Sometimes you cannot always trust the guidebooks! Ian and I tried to plan our trip around the summertime, but in most of Peru it has felt like winter. On this trip, to the Colca Canyon, we found out that it actually only snows in this part of Peru during the summertime because it is the rainy season. Luckily, we were not spending too much time in the really high altitudes, so I did not have to freeze too much.We road another overnight bus from Cuzco to Arequipa (the second largest city in Peru, which is also surrounded by volcanoes). As you would expect, it is really hard to sleep on these buses, so on the ride to the canyon our guide kept calling us zombies, with whom I agreed. It was a shame that we kept falling asleep because the terrain was gorgeous. It looked more like the pictures of Alaska than what you would expect for a tropical South American country. The road climbed to four and five thousand meters and was graced with snow covered mountains and wild flocks of llamas and alpacas. We also saw some flamingos along the way, which I thought looked really out of place in this frigid climate. However, the coolest animal we saw was a viscacha, which looks like a cross between a squirrel and a rabbit.The ride took about four hours, but it gave Ian, Chis and I some time to rest up because arriving at the Colca Valley was incredible. A river ran through the bottom of the canyon and the mountains on both sides had agricultural terraces etched out of them that date back to before the Inca times and are still in use today. Unfortunately, it is also the work of these terraces that keep people from moving out of poverty. The work on the terraces is hard and it is nearly impossible to employ machines, so all of the work has to be done by hand. This manual labor makes it impossible for them to grow the potatoes or other vegetables at a price that is competitive in the world markets. So, the people primarily grow only the food that they need to eat and will then sell a small portion just to buy the things necessary to sustain themselves. The continuance of poverty without the ability to save is very sad, but it has also created a very lively and proud culture. The people we met in the small villages were all very full of life and loved there area of the world. They also cooked some very good traditional full meals that cost less than $2, which Ian and I decided to try since we were avoiding the over-priced restaurants where the tour took you. In hindsight, it may have been a bad decision because I have been battling some form of Montezuma's Revenge over the past couple days, but it was delicious at the time.The canyon itself was gorgeous. It is the deepest canyon in the world and extremely majestic because either side is graced with enormous snow-capped mountains. We did not get to hike this area because it is the rainy season and prone to mud-slides, but we did get to see the condors soaring about and also got to spend a short time in Arequipa as well.Arequipa, was a fascinating city with a backdrop of volcanoes and a history rich in Inca and pre-Inca cultures. Here we had a short time to go see the frozen sacrificial mummies of the Incas. Juanita is the most famous of these mummies, but she was not on display. However, the mummy that we did see was incredible and the amount of artifacts that have survived the 500 years on the volcano was also astonishing. Now we are leaving Peru and headed to Chile, so I'll catch up with you South of the Border! Till next time, Cheers!