Arequipa and the Colca Canyon

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We arrived in Arequipa and checked into a hostel where we had a private room, it was so nice it was more like a hotel and this time we had hot showers! Arequipa was an old colonial town with lots of plazas and a big cathedral in the main plaza. Whilst there we visited the musuem Santvarios Andinos where they hold Juanita the ice princess. We learnt more about the incas and how Junita was sacrifised on Mount Ampato. Her body had been preserved for thousnds of years by the ice on the mountains.

The next day we went on a tour to Colca Canyon. We spent four hours walking down into the canyon which was hard work as the trail was quite slippery. That night we stayed in huts lit by candlelight, it was really cold and the villages in the canyon had only got electricity about 6 months before we were there. The people who live in the villages have to climb out of the canyon in order to get to the main town for supplies. We often saw the locals going past on mules and carrying a load as there was no road into the canyon. The next day we visited the other villiages in the canyon a church and a musuem. We drank che cha and the locals were only too happy to show us how they live and how they made che cha. In the afternoon we reached the oasis where we relaxed and swam. We then had to climb up and out of the canyon for four hours. This was hard work and seemed never ending. We arrived at the hostel our bodies and feet hurt so much. The third day we went to Cruz del Condor where we see lots of condors, they were beautiful and graceful as they circled the skys. From there we took a bus which was packed full of people. There was even people in the lugguage compartments and they were still made to pay! We had lunch at an all you can eat buffet serving a variety of traditional peruivan dishes. It was great to try a bit of everything.
Late afternoon we visited the hot springs and relaxed our bodies before a long bus journey home. That evening we had turkish food Fullafa. The next morning we left Arequipa for Santiago it was a long bus journey 36 hours. Sam D was really sick had a 24 hour bug, lucky we were sitting next to the toilet. We arrived in Santiago and we had one day before our flight to New Zealand. There was not a lot to do and the weather was awful so we went to the cinema and see Harry Potter. We took a bus to the airport and boarded our flight with Lan Chile to New Zealand.

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Comments

[Mum J]

Shall I sell your car Sam?
You girls just never stop do you!! You both won't need cars when you return, just a pair of boots and a long stick. Loved the photos. Take care, love Mum J XXX

[mum]

more walking
You poor girls. It seems you are forever walking and climbing. But look on the bright side - You will both be the fittest girls ever when you arrive back in England. :) You know me I don't walk anywhere...I am soo glad you managed to find a place that was similar t a hotel and have a hot shower. I could't imagine what it must be like for you both in and out of hostels with hardly any mod cons... You really have done some travelling as well. All them bus journeys crammed with hot sweaty people I do feel for you but hey! What I would do to swop places :) looking forward to your next installment. Everyone said hi and hope you are having a great time. Love you lots Mum V xxxxxxxxxxx