Monday 17 September 2012 and Friday 21 September 2012 RESIDENCIAL EL SOL PLAZA SANTO DOMINGO 263 CUZCO PERU TEL (51-84) 241739 I can't believe we have a 4.30am alarm set for a 7am flight. Off to Cusco where more adventures were ahead of us. A driver collected us from the airport and we were very impressed with the location of our hotel - right opposite an Inca temple. We wandered the town and quickly realized that this is a popular tourist destination. We ...

Friday 14 September 2012 ECO INN COLCA CALLE LIMA 513 YANQUE PERU TEL (51-51) 950 3140 We travelled by bus from Arequipa to Chivay ( our accommodation had changed to casa Andina, Chivay since blog was set up). The Colca Valley opened up to us on the way. We took our altitude pills, and our guide showed us how to eat our coca leaves, wrapped with a sprinkle of something sweet. You chew it just like chewing gum, and the juice can make your tongue go a bit num...

Wednesday 12 September 2012 and Sunday 16 September 2012 LA CASA DE MI ABUELA CALLE JERUSALEN 606 AREQUIPA PERU TEL (51-54) 242761 Arequipa is a smaller city than Lima. You can always tell when you have to walk from the plane to the airport building on the Tarmac that it's smaller! Arequipa is at 2 300 m altitude but Greg and I were fine. We stayed in a quaint walled hacienda style place. Not a motel but several townhouses on open grounds. (See photos pos...

Tuesday 11 September 2012 LEON DE ORO INN & SUITES AV. LA PAZ 930 MIRAFLORES - LIMA PERU TEL (51-1) 2426200 Lima surprised us. This city of 9 million is on the coast, buts sits high on cliffs above the ocean. We arrived very late (after midnight) and were being collected by a driver at noon the next day so had the morning to wander along the miraflores district by the waterfront. The city is clean and picturesque. Nice coffee, once we figured out the cur...

Sunday 9 September 2012 HOTEL SIERRA MADRE VENTIMILLA 464 Y& LUIS TAMAYO QUITO ECUADOR TEL (593-2) 2505687 On arrival at Quito, Greg and I were amazed by the Andes and the snow capped volcano that sits by Quito. Imagine a volcano on the equator (more or less) that's topped with snow! There are several volcanoes here and we viewed several today on our guided tour. All day. Just Greg and I and guide. The highlights were towns and villages like Calderon an...