Inca over.....time to eat!!

So we made it safely through the Inca Trail & back to Cusco. It was lunchtime the next day before we ventured out into daylight & had "breakfast"...which ended at around 3.30pm!! Some strenuos shopping followed before it was early to bed. The next couple of days somewhat resembled the first...that is lots of eating & shopping. A bit of partying may have occured as well on a fun night out at the clubs in town followed by McDonald's at 3am...then more sleeping & eating! Before long though it was back to Magaly & back on the road.

Photo: Sleep over in Cusco......yes, complete with junk food!

Photo: Cute street huh??


Next stop Chivay......with a short delay when the lovely Magaly may have broken down...a little bit!! We were rescued by another truck from the fleet (which we nicknamed Carbuss...nothing like a truck!). On the way to Chivay we stopped if to view a volcano from a lookout point at almost 5,000 metres altitude...pretty amazing....& breathless!! Another highlight of the stay was the amazing hotel with the softest sheets I have ever slept on....okay, so I might still have been hurting from the Inca Trail :)

Photo: Sunset at 5,000m altitude

Photo: Another cutie to add to my menagerie!!


The reason for the stop over in Chivay was to get up really early the next day for a day trip out to the Colca Canyon. Famous for it's Giant Condor population which are apparantly seen best early in the morning. I'm thinking the condor's didn't get that memo cos we only saw about 4 of them (from a distance) & it was lunchtime! It was still a nice way to spend the morning though, lying around in the sun looking out at the spectacular Colca Canyon - which is almost twice as deep as the Grand Canyon.

Photo: Colca Canyon

Photo: This is what we were waiting for......he has a wing span of over 3 meters!!

By that night we were in Arequipa, a gorgeous city in the Andes - although it sits at only 2,335 meters altitude so it was nice to be able to wander around town & not feel breathless! The architecture is also a highlight of the city with lots of colonial-era Spanish style buildings dotted around the place...& of course it wouldn't be a Peruvian city without a Plaza de Armas or a San Fransisco Cathedral! Our first tourist stop was a vist to the Ice Maiden - Juanita. She was a 15 year old Incan girl who was mummified & sacrificed to the Gods about 530 years ago. She is housed in a museum in an airtight, glass box.....& she is disturbing! She still has teeth, hair & clothes & I'm pretty sure I will have nightmares for years after seeing her :) We weren't allowed to take photos of her, which I'm pretty sure is a good thing cos I don't really want to look at her again!

Photo: Arequipa.......Plaza De Armas

We spent the rest of the day wandering around the town & shopping....where I continued to hone my finely tuned haggling skills! In one particular market I spotted a tiny kitten (3 weeks old) on the ground & much to Andrew's horror, I picked it up & had cuddles. The shop keeper could see how smitten I was & promptly offered me the kitten to take home....just like that!! If only I was going straight home, & didn't have to get it through customs.....& didn't have to tell Andrew...I would definitely taken it!

Photo: Adorable :)



That evening we headed off to the movies to see Harry Potter...a rather strange experience where the movie was in English with Spanish subtitles & the cinema had possibly the worst sound system of any I have ever heard. Loved the movie though & for $4 I really can't complain too much :) So after a few lazy days in Arequipa we were reunited with Magaly (who had new bits) & headed to Puerta Inca, for 2 nights sleeping on the beach.

Photo: What a cutie :)