In South America young backpackers and us old `wheelly luggage` travelers come in all shapes and sizes and from all parts of the world speaking many different languages. We are all here to experience the different cultures, to see the varying landscapes, perhaps to see something special but most of all to learn. For most of us it is something sp...

Back in Cusco before the Machu Picchu extravaganza we had reserved seats on a bus to a town called Nasca, where we were hoping to take a ride in a small aircraft to see the lines that have been etched in the sand for a couple of millenia. At least, we thought we´d reserved seats. We got to the bus station to find they´d given our seats to somebo...

I arrived in the warmer and more oxygen plentiful Arequipa. I have to admit that at my first sight of the volcanoes looming over the city, I said, "No way am I staying here very long." I really miss the ocean. It's not like I went often when I was in San Francisco, but it was always there, just a 5-10 minute car-ride or a 45 minute walk. But my ...

Hoi luitjes Arequipa wordt ook wel de witte stad genoemd, naar de kleur van de typische vulkaansteen waaruit het oude centrum is opgetrokken. Wij hebben drie dagen genoten van deze gezellige stad: lekker eten, uitgaan, en vooral veel rondwandelen. Kerken gaan op een gegeven moment wel op elkaar lijken ;) Het klooster van Santa Cathalina is een a...

Rebecca: hello again! We´ve been in Peru for just a little more than a week but we´ve already gone through so many things that we will create two new entries - plus upload some pictures if these computers work. From Lima, we took the night bus to Arequipa in the south. We slept through most of the trip, but when we woke up in the morning, we wer...

Arequipa was quite a nice little city, after we had got over the transport there! It is very colonial and there are loads of Plazas and roof top bars. We spent our first day missioning around, seeing some sights and just generally chilling. Our hostel (Colonial House) was amazing, great breakfasts and friendly staff, highly recommend it!! Anothe...

Day One We traveled out of Arequipa on a two day excursion to the Colca Canyon, one of the deepest canyons in the world, that is said to be twice the depth of Arizona's Grand Canyon. The drive took over 4 hours, along a makeshift - potholed road that lead us upto around 4,500m above sea level. The ride was bleak, it rained most of the way and wa...

Hola Familia y Amigos! We are cruising back up to Ecuador for our puddle jump up to the states! Up to this point we have done about 170 hours in busses, not to mention our 20 hour train ride or personnel truck type transportation. Tonight we´re getting on a 12 hour bus to up near Lima and then on Monday we´re catching a 36 hour bus to Quito! Our...

After the cold climes of Cusco and the surrounding hills, Arequipa was a breath of warm air. Maybe some 1000m lower, warm and sunny, we bared our legs for the first time in our trip (Emma somewhat badly timed the zipping off of her walking trousers in the town´s convent) and stayed a few days in the White City which sits below South America´s mo...

Alex: After the Inca Trail we hung around Cusco for a day or two resting our feet and doing very little before catching an overnight bus to Arequipa. Arequipa is debatably Peru's second city (Trujillo in the north also makes the claim) and is known as the white city because all the building are built of a white volcanic rock which is cheaper tha...