Hola amigos y familia Now relaxing in the beautiful town of Arequipa. Actually, we have been here for the past few days. Its a cool town with many good restaurants and cafes and the base for excursions to the Colca Canyon and climbing the local volvano's. We trekked the Colca Canyon over the past three days. Basically it consists of a trek from a town called Cabanconde down in to the second deepest canyon in the world. A descent of some 3 hours. Then, after a stay in some 'rustic'huts you continue the walk along the canyon until you reach the next base called the Oasis - a lush spot at the base of the canyon and a chance to relax and swim. The next morning sees a wake up call at 2am and an ascent of the canyon with head torches which took Sarah and I around 2.5hrs. Great fun! We wallked with a group containing a couple of Germans, and three Brits. The altititude (around 3000 metres) took its toll on a couple of the group and as Sarah and I wanted to get some good exercise in (after so many bus rides and so much eating), we raced ahead of the others on the climb back up the canyon. The legs are now feeling the effects of this move! Anyway, the point of the early morning ascent is to be in a position to see the giant condors which float in the thermal currents around 9am each morning. But, before you get to the viewpoint you have to board a bus crammed with maybe three or four times the recommended number of people, including local ladies carrying their merchandise to the viewpoint to try and sell to tourists. I ended up with a lady wedged between my legs, another lady resting her breasts on my shoulder and the first lady's merchandise (including a leaking flask) sat on my legs! The lady wedged between my legs also kept falling asleep whilst hanging on to the rails above me. This was fun, as each time she fell asleep her hand would drop and hit me on the head. Brilliant. Anyway, we did see the condors and yes they are very impressive! Now we have (stupidly?) booked ourselves in to climb Volcano Misti tomorrow. The summit is at 5826 metres. Wish us luck! Shane and Sarah x