Since we had more time than we expected following Bolivia we decided to alternate our route a little and head south before working our way back up to Cusco. So we took the bus from Puno to Arequipa and the self proclaimed Canyon Country (More on this later!). We had high hopes of Arequipa and were expecting a bit of a party atmosphere, however when we arrived at our hostel it was pretty empty and there wasnt any noticable buzz about the place. The city itself was again beautiful with fantastic architecture and great plazas in the shadow of El Misti the huge active volcano. We spent our first day wondering around the centre and found a great little turkish restaurant that served amazing “Kebobs.” Headed back to the hostel for a few drinks hoping it may pick up a little but no such luck!!

We decided to head to a local leisure resort on oursecond day as the weather was good and we have been craved of swimming pools. The resort was pretty swanky with football pitches, basketball courts, tennis courts etc and a good sized outdoor swimming pool. Whilstthe swimming pool was asthetically appealing cristal blue reflecting the sun the reality was that it had spnt the night in icy conditions and hadnt yet warmed up, so the initial getting in was far from enjoyable. Anyway wwe spent the morning and early afternoon chilling out in the sun the headed off in search of a McDonalds which I had a massive craving for, dont really know why. We couldnt find it so ended up having a Chinese (which are suprisingly good in Peru) much to Chloes delight. We headed back to the hostel to book a trip to the famed Colca Canyon for the next day, we decided to do just a day trip and were a little shocked to find that we would be picked up at 2.30am. Needless to say dinner which was again a turkish restaurant where we had lamb shish, which was amazing, and early bed!

We slept for th entirejourney to the Canyon which was about 3hrs away from Arequipa arriving at sunrise, it was cold! We stopped at a pretty basic church and were told to take photographs, from this point on we knew the tour wasnt going to be one of the best. A few more pit stops on route to the viewing point were again pretty bog standard with some beautiful scenery in between. When we got to the Canyon we were pretty disappointed to be honest it wsnt very dramatic more a v-shaped valley than what I imagined a Canyon to look like (Namely verticle drops i.e The Grand Canyon!!). However the scenery was again admittedly gorgeous and we did see tens of Condors swooping a few meters over our heads (which can I add are very difficult to tajke pictures of). We spent 1hr 30mins here which was far too long then headed off on a time wastinf 30min trek back to the bus. Our next stop was a hot springs with loads of pools both hot and cold to be enjoyed in the brilliant sunshine, sounds great right!? Well we werent told to bring swimming stuff so in a bit of a huff both spent an hour sleeping on the bus. Next stop was a buffet lunch which was probably the best thing about the day then a marathon journey home before being dropped in the main square which was a bit of a walk from our hostel. Chloe was pretty upset and hell bent on “aving a word” but bottled it last minute and made me complain. With that off our chests we awaited our BBQ which we had booked through the hostel pretty famished by this point, my chicken breast was raw, I’ll end day three there!

Day 4 we again walked around the city taking some pictures and having a bite to eat (Turkish again!!) before heading back to the hostel for the Champions League Final. We also decided we had had enough of Arequipa and booked an overnight bus to Nasca for that evening, following advice that this was the most dangerous route in Peru following numerous late night robberies and hijackings we decided to splash out on a bus for the first time since Argentina. Wasted away the hours watching the footy and a couple of DVDS before ordering a Chinese for dinner. It was huge and unbelievable value at 2 pounds each. We headed for the bus terminal happy to see the back of Arequipa following a not too enjoyable experience and discovered why we paid so much for our tickets it was like travelling first class. We had our pictures taken on numerous occasions before being welcomed into a fancy lounge with free internet etc.