AREQUIPA, PERU

The overnight bus ride from Nasca was pretty uneventful. We slept on the bus and arrived in Arequipa early in the morning. Arequipa is a beautiful large city with three huge active volcanes overlooking the city. The city has large cathedrals and nunneries constructed from white stone from the volcanoes thereby, earning it the name, ¨City of White¨. Yesterday we left for an overnight visit to Colca Canyon which is near Arequipa. Colca Canyon is the seconds largest canyon in the world and is home to Condors. On our way to Colca Canyon we went through a wildlife preserve which is designated for the preservation of the Vicunes. Vicunes are in the Alpaca family however, they are smaller and have a longer thinner neck. Vicune fur is much more expensive than Alpaca fur. We saw lots of Alpaca also.

We visited in the home of a Peruvian family last night. It was interesting to see the way that they prepare their native dishes. They cooked Alpaca and guinea pig as well as soup with lots of interesting vegetables.

Today we went to Colca Canyon to see the condors. The drive to the canyon was awesome. The roads are very narrow and crooked up the mountain. In some places they were repairing the road and we had to drive on washed out stone roads. The condors were unbelievable. Their wing spans are gigantic. Condors glide through the air instead of flapping their wings....they were majestic. On the way out of the canyon we saw Pre-Inca steppe farms that are still being cultivated today and also some Pre-Inca tombs on the side of the mountain.

We are back in Arequipa for tonight and tomorrow. Tomorrow night we will take an overnight bus to Cusco. At Cusco part of our group will walk the Inca Trail. The ones of us that choose not to walk will meet the group in Machu Pichu to tour the Inca Ruins on Thursday.