Of the five countries visited (or rather, still visiting) on our trip, we spent the most time in Peru - a total of 28 days or about a third of our travel time. Other than Puno (the city in Laka Titicaca bordering Bolivia) and Cusco, we also visited three other Peruvian cities:

Arequipa and the Colca Canyon
Situated 450 km south of Cusco, it is the second largest city in Peru (after Lima). While it is a fairly interesting city in its own right (a lot of its buildings have a white-washed look as they were built using white volcanic rocks called sillar), we probably wouldn't have gone through the trouble of taking a 10-hour overnight bus from Cusco (each way) during our weekend off from "working" at the hospital (refer to previous entry). That is, if it wasn't for the fact that it was situated right next to one of the deepest canyons in the world (reportedly twice as deep as the Grand Canyon) which also happens to be the nesting ground for the Andean Condors - the world's largest flying birds. Although we're not exactly the biggest bird fans, we found ourselves learning a lot about them on our trip. We have already seen the Jabiru Stork (the third largest flying bird) in the Pantanal so we thought why not go see the largest of them all. Plus, there's the canyons.
We didn't have much time though, given the long travel time and our volunteering commitments, so we kept our trip very focused. We left Cusco on Thursday night on an overnight bus (many bus companies ply the Cusco - Arequipa route but the one we went with - Enlases - was surprisingly comfy; 180 Peruvian soles each return) and arrived early the next morning. After a quick breakfast near the main square, we were picked up by the tour company and were on our way to the canyons.
Yes, the Colca Canyons have the distinction of being one of the deepest canyons in the world. But in all honesty, I still think that the Grand Canyon in the US is more impressive. Not too sure why that is - maybe it's got to do with the fact that we were mostly inside the canyon instead of marvelling at it from the lip (which was what we did at the Grand Canyon). Or maybe it just looked too similar to the landscape we saw while traveling through Bolivia - it's the same mountain range afterall. Here are some of the similarities:
1) There were many llamas, alpacas and vicunas running about
2) We hit an altitude of 4900 meters at one point. It even snowed briefly when we were at that altitude.
3) There were a number of active and semi-active volcanoes
4) There was a hot spring where we could submerge ourselves in its therapeutic water
The highlight however, was obviously the condors. These birds are by no means beautiful (they are actually a species of vultures and quite ugly-looking when seen up close) but watching them - with wingspans of up to 3 meters (that's about an entire storey of a building) - soaring in the wild above us, made for quite a majestic sight. Tried as I might to capture these birds with my camera, but it just didn't do them the justice they deserved. Maybe I should consider getting one of those telescopic lens. Or maybe I just need to improve my photography skills.
A night spent in the sleepy town of Chivay and another overnight bus later, we were back in Cusco by early Monday morning - just in time for our shift at the hospital later that morning.

Nazca
Ever heard about extra terrestrial beings using laser beams to draw pictures of animals - some over 200 meters across - on the ground in a desert somewhere? Well, that somewhere is Nazca, Peru - 600 km from Cusco and kinda on the way to the capital city of Lima. Following our 2-week volunteering stint in Cusco, we took another overnight bus to the cowboy town of Nazca. This place doesn't really have much going for it, other than these mysterious lines that have attracted tourists and dumbfounded scientists since they were discovered in 1927.
Here's a quick 101: The Nazca Lines consist of hundreds of figures - some of animals, some of trees, others just random geometric shapes - drawn on the dry desert ground covering an 80 km stretch between Nazca and Palpa. Experts believe that these lines were drawn by the Nazca civilization way back in 600 AD, although there have been other alternative theories - such as the lines being the work of aliens, which is so much more interesting. These lines were made by simply removing a superficial layer of the dirt - no more than 10 cm deep - so that it contrasts with the color of the surface. That area of the desert gets almost no rain which is why the lines have remained largely untainted for literally centuries. So basically, if you decided to scribble your name on the ground and the weather doesn't change too drastically, it will remain there for many, many years. Maybe forever. Amazing but true.
The best way to view the lines is by flying, simply because of the large area and size of the shapes. But that would have set us back by at least USD100 each for a brief, 30-minute fly-by. As we are now almost 2 months into our trip and burning a deep hole in our pockets, we opted not to fly but to go see the lines by land instead (USD30 per person). This second option is possible due to the surrounding hills and two viewing platforms. However, because the platforms and hills were no more than 20 meters high, our view was quite limited. In fact, we were limited to only two main figures - "the Hands" and "the Tree". The more spectacular figures such as "the Spider", "the Monkey" and "the Humming Bird" was sadly not on our agenda (google image "Nazca Lines" to see fly-by photos of these figures - pretty intriguing stuff). But what we did see (that is not visible by plane) was a group of cartoon-like drawings on a hill near Palpa which are thought to be even older than the Nazca Lines. These drawings look like they were done by a kid, except that it can't possibly be because they are about 70 meters in size. In fact, both the Palpa and Nazca Lines are so mysterious because scholars cannot figure out how in the world these people drew such huge yet precise shapes without the aid of flight. Maybe that ET theory should be re-visited.

Lima
Ranking third in the largest cities in South America list (after Sao Paulo and Bogota), we expected Lima to have the usual "big city" vibe - crowded, congested, polluted (Singapore excluded), fast-paced, modern. And we were right for the most part, with a few pleasant surprises:
1) Located near the coast, it has some pretty spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean
2) The district of Miraflores, where we stayed, turned out to be a nice, clean and modern residential area
3) It's home to some very good restaurants, one of which (Astrid and Gaston) was recently ranked in the top-50 restaurants in the world by the esteemed San Pellegrino's list (but more on that in a later entry)
Apart from it being our departure point out of Peru, we were also glad that we were finally out of the highlands after 5 weeks at altitudes of 3000 meters or more. Given that our bodies have been slowly building extra red blood cells to cope with the lack of oxygen, I half expected to be able to fly when we got back down to normal heights. But...that wasn't the case. Other than the few pleasant surprises aforementioned, we also did some sightseeing like good tourists. The highlight was the San Francisco church where for just 7 soles per person, we get a guided tour of the church and more importantly, the huge catacombs beneath it. This was the very first public cemetery in Lima and said to contain over 70,000 bodies. We saw A LOT of human bones so we don't have a problem with that claim. It was interesting, in a creepy kinda way. Alas, we were not allowed to take photos...although I'm not sure if I wanted to in the first place. You know...in case the camera inadvertently picks up a wandering restless soul or two.

With its rich Inca heritage, the nicest people, beautiful landscapes and amazing cuisine, it's hard not to grow fond of Peru. But that might very well change when we arrive at our next destination - a place where many experts believe holds the key to unlocking the secret to the origins of life. The Galapagos Islands.