We celebrated the reduced altitude and increased heat by sunning ourselves on our roof terrace, soaking in the views of Misti and Chachani Volcanoes. We decided to stay put in Arequipa rather than rushing up to Pisco and Nazca befote our Inca trail in Cusco. Thankful for the extra time to relax we mixed seeing the town´s sights with drinking Cubre Libres on our roof terrace.

The nunnery was definitely a highlight, we were both surprised at how beaudtiful it was. The richly hued walls and frescoes in the courtyards contrasting with the bright blue sky and lush plants and flowers. We decided to skip past confessional.

We stumbled across an excellent crepery which we frequented a number of times, as well as Arequipas other cosmoploitan restaurants.

We set off for our 2 day tour of the Colca Canyon by minibus, opting out of the 3 day trek due to the 1am start. Climbing up onto the Altiplano again, we stopped en route to make our offering to Pacha Mama with coca leaves under rock piles.

We made it to Chivay at the head of the Colca Valley and settled down for a buffet lunch which consisted of fried this, fried that, fried llama, fried banana… you get the idea! We upset our guide by insisting we wanted to walk to the thermal springs although he was adamant we wait until 4pm for the bus. Ignoring his wishes we set off early for a lovely hike through the countryside on our own, extremely grateful we did as we had the hot springs to ourselves for an hour before the masses arrived. The place began to resemble Guildford Lido on a Saturday, so we left and walked back. We further upset our guide by declining his invitation go to a Folklore and tradtiaional Peruvian fare, and opted for a pizza in the Irish bar instead.

An early start heading down the valley through small villages and into the Canyon proper. We arrived at Mirador Cruz del Condor along with a thousand other tourists. We were both pleasantly surprised at the proximity and the large number of huge condors we saw, surprisingly graceful despite their 3m wingspan. The crowds left and our group took an hours walk along the Canyon edge. We doubt that either of us will ever visit the Grand Canyon as this is nearly twice the depth and naturally the views were incredible. On our way back we stopped off to see some fine examples of Inca terracing, and for a Canadian guy to throw up - damn that altitdue sickness!

We arrived back just as the celebrations for Arequipas Independance day were kicking off with thousands of people taking to the streets to party. There was an electric atmosphere from huge music stages all the way down to numerous guys playing drums and panpipes on street corners.

Relaxing on our bed the following evening before dinner we really felt the earth move. Nothing kinky, it was the shock waves for the massive earthquake in Pisco and Ica over 600 miles away. At first we thought we had felt a small local earthquake and it was only later that night and the following day that we realised the magnitude of it. A very sad day for Peruvians and we were extremely thankful for our narrow escape by changing our travel plans.

Jona, deciding that 2 natural disasters in as many days was a slim possibility, mountain biked down the side of the active Mistit Volcano. 3 hrs of uphill at altitude after the descent was very hard work, but well worth it for the 26km downhill run back into Arequipa. Jona and the guide celebrated their excursion with a slap up feed of llama stomach lining stew!

Our final day we joined many Peruvians in donating aid having bought some childrens clothes for the earthquake appeal. We also managed to squeeze in a visit to see Juanita, the ice maiden, discovered in 1995 at the top of Ampato Volcano (6380). She was a young girl who had been sacrificed to the mountain Gods over 500yrs ago, and it was incredible to see how well her body had been preserved by the snow and ice.

Of course we couldn't leave Arequipa without a visit to Tradicion Arequipena, the best restaurant in Peru to eat cuy (roast guinea pig). There was no attempt to disguise the fact it was a guinea pig, it had literally been flattened and roasted! Jona was put off at first, but after Emma bravely attempted it, he was soon tucking into the meaty thigh and shoulders stopping short of the tiny rodent kidney and liver.

We left for Cusco that evening and experienced our first luxurious coach journey on Cruz Del Sur.