Blogs from Colca Canyon, Arequipa, Peru, South America - page 33

I planned one morning in Puno to visit Lake Titicaca´s top attraction, the Islas Flotantes or Floating Islands; since the time of the Incas the Uros tribe has avoided confrontation by living on thick interwoven beds of totora reeds some distance from the lakeshore, from this amazing semi-edible plant they also make their homes and their boats. During the tour we were taken to two of the islands and were given free time to wonder around, the ground was very springy and it was quite difficult to shake the suspicion of an imminent collapse. My favorite snippet of information was that when one island was having a family feud the two opposing sides would simply chop the island in half and float their separate ways, quite a neat solution I thought. The islands must be quite ... read more

Arequipa is a very nice colonial city and we saw both highlights here. One of which is the Santa Catalina Convent - a city within a city. Located in the center of Arequipa, Santa Catalina is the pride of its townspeople, covering an area of more than 29,426 square meters. The nunnery was founded in 1580 and visitors have been able to stroll through the streets and cloisters since 1970. During colonial times the cloisters were a refuge of female nobility who had decided to shut themselves away from the world and dedicate themselves entirely to prayer. We took an hour long tour around the grounds and saw some really beautiful architecture and art. The pictures show the beautiful gardens and views of Volcano El Misti in the background. Whilst here we also saw the museum ... read more

In the space of a week we saw two amazing things: Colca Canyon (twice as deep as the grand canyon and second deepest on earth) and Lake Titicaca (the highest navigable lake in the world at over 4000m). We also saw the pretty town of Arrequipa, a fully intact Incan sacrifice and the dump called Puno! This leg of our journey started off great with a comfy 9 hour ride on the Cruz del Sur bed bus from Cusco to Arequipa complete with a J-lo video, bingo and willy wonka in Spanish! Arequipa is by far the nicest and prettiest town in Peru that we came across with really nice (and cheap) restaurants and bars. We are still searching for decent beer though! After all our Inca learning of the past weeks, we visited the ... read more

After a 4am start and a 6hr bumpy bus ride we arrived at Cabonaconde in the Colca Canyon. Ruc Sacs were packed and we were ready to set off on our 3 day Jaunt into the second Deepest Canyon in the world(The deepest is just up the road but is not as good to look at). We had planned to be independant on this trip as the distances didnt seem that great. On the approach to the Canyon edge we were all ready shattered, we had only done 3K thou the mountain sun was burning down on us. We looked over the edge and thought "Nuts to that lets go back and hire a Mule" After asking round the village we knew we wouldn´t get out that day so we found a bed for the night. ... read more

Arrived in Arequipa after sort of sleeping on the bus. But it is 6am so still tired. Get taxis straight to Point hostel and back to bed, can´t even move in time for the football at 9am. Get up again for lunch and go to a local place for the set lunch. Always a surprise in these places... Then walk into town and find a bar for the next footy game. I leave the boys to go see the ice mummy, a sacrificed girl that was found preserved in ice at the top of the local volcano. The ice preserved her but while the volcano is erupting the ice melts so some people went on a trek and found her and 3 others lower down less preserved. Pretty yuk really. Back to meet the boys for ... read more