Beunos Dias Todos!
Arequippa is another high altitude town in the shadow of the El Misti Volcano. We decided to do a bit more trekking here and booked a 2 day hike into and out of of the Colca Canyon, which is deeper than the grand canyon in America. Pick up was at 3am, and the drive to the first stop took 4 hours, with breakfast being a packet of cookies and a handmade cheese sandwich, made by the tour guide on the bus. Not exactly gourmet, but beggars can't be choosers! On the way we stopped to see Andean Condors (some of which were masquerading as eagles) before donning our trekking gear and heading down the slope with our trek guide (a 16 year old girl, wearing converse pumps) leading the way.
The Canyon is beautiful with magnificent views all round but the path was a bit longer than were were lead to believe. We arrived at our beautiful oasis type lodgings at the bottom of the canyon in the dark so we couldn't even see them and were greeted with freezing cold showers, beds made from stone and found a large bug cooked in the spaghetti bolognaise,which we found whilst eating the meal in the dark. Lovely. The next day we set off in the dark at 5am, back up the hill side and being told we had to get to the top in 2 hours where breakfast would be waiting for us. 4 hours later we all emerged but there was still time for breakfast. After much grumbling by the tour guide, we set off back in the minibus to another hot springs which fortunately this time, were very nice, clean and provided us with no significant after-effects.
We then set off for our final destination in Peru, the town of Puno on the shore of Lake Titicaca. Puno is at 4000m above sea level and the highest place we have visited so far in South America. We went on a day trip to the floating islands of the Uros People. They comprise lots of large floating masses of reeds stacked together and anchored to the lake floor, each one lasts about 60 years. Its a bit of a tourist trap but was very interesting so see all the traditionally dressed women in their bright coloured skirts and bowler hats.
Everything is made out of reeds, houses, boats, beds, clothes, jewellery,dental floss, toilet roll, (joking about the last two) they do everything but eat them. After that we moved on to a "proper" island made of good old fashioned rock, Taquile island in the middle of Lake Titicaca. The lake itself is huge, looking more like an ocean and supposed to be the highest navigable waterway in the world. Taquile island is home to another ancient tribe, who wear a lot of fancy hats to denote their social standing. The views from here over the lake were amazing with the snow capped mountains visible in the distance. After this it was time for us to leave Peru (as we had overstayed our visa by a day, oops! and a $22 fine to boot!) and head cross the border to Bolivia. The stories of industrial strikes, high crime rates, being spat on in a scam to steal your wallet, and the worlds most dangerous roads didn't scare us!
Arequippa is another high altitude town in the shadow of the El Misti Volcano. We decided to do a bit more trekking here and booked a 2 day hike into and out of of the Colca Canyon, which is deeper than the grand canyon in America. Pick up was at 3am, and the drive to the first stop took 4 hours, with breakfast being a packet of cookies and a handmade cheese sandwich, made by the tour guide on the bus. Not exactly gourmet, but beggars can't be choosers! On the way we stopped to see Andean Condors (some of which were masquerading as eagles) before donning our trekking gear and heading down the slope with our trek guide (a 16 year old girl, wearing converse pumps) leading the way.
The Canyon is beautiful with magnificent views all round but the path was a bit longer than were were lead to believe. We arrived at our beautiful oasis type lodgings at the bottom of the canyon in the dark so we couldn't even see them and were greeted with freezing cold showers, beds made from stone and found a large bug cooked in the spaghetti bolognaise,which we found whilst eating the meal in the dark. Lovely. The next day we set off in the dark at 5am, back up the hill side and being told we had to get to the top in 2 hours where breakfast would be waiting for us. 4 hours later we all emerged but there was still time for breakfast. After much grumbling by the tour guide, we set off back in the minibus to another hot springs which fortunately this time, were very nice, clean and provided us with no significant after-effects.
We then set off for our final destination in Peru, the town of Puno on the shore of Lake Titicaca. Puno is at 4000m above sea level and the highest place we have visited so far in South America. We went on a day trip to the floating islands of the Uros People. They comprise lots of large floating masses of reeds stacked together and anchored to the lake floor, each one lasts about 60 years. Its a bit of a tourist trap but was very interesting so see all the traditionally dressed women in their bright coloured skirts and bowler hats.
Everything is made out of reeds, houses, boats, beds, clothes, jewellery,dental floss, toilet roll, (joking about the last two) they do everything but eat them. After that we moved on to a "proper" island made of good old fashioned rock, Taquile island in the middle of Lake Titicaca. The lake itself is huge, looking more like an ocean and supposed to be the highest navigable waterway in the world. Taquile island is home to another ancient tribe, who wear a lot of fancy hats to denote their social standing. The views from here over the lake were amazing with the snow capped mountains visible in the distance. After this it was time for us to leave Peru (as we had overstayed our visa by a day, oops! and a $22 fine to boot!) and head cross the border to Bolivia. The stories of industrial strikes, high crime rates, being spat on in a scam to steal your wallet, and the worlds most dangerous roads didn't scare us!
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