Arequipa, Colca Canyon, and Lake Titicaca

So Juleah and I headed down to Lima. We took the nice cama-cama buses. I've really become quite spoiled any other bus just doesn't compare! We were only in Lima for a day (well half considering the bus gets in close to noon) so we didn't do much. Pretty much the only thing we had planned was to eat and I had to get an xray taken of my foot. We went to this amazing restaurant that many Volunteers had recommended. It's called La Bistecca and it's a buffet. Now I know when you hear the word buffet, high quality food might not come to mind. But this buffet was mind blowing. It was like having all the gourmet restaurants in Lima combined. There was soooo much food that it was overwhelming and I couldn't decide. They had different stations with hot entrees that they made to order. Pizza, sushi, stir fry, meat, pasta, etc. To give you an example, the pasta section had at least 20 different kinds of pasta to choose from, and then there were another 15 or so sauces. Plus you could customize it however you wanted. in addition to all the hot entrees, there was a huge salad bar and a million cold appetizers. Juleah and I were there for about 3 hours and tried to stuff as much food down our throats as possible. To top it off, for dessert you were able to either pick one item or have the unlimited chocolate fountain, made with the best chocolate in Peru. There were tons of fruits, including strawberries, and brownies that you were able to dip into the fountain. I think I could have gone there just for the fountain. It was that good. Plus, all of this only cost around $15. Expensive for Peru standards, but not by much considering it's gourmet AND all-you-can-eat.

So after putting ourselves into a food coma, the rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I showed Juleah the gigantic mall, and that's pretty much it. We were too stuffed to even eat dinner. The next morning we woke up before 3am to catch a 5am flight to Arequipa. This was my first time in Arequipa so I was excited to get to know another part of Peru. Arequipa is a very pretty city, situated up in the Andes of Southern Peru. It is actually Peru's second largest city but it's population is still under 1 million. It is extremely dry, and the sun is very strong which makes it quite warm during the day. We were able to spend a day or 2 just exploring the city, and eating good food, including alpaca, a staple down south.

Arequipa...overlooking a big monastery with Volcano Misti in the background.

After spending a day in Arequipa we headed to the Colca Canyon. The Colca Canyon is the speculated to be the second deepest canyon in the world, only 150m shallower than Cotahausi, which is also located in Arequipa (but more more remote). It's become a pretty popular tourist location in Arequipa and there are treks and hot baths and condor sightings. Well we forgot to bring our bathing suit, and trekking wasn't really an option with my boot, so there really wasn't much to do in the Colca. There are actually several volunteers living in the Colca Canyon, including 4 from my group. I called up my friend Tom, who happens to live 15 minutes away from Chivay, the hub of the Colca. We went to his site and I was shocked at how different it was from where I live in Cajamarca. They are at a higher altitude, and it is very, very, dry. Plus, his town was a ghost town because during the day everyone leaves town to go to the fields. The weird thing is that his town is extremely touristy, but only from 6-9am. Every morning busloads of tourists come to his site to take pictures of his church and to see dancers in the plaza on their way to see the condors. However, by 9am everyone is gone and the town is deserted. So we just chilled in Chivay and then the next morning Juleah and I woke up early to go see the Condors, one of the main tourist attactions in the Canyon. I was worried we would go all the way out there and not see any condors, but luckily there were a bunch. This part of the Canyon is deeper and the heat from the canyon floor rises making it an ideal location for the Condors to live. I think I got that right, not quite sure. But whatever.

Checkin' out Tom's site.

View of the Colca Canyon from Tom's site.

Condor lookout point.

Condor spotted! Sucess!

So after seeing the famous condors, we decided to head back to Arequipa to rest up before heading to Puno and Lake Titicaca the next day. Originally we were going to spend a whole day on Lake Titicaca but I think all of the traveling had worn us out and the thought of spending 3 hours on a boat each way to see some island with an arch wasn't that appealing. Plus, Puno isn't very attractive so we wanted to spend as little time as possible there. We arrived in Puno in the afternoon and took a tour to visit the floating islands. These islands are only a couple of kilometers out, and they are made entirely of reeds. These islands are extremely touristy and many of the people that "live" there now, have another house in Puno. However, at one point these communities did exist like this, and not for the tourists, so it was still cool to see. It was actually probably my favorite part of the trip.

On our way to the floating islands. It's chilly at almost 12,000 ft above sea level.

Welcome to the Floating Islands - Los Uros

A house on one of the floating islands.

After Puno we took a day bus down to Cuzco. It was an awful ride, and it was one of those buses that stopped and picked anyone and everyone up, even if there weren't seats. However, 7 hours later it eventually did end and we arrived in Cuzco. I had already been to Cuzco so we just wandered around a bit, trying different restaurants. The next day Juleah left before dawn to get down to Machu Picchu, and I took an early flight to Lima, thus ending my vacation. If you are interested in more pictures, check out my facebook link, although I think many of the pics I posted on the blog anyway. http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026567&l=db879&id=4600077