Colca Canyon.

We took a 3 day trek in the world's deepest canyon - Colca Canyon which is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon.  The Canyon descends from 3500M absl from the town of Chivay.  It's about a 3 hour drive from Arequipa over the Pata Pampa (High Andes at 4825m) and I can tell you it was bloody cold driving over there at 5 in the morning !!!!

We hired a local guide called Carlitos (search for Carlitos Tours).  He was a real character and really made the trip.  He is an independent guide, not tied to any of the big trekking companies, and really cares about the local communities. He took us off the tourist trail, hiking to some remote villages and staying with some local families.  It was a fantastic experience.  We went fruit picking with a local farmer, Gillian dressed up as a local, and I spent an evening watching Peru V Paraguay on an old TV in a farm shed (inc animals) with the locals drinking beer.  None of them spoke English but the universal language of football and beer was enough to keep the conversation going !!!!!

We were joined on the trek by a girl from the US called Kristen and a chap from Canada called Oliver.  Both were fantastic trekking mates and together with Carlitos we had a great time.

Ready for the descent into the Canyon.

Colca Canyon Condors.  There birds have a 3 meter wingspan.  Whilst trekking down a few soared over our heads, and it was like a plane flying over you.

Inside the Canyon.

Crossing the Rio Colca at the bottom of the canyon.

Pancakes for breakfast.

Kristin, Gillian and Raphina the lovely lady who we stayed with.  (They are holding Avacados by the way !)

Don't look down !

Ascending out of the Canyon.

We all made it out (thanks to Carlitos) !!

Arequipa, the White City

After Nazca we got the overnight bus upto Arequipa, Peru's second largest city.  Arequipa is a beautiful city which sits in the shadow of snowcapped mountains (El Misti and Pichu Pichu) and rests at around 2000M above sea level.  There is a lovely town square - Plaza de Armas, where you can sit and enjoy a Pisco Sour in the evening and watch the hustle and bustle of the city, with it's hundreds of taxis zipping around!

Plaza De Armas.

Lots of interesting things to see and do here.  There is a fantastic market which sells a myriad of different exotic fruits and some very interesting local products.  There is also a very interesting museum  (Museo Santuaros Andios) which houses Juanita - The Ice Princess -a frozen Inca mummy of a young girl found on Mount Ampato.  She was incedibly well preserved with all her clothes and sacrificial artifacts.  We also visited the Santa Catalina Convent which was only opened to the public in the 1970's and has housed Nuns in the city for hundreds of years.
The restaurants are fantastic. Here we tried lots of local cuisine : Queso Helados (Cheese Ice Cream), Cerviche (Pickled marinated fish), Frog Shakes (yep), Exotic fruits and lots of cakes and coffee.

Gillian and El Misti.

Playa de Armas (and Misti) at night.

Alpaca encounter whilst out running.

Our hostel, can you translate the name ?

Drinking Frog Juice

In Arequipa we tried this local drink, apparently good for the brain and an aphrodisiac !!!!

Meet Kermit !!!!

Boiled !!!!

Liquidized !!!!!

Frogshakes ready to drink !!!!

Not so sure about this !!!!!

Gillian loved it !!!!!

Lima and Nazca, Peru

Hi All,

We are just back in Arequipa from our 3 day trek into Colca Canyon, so it's about time we got this blog started with our first week's adventures.

Lima.
We arrived in Lima about 5pm on the sunday night.  The Hostel we were staying at sent a taxi so there was no problems there.  Driving into the city was an experience, even on a Sunday night it was very congested.  We drove through some pretty shady parts of the city, but the area we stayed at was very nice, Miraflores.  We checked into out Hostel (Hostel del Patio), which had a garden courtyard and rooms with balconies around the side.  There were a lot of restaurants in Miraflores and we headed to one close to the Hostel called Le Tejas for our first Peruvian pollo and cerveza.

Hostel Del Patio, Lima

Next day he got up and went for a walk around Miraflores.  It is definitely one of the better parts of the city and was by the coast, so we took a stroll down to the Pacific Ocean.  I can't say the beach was all that impressive - pretty dirty,  and we declined the surf lessons a guy was offering us.

After a coffee and empanada (like a bridie), we headed to the bus station to get out first long distance bus to Nazca.  I have to say the bus company Cruz Del Sur are amazing.  The most luxurious buses I have every been on.  There is a stewardess who serves a meal on the bus, Wifi and movies.  A bit of a step up from the mega bus !!!!

Gillian on the Cruz Del Sur bus.

Nazca.
We arrived in Nazca about 8pm at night and grabbed a Taxi to our accommodation in Nazca.  Our taxi driver Arturo turned out also to be a Sandboarder who offered to take us out for a trip to the Cerro Blanco a massive sand dune over 2000M, so after a bit of  negotiation we agreed for him to pick us up at 7am the next morning.  The Nazca House was again a very comfortable hostel and the owner Nancy was great and looked after us really well.

The next morning Arturo picked us up early doors and we drove up the the Cerro Blanco.  It was about 3 hours to hike to the summit.  Firstly through scrub and desert, then through sand dunes which was tough going, and as the morning wore on the it was getting pretty hot.  We then had a 1000M descent of the mountain which was great fun.  Gillian tried the sitting down technique and disappeared off at breakneck speed.  I tried the standing technique which wasn't as fast and after a few mouthfuls of sand made to the bottom.  It was fun, but I think I'll stick to snowboarding !!!!!

Gillian ready for action.

Dean and Arturo climbing Cerro Blanco.

Dean and the Cerro Blanco in the background.

After the sandboarding we got cleaned up, then headed out for a Pizza and a Cerveza, before getting the night bus to our next destination Arequipa.  We really enjoyed our day in Nazca, even though we didn't see the Lines for which the area is famous!

1 Day to go !!!!!!

Well, we can't believe that tomorrow we are finally heading off on our travels.  We talked about doing it for years, booked it way back in May it seemed a long time off, however its all about to happen.

We have had a brilliant summer with our friends:Hillwalking in Balmoral,  Cycle touring round Islay at Easter,  running the Hebridean 1/2 Marathon series (and winning the team prize), camping, laughing and running the Tour of Fife, and Mountain Biking in Dumfries.

Now its time for our next adventure: a 6 month trip touring South America, New Zealand, Australia and Africa.  We are also planning to take a little time in Tanzania to do some volunteering.

We have had a busy last week.  Last Friday a few beers catching up with friends in Edinburgh and on Wednesday we had an early Christmas run  around the Braid Hills and Hermitage with fellow CAACers (Corstorphine Amateur Athletics Club ) followed by some mince pies back at the flat.  Lots of funny looks from the residents of Morningside as we all wore Santa hats on the run.

So finally it's the night before we leave and I though it might be a good idea to go for a Steak at Los Argentinos restaurant to get us in the mood.

Speak to you all soon

Dean and Gillian