Apologies for the delay in posting a blog but it has been a busy few weeks coupled with a few places without Internet and a few days in the vortex that is Cuscos nightlife.

The last blog finished with a quick trip to Lima to pick up Sean and from there we headed south to a place called Huachchina (its similiar to the blog pic). It is a tiny town of about 200 people. The only reason gringos head there is to sandboard down some wicked dunes. For a ridiculous price of something like 8 euro we got to go down seven dunes and race over the dunes in a monster of a dune buggy. That said, I was a bit delicate from the night before so bouncing around and laying on my stomach going down the dunes was a bit uncomfortable. Still I was great fun and I was surprised at the speed that you pick up doing it.

Another stop off completed and Arequipa was next on the list. Arequipa was more of a 'sure we might as well' rather than a definite on the list as we had time to burn before the Inca Trail. Also a trip to the Colcan Canyon was tipped as a good one to do while your in the area.

After some inital hassle from a hostel owner trying to get money from us for a taxi ride (It was a grand total of about €1.20 but it was the principle of it really) we found our feet a the door of The Wild Rover (WR) hostel. For anyone who has bakpacked around SA will know the story with WR and for all the rest it's an Irish owned hostel chain in Peru And Bolivia that is known for it's hectic but fun party scene. The one in Arequipa was sweet though as it had a wee area out the back for sun bathing. I'm determined to leave SA with a tan- I know my paste-y skin can do it!

Arequipa has a really nice main square (Plaza de Armas) with a huge cathedral on one side and surrounded by nice resturants and balcony terraces where you can stop by for a quick coffee overlooking the square. Still due to it's proximity to Colcan Canyon tour agencies are a dime a dozen. After shopping around for a bit we picked a one day tour and as we didn't feel like doing a two day hike of the canyon (we were doing the four day inca in a few days time).

Pick up was set for 2.30am as the canyon is about a four hour drive away. Cleary I thought it was a good idea to stay awake and wait for it. To be honest we never really thought about it but we figured we would be able to get some sleep on the bus there. That was possible until the bus decided to break down at five am I the middle of the desert. Even though I was wrapped in fleeces and a hat the ice forming on the inside of the bus windows made it somewhat difficult to ward off the cold! Our replacement bus would not be here for another hour or so. In fairness these things can happen and there is nothing you can do about it. However there is somehing I could have done about the Frenchman who started playing the pan pipes in my ear at 5.30 am. Not only this but he was trying to rearrange the trip and make deisions for the rest of the group based on his preference much to everyones annoyance!! For those who know me I am a very patient person so I just left the bus and waited politely outside till the new bus came along.

Eventually we made it to the canyon and despite my tiredness it was actually quite good. Condors are a sacred animals in Incan and Peruvian culture. We stopped off a few villages along the way back and saw some mountainside grave yards. It's amazing how much the local farmers and mountain people worship the earth as it's how they are able to farm etc. So after a hectic day of a broken down bus, irritating Frenchmen, condors and countles stop starts we made it back to Arequipa only to have an hour off before getting on a night bus to Cusco! Oh, I also tasted some Alpaca- to me it kinda tastes dusty, Pete said it's like horse..

As I am behind on my blogging I must go do the Cusco/Inca Trail blog now! How lucky for you guys two blogs in one day!

Adios