Hostal El Conquistador Arequipa

At 6am we headed out to the Nazca air strip to be the first passengers for the day to fly over the Nazca Lines. We jumped in a small 4-seater and took off over the desert plains. The reason the lines in the desert have been preserved so well is because Nazca only gets 30 mins of drizzle a year. We spotted the spider, monkey, condor, hummingbird... and many straight lines and geometric shapes marked out in the desert. It was a spectacular flight as the desert scenery and surrounding mountains ...

We left at 7am along the pot-holed road out to the condor lookout. As we travelled along the Colca valley we saw terraced agricultural plots, cows, donkeys and women walking with large loads on their backs. The main purpose of this trip was to see the condors in the Colca Canyon, down the far end of the road. The Colca canyon is at one point the second deepest canyon in the world, but we weren't going to that point of it. As it is currently the rainy season it is also the breeding season for ...

Due to poor planning on my behalf we flew this leg of the journey, despite the fact it would have only taken 16 hours on bus.  But no worries, it was nice to travel quick!  When we arrived in the miserable rain I thought we shouldnt have bothered, such a depressing looking place compared to Cusco.  Its supposed to be the second prettiest city in Peru, but my word, its second by a LONG way! Thats not to say its all bad, once we settled in to our hostel (Arequipay Backpackers) we had a wander r...

"Travel has no longer any charm for me. I have seen all the foreign countries I want to except for heaven and hell, and I have only a vague curiosity as concerns one of those." - Mark Twain Over-touristed. That's the term that came to mind when my girlfriend suggested a two-week trip to Machu Picchu recently. Surely there must be somewhere slightly more exotic-say, Baghdad-any place not yet classified as an "adventure travel destination". In my view the mystery had long since been bled from t...

Ugh strikes its no different anywhere in the world! The peruvians seem to constantly strike as no one is surprised we cant get our planned bus so on the 3rd rather than get the bus we have to fly back to Lima then on to Cusco ugh the flight costs another $325. At least we still get to do everything as i was really worried we may miss doing the Inca trail as a result of the strike which would have been awful. Arequipa is a nice little town overshadowed by three Volcanoes the most famous of whi...