Condors, Canyons, Cheesy Clothes, Cuzco, Curry and (sorry...) cooked Cuy :(

2 blog posts in a day?! This is a quick one as have to pack this eve for leaving Cuzco tomorrow.

After Arequipa we had an early start to get to Cruz del Condor in the Colca Canyon - I´d like to say it´s the deepest canyon in the world but it comes just short - to one the other side of the same mountain range. You may have guessed that Cruz del Condor is where you can spot condors if you´re lucky - and we were!

Waiting for the condors....L-R: Miranda, London Lisa, Carly, Aussie Lisa, me, Steph and tour leader Mark

 One appears!!

What. A. Goon. I bought it of course ;)

The amazing Colca Canyon with its many Incan terraces

En route to Cuzco - highest point on the trip! Check out the pin head on my shadow! (shadow not actual size...)

We had a long and VERY bumpy truck day to Cuzco after the Canyon, but to cheer us up we had a buffet curry on arrival, was amazing, and only about 3 quid all you can eat!

CUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRYYYYY!!!

The next day was the beginnings of summer/winter solstice celebrations in Cusco - we caught the Corpus Christie parades, it was so busy everywhere and we didn´t really understand what was going on!

 Corpus Christie parade -  banners galore

Celebratory cuy - a.k.a (shh whisper it...!) Guinea Pig

After making it through the crowds we managed to buy the things we needed for our respective Incan treks-the classic Inca Trail of course but in mine and Steph´s case the Lares Trek....but sorry everyone, you´ll have to wait till next time for pics of that and of course the one and only M.P.!!!! Bet you can hardly contain yourselves (!!)

Delay :( , Ballestas Islands, Nazca Lines, Puerto Inca + Arequipa

It´s been a while! After I signed off last time we found out the truck was still being fixed so we had another night in Lima, which meant a v eary start to get to the Ballestas Islands the next day. Our group was now full, with the additions being Steph, Jess and Jon and Miranda and Charlotte.

The Ballestas Islands are often called the poor man´s Galapagos Islands, there were many many birds, and a few seals!

We then headed to Nazca for an early flight over the Nazca Lines. After a looooong wait, we finally got up there in the smallest plane in the world, but you forgot about it as soon as you started seeing the Lines - AMAZING. How where they made?! By who?! And why?! No-one knows for definite so make your own conclusions! Afterwards we visited the Chauchilla cemetary - slightly spooky open graves seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

Slightly worrying that massages were being offered at Nazca airport

 Us and our plane! Not one of my finest fashion moments...!!

One of the most famous of the Lines - the hummingbird

Chauchilla Cemetary on the way to Puerto Inca

Camped for a few nights at the beach at Puerto Inca, there`s only a hotel there with its own beach so we set up camp nearby. There are also inca ruins all around, but not that spectacular so I won´t bore you with pics! It was also our group´s turn to cook one of the eves - beef skewers, BBQ lamb and risotto, seem to go down quite well! BTW, in comparison to the beach at Punta Sal, we were freeeezing at night, and it wasn´t even that warm in the day, so the tanning was not happening unfortunately :(

Miranda, me, London Lisa and Carly cooking our food!



We left Puerto Inca for Arequipa, Peru´s 2nd city. Arequipeñas consider themselves to be a bit different over other Peruvians...hmm reminded me of Mancunians! It was a very pretty city with lots to see - and buy! The best thing we saw was the Santa Catalina monastery - huge, but very peaceful considering it was in the centre of a city!

At the Santa Catalina monastery

Pretty people in Arequipa´s pretty Plaza. L-R: Steph, Miranda, Charlotte and Jess