay, an old traditional Peruvian town (now firmly meated out for tourists though). On the way we passed over 4900m above sea level, this is not a pleasant experience, we have been quite high for the last few weeks, but this was something new, not sure how people live at that altitude, but ... read more

The never-ending journey A miners strike at 3am in the morning! Could this day possibly get any worse? After being on the bus for 5 hours, we were woken up at 3am to be told that we would be forced to sit on the side of a road, along with dozens of other trucks, buses, & cars waiting for the local miners to remove the boulders & loose stones they had put on the road to block the way. By 9am - there was still no resolution with the miners, who, by this stage were blind drunk and threatening to blow up the buses if their demands were not met by the local government. We only had two alternatives; we could either wait on the bus until the road cleared; or alternatively walk the distance ... read more