We got a tourist bus from Puno to Arequipa - only 4 people on board. The guide told us we would have to swap buses half way as the bus wasn't going to Arequipa. When we stopped the guide said your car is waiting for you... We had a brand new saloon car waiting for us!!! Wow luxury!!! So we were pretty much chauffeur driven the rest of the way to our hostel. Amazing!!! It's super hot in Arequipa, time for an ice lolly :) the main square is like Trafalgar Square, so many pigeons... The place was full of them...

Monday 18th:
Had a relaxing morning and then went to the little craft market, there was a tombola on one of the stalls, 1 soles (25p) a ticket... And I won a wooden spoon haha!!! We then went to the supermarket... It was more like b&q, currys, primark and tescos all in one store... It was HUGE!!! Very different to Bolivia. Best part was I found English breakfast tea bags mmmmmm!!!

Tuesday 19th
Woke up at 2am (...was there any point in going to bed) for our day trip to the Colca Canyon. After a 3 hour bus journey we arrived at Chivay, a little town, for breakfast. We stopped at 2 small villages on the way to the canyon; the first one there were 2 ladies dressed in traditional clothes with llamas and alpacas (pay them to have a photo with them like 2s (50p)). The traditional clothes can cost more than £1000 depending how extravagant they are. Very expensive!! The next little village had a lady with 2 birds of prey, so I borrowed her hat and had the eagle sit on my head - blimey it was so heavy. I even got the lady to join in my photo :)
We then arrived at the Colca Canyon, formed by tectonic plate movements and the river eroding the rocks, its deepest section is over 4000m deep, making it one of the worlds largest canyon. The section we saw was 1300m deep. The canyon is home to the Condor (wingspan: 3.5 metres), a magnificent bird that lives in the wall of the canyon, due to past hunting (now illegal) there are only 40/50 condors in the canyon. We headed back to Chivay for lunch and then went back to Arequipa.

Wednesday 20th
We visited the monastery santa Catalonia, a convent that is a city in a city - the only one in the world. Founded in 1579, many women have entered to serve as cloistered nuns, never to leave the convent. Each nun had a private 'cell' - which had a bedroom, study, kitchen and outside area. The covent was very pretty with lots of flowers, courtyards and fountains. Very interesting to visit - nuns still live there today.

Thursday 21st
Today we had a relaxed day at the hostel, watched movies and played pool. At 8pm we got our bus to Cusco - WOW!!! It's so posh! The bus terminal was like a airport, with a fancy waiting room - and then the bus... Think business class on a plane - very wide seats that go 160 degrees back, personal tv with movies, a working reading light and dinner served to you with a drink. So posh. Best bus journey ever.

Next stop Cusco and Machu Picchu