Hostal Sol De Oro Arequipa

... be seen to be believed. Many were missing windshields. Some were Chevy El Camino´s (fittingly, and hilariously enough). One had a windshield so shattered there is no way the driver could possibly see. One was a Land Cruiser outfitted with a snorkel. If the course included an underwater section I reckon he won. One car was sponsored by "Bong." But by far the most hilarious were the Daewoo taxis outfitted with roll bars. Think Smart Car entering a rally race. Oh yea ...

... 2s and 3s with one class 4 rapid. A great way to spend an afternoon. And in my book, one of the best ways to spend an early evening, is with a cup of tea commanding a fine vantage point of a Plaza Del Aramas, and this place has a v. nice one too, with its main cathedral, unusually dominating an entire side of this large plaza. <br>Arequippa (pop 750,000) lies under the shadow of El Misti, a semi dormant volcano that has belched a few times in the past ...

... and were clearly far more physically capable of the blokes who had the best part of 15 years on us. Although Louise had a headache, we both felt strong and physically able.<br><br>I suppose there is a definite lesson in this. If you go into the mountains with people who have clearly not acclimatised and you make the mistake of employing the local muppet for your guide - you're going to have problems. <br><br>Thankfully however, we came back safe and sound. International guide my backside!!

... a town about 3 hours away. Rodrigo is 25 and is still in school, studying engineering. He still lives with his parents (certainly nothing wrong with that! and in Hispanic countries, this seems to be very common). <br><br>Today, I think the main thing I did was eat (nothing new, right?). I cant keep eating like this though &#8211; a huge lunch, followed by a huge piece of tres leches cake and cappuccino, followed by tamales for dinner. Oh and not to worry, my family ...

... white. It was very informative first part of the day.<br><br>We continued on, trying to reach another ruin site near Central Lima. We were up for walking and didn&#8217;t think is was going to be that far. An hour later we decided a bus was a better idea. I asked someone if we needed to take a particular bus and he pointed us in the right direction. Buses that I haven&#8217;t taken before, especially in foreign countries, can be particularly daunting ...

... As you can imagine, the cathedral looks like any Spanish colonial church - but on steroids =). The other 3 sides of the plaza are bordered by more colonial buildings, the bottom of which are occupied by stores and tourist offices, and the upstairs by restaurants where you can dine on the colonnaded balconies while admiring the view of the surroundings, and the snowcapped not far behind.<br> <br> It was almost 2pm at that time so we opted to head ...

... day started early. We got a bus to the Canyon to spot Condors - giant Eagle type birds that hang around at Canyons. There was no guarantee of seeing them but we saw loads. There´re very cool and when they flew overhead, we would hear them before seeing them. The view over the canyon was a great photo opportunity as well.<br><br>Some of the boys did a bike ride, but I wasn´t ***** with that. The rest of us did a walk in the ...

... 10 Andean condors flying and hanging around the canyon... amazing birds.... their wing span is 15 metres. The next two hours were spent trying to capture a picture... got a few so all was good.<br><br><br>Overall fantastic scenery... enough said.<br><br>

... 8211; which I recommend. <br><br>We went to another small, quaint funky bar the following night after visiting a chifa (Chinese restaurant) where they served massive portions. I was starting to feel not so well by the time we reached the bar &#8211; that I ordered a manzanilla (camomile) tea &#8211; while the others had a beer or a pisco sour. I could safely say that it was the first time that I had ordered herbal tea at a bar &#8211; which served as a ...