18th April 2010

Up and at 'em we woke feeling very refreshed and headed into the city for a gander. Really nice feel about the place and felt immediatly comfortable..although the taxi and bus drivers are maniacs!

Very hungry we found a small cafe and had a sandwich, well Neil had a hamburger, with some coke..all for about 3 pounds!!!! Now full, we walked and found the main plaza and the supermarket to buy a few bits and peices for dinner and stopped in at a tour operator to book our trip to the Colca Valley. After a small discussion we agreed it was better value to do the 2 day tour so knew we had to get an early night! On the way back we visited a few market vendors who sell almost every type of peruvian wool clothes and treated ourselves to socks, hats, gloves and Neil got a jumper. Although probably not the cheapest place to buy we got it all for around 100 neuvo soles (25 pounds) I could have spent a small fortune in the shops as the gifts and handmade clothes (made from Alpacha) are just lovely .

Back to the hostel we handed in our laundry which cost 4 pounds and had a chilled afternoon on the rooftop.
We cooked our dinner of beef, peppers, (which we hadnt realised were of the 'caliente' range!) onions, mushrooms and rice and sat with another couple for an hour or so. Packed our bags for our 2 day adventure and went to sleep ready for our early morning call.

19th-20th April 2010

Up at 6am and ready we had a quick cereal brekky and our bus arrived. The bus was full of English, which we later discovered were one big tour group on a gap year..in other words 18 year olds, and off we went!

Our first stop was a small shop on the outskirts of the city where we were advised to buy Coca leaves to chew to help prevent altitude sickness. Neil returns with a bag of leaves and we are officially druggies :) We had to chew them for 20 mintues...not pleasant!!

On the road again our second stop is anther shop where yet again we have more 'druggy' advice.This time we are told to buy 'te triple' consisting of 3 types of herb, 1 being coca. We drank these (again with little pleasure) and had a short walk arund the outside markets set up by local women.

All aboard again we drive through a national park, set up to protect the llamas and alpachas of the region. We get to see all colours and sizes of these animals and even watch them rolling around in the sand!

The next stop was a viewing point of the Andes where Neil got to be over excited and I got to feel the altitude sickness kicking in (4910m abve sea level)

Back in the bus I have no choice but to sample a coca sweet, to help my sicky feeling, which to my surprise tastes good!! Thank god!!

Onto Chivay, our town for the night, we stop for a buffet lunch including alpacha steaks and other peruvain delicacies. After lunch we drop half of the group (lazy 18 year olds) to the hostel whilst the rest of us go on a 2 hour trek into the mountain to see the veiews of Coporaque town and the pre- inca and inca hanging tombs. Our guide gave us some great facts and information about it all.

A little wet from the rain and of course sweat from the climb (which was very hard going with the altitude..lots of breathless moments for us both) we headed back to the hostel for a quick change of clothes to head to the thermal spa woooppppeeee!! We relaxed in a 38 degree pool with a Pisco Sour (Peruvian drink) in our hand for an hour. Honestly, the cleanest we have felt in months!!!!!!

It all goes a little down hill from there......back at the hostel, shattered (and its only 7pm) we decide we aren't that hungry and so tired we would prefer to rest. The bed was fantastic with 4 layers of sheets/blankets. 10 minutes later Neil has stomach cramps and spends the rest of the night in the bathroom!!! :( Both with a lot less sleep than we had expected we are woken at 5am for breakfast...GREAT!!

Neil still under the weather can only stomach some bread and off we go again! We drove to Condor Cross point, stopping at 2 view points on the way, and awaited to see the flight of the condors through the Colca Canyon. I was unsure how good this would be and found myself very surprised. We were very lucky at this time of year and saw 6 condors soaring the sky.....with the sun shining it was breathtaking!! Unfortunatly Neil also spent some of this time in the bathroom!!!!!

An hour and a half later we get back on the bus and made our way to the small colonial town of Maca. On route we stop for more views of the valley. On one stop a local lady is selling local products and amongst this, some fruit. I have a peice of tuna which is a sweet fruit with hard seeds. Very tasty!! I also taste the fruit that is used to make Pisco Sour....VERY SOUR!!The lady is hand making a head band which she tells us takes 2 days!! They are then sold for 5 nuevo soles ( 1 pound 10 ish) Amazing that people still try to barter to lower the price!!!!!!

In Maca we visit the church which was badly damaged in the 1991 earthquake. It has been fully restored with the help of international funds. Off again we go back to the town of Chivay for lunch and stop at the plaza. We walk around the local markets and pick up 8 fresh buns and 2 delicious apples for 2 neuvo soles (50p) Neil still not well cant face eating so we chill in the plaza and watch the locals. A small girl has an alpacha on a lead and walks it around in her traditional clothing for money.

So an adventure and a half..4 hours later we are back in the city of Arequipa. No dinner this evening as we are both feeling a little 'dicky' with Neil being the worst case. So we are tucked up early with plenty of water to keep us going. All worth it though...a great trip!!