South of Peru (Lake Titicaca, Colca Canyon, Arequipa)

We arrived into Peru by Bus from La Paz, driving along the beautiful Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world at 4000m. We spent a couple of days at a homestay on one of the floating reed islands of Uros. The local community has perfected the art of building entire islands, houses, boats, statues and more out of the lake reeds that are the only thing that really grow around here. The nights were absolutely freezing, we slept in our beanies and under 7 blankets with hot water bottles at our feet whilst you water in all the drains froze so you had to wait until it thawed at about 10am until you could take a shower or use the sink again. The days were lovely and sunny and were mostly spent sitting out on the deck, reading, dozing, drawing and relaxing. Overall it was very noticeable though that we had arrived on the "Gringo Trail", Peru already seeming a lot more touristy in these parts than what we had experienced in Bolivia. Prices are higher, there are tours being offered at every corner and souvenirs pushed on you sometimes rather aggressively.

Next we went to the Colca Canyon, the second deepest canyon in the world (twice as deep as the Grand Canyon apparently). It is famous for condor viewing and has lots of hot springs in the area. We originally had planned to do a 3 days hike into the canyon, but upon arrival after a loooong day on the bus and still feeling physically exhausted from our mountaineering exploits the week before, we spontaneousely decided to scrap that plan. Instead we headed for the city of Arequipa.

Arequipa is a beautiful, white walled colonial city at the base of the Volcano Misti. It lies at 2500m, which to us felt like we were back at sea level. Our crusty lips and noses could finally recover a bit and we were able to walk around in Tshirts in the sun, which was a welcome change. The city is known as the culinary capital of Peru and (as you may know) Peruvian cuisine is quite up and coming, boasting some of the best restaurants in the world and being all about fusion with asian cuisines. We took full advantage of this and spent the week sampling some great foods such as Ceviche, Guinea Pig, Alpaca meat, Chicha (fermented corn drink) and much more. We also took a very instructive cooking class, brushing up on knive skills, flambée-ing some tenderloins and making our own pisco sour cocktails. Another of my personal favourite food discoveries was "Queso helado", a sorbet-like ice cream based on milk, egg, coconut, vanilla and covered with cinammon.

With our bellies full and our spirits and bodies recovered, we now head onwards to Cusco and Machu Picchu!

Oh, and we cuddled some veery soft alpacas too :)