We left Chivay at 0630 - it was very cold thanks to the clear blue skies, it also meant the overnight precipation had dusted the mountain tops with snow. The coach was freezing - and took a long time to warm up. 10minutes out of Chivay one of the bus drivers (we have two) realised he had left his wallet behind so jumped off the coach and was left to walk back then somehow link with us later - but thanks to a bus revolt we turned round picked him up and returned ...

A relative lie in with breakfast at 8 then off to the local Chivay hot springs at 9 am. Before donning costumes and hiring towels we saw where the hot water warmed by volcanic activity to @ 45 degrees emerged and flowed down to the pools. We definitely picked the right time as it was not too busy, 90 minutes later when we left it was filling up. Interestingly all the lockers had 'aboriginal style' paintings of Andean animals on them which were fun. The water wa...

We headed off out of Arequipa - where it was set for another hot dry day - and as we climbed through the Andes it got noticeably cooler and I changed from my shorts to trousers after our tea stop. Our first stop was for snacks and water still on the outskirts of Arequipa; soon the landscape became bleaker with very little vegetation yet small herds of farmed alpaca, llama and sheep were finding enough to sustain them. Our next stop was was by a big pan with wate...

We gathered at 9am to meet our guide who would take us on a city tour and be with us for the following two days in the Colca Canyon. It was soon clear that some ailing - the two women from Wiltshire bailed out due to an emerging cold and stomach problems - Dan from Derby was also ailing with his stomach but valiantly soldiered on bailing out at the Santa Catalina convent along with the Norwegian couple and us - we bailed out for different reasons - hot, hungry a...

Today was a travel day - we left Nazca at 8 ish and headed south in beautiful sunshine albeit I could see a big cloud bank off to the west and it was not long before we were cooled down and driving along the desert highway to Arequipa in the midst of it. After about 90 minutes we passed a great gash in the earths surface which is the fault line which links with the one in the ocean and is an indicator of the unstable nature of the earths crust in this area and re...