El Lago Hotel Arequipa

... volcano with the snow capped perfect cone 5822 metre high, next to are the two mountains Chachani (6057m) and Pich Pichu (5669m).

Wir habe die 9 1/2 Stunden Busfahrt von Nasca nach Arequipa gut ueberstanden. Die umklappbaren Sitze waren sehr bequem, doch die holprige und kurvenreiche Strasse hat mich oft aufgeweckt.
Arequipa ist mehr belebt und wir fuehlen uns doch etwas sicherer hier.
Wir haben uns das beruehmte Santa Catalina Kloster angschaut ...

... in a somewhat bedraggled state covered in sweat, grime and dust and looking forward to a hot shower, a massage and a G&T. The accommodation was described as basic and for once the copywriters were not over egging it. We had a straw hut with walls that anyone could look through, a roof made from hessian and palm leaves, the floor was dirt studied with stones and the four beds were made from bamboo. If you sat on one end of them the whole shooting match tipped over, catapulting the ...

... on the thermal air and soaring over our heads!

Just a few notes about these birds - they are 1m tall when sitting and have a wing span of up to 3 meters! They live for 50-60 years and prey on carcasses of dead animals. Pretty much the biggest vultures you will ever see!

So with that, we drag our dusty selves onto yet another night bus (yes, with another budget ticket) and shoot off to Nazca to see the famous Nazca lines!

... Acercandonos. The program basically helps support and provides basic necessities for both elderly people (medical care, food) and children (food, medical care, school supplies) who are in need. The people in need have to be chosen for the program by going through the social services office and having a social worker declare that they in fact meet the qualifications for this ...

... pick up the bus ticket, pick up the laundry, get some money from the ATM, and enjoy Happy Hour with some randomly met friends from Cabanaconde. The Pisco sour isn't as good as Lui's, but it's cheaper! Share a taxi to the bus station, two hours of internet, four pieces of bread for 1 sole, get security checked for weapons and alcohol, and board the bus to Nazca. Wonder that they're showing an old Clarke Gable film, put in ear plugs, recline seat, curl up under blanket, go to sleep.

A very long overnight bus journey brought me to Arequipa, drowsy and disoriented. I decided to take an easy half-day double decker bus ride tour around the city to get a feel for the town. Arequipa was originally built using white colored volcanic rocks, so much of the older city buildlings are constructed with that material. The tour took us through the various districts of the city and I got a glimpse of the many terraced ...

29th June 2009

With nothing urgent to get up for, we made the most of the first lie in we
had in while. We had to check out our room at 11am so we got up at
9am and showered, before packing our bags to leave. We had decided
today to visit Santuarios Andinos UCSM Museum, the only museum in the
world that displays Inca offerings made in the highest mountains of
the Andes.

We met some of the ...

... they could employ some local knowledge of a pitch that had a m*********** in at one point, an irrigation channel through one side of it, and a covering of mule droppings. Brilliant fun though!

Yesterday morning was another early start... 5 in the morning! From the base of the canyon we had to hike out, over a kilometre up. It was brutal! At times you had to avoid oncoming mules, and some points were extremely testing but we completed it in good time and the Oreos I enjoyed at ...

... involved the diners and at one point they had the coca leaf ceremony and got George to join them. He whispered to George to do just what he did. He chanted real loud some Quechuan words while he held the coca leaves up to the gods. Then to everyone´s astonishment, George did the same, bellowing out the sounds. It was delightful!! Hopefully I got some good shots of it.

At the little town where we were staying, they were having an outdoor ...

... kid helped after all!

I could see one adult (it was impossible to see any neck rings at this distance, which are only on the males) and 3 juveniles which can easily be identified by their brown feathers, rather than the black and white feathers of their parents.



By now there was a small crowd of people on the edge of the cross looking at the condors, it was just a shame ...