MundoNaturelle

Dia fifteen through twenty

After Puno, we boarded a bus to Arequipa. The bus broke down within minutes of leaving the city. The driver and his helper ran all around inside and outside of the bus, opening and closing compartments, never saying a word to the passengers. Eventually a fellow tourist got off the bus and asked, turns out we had a flat tire but no spare, but the company was bringing another bus from Puno. And that´s what happened. The strangest part of the ride were the traveling salesmen who got on at one stop, stood in the center of the aisle pitching herbal remedies (one even using a microphone) for about an hour or so and then getting off the bus after their pitch. It was strange.



Once in Arequipa, we promptly made plans to head out to Colca Canyon to frolic with vicunas, llamas, alpacas, condors, and other creatures. Colca Canyon was thought to be the deepest canyon in the world, until a neighboring canyon took over the honors. It is also a fabulous spot to find condors. The area looks a lot like the desert SW of the USA only the mountains are higher and their are llamas and alpacas everywhere. A big highlight for me. We also got to see vicunas driving out to the canyon which are an endangered relative of the llama and also quite cute.



Jimmy and I were very confused on this tour of Colca, as we seemed to get the best of everything out of the group. We ended up with the suite at the hotel we stayed at, especially cool as it has a gigantic boulder across as one of its walls. A very Jimmy-like decoration. I think the others were most jealous of our air mattresses in the tent, when all they got was a little sleeping pad. We started wonder if we paid more than every one else or it was because we were married... who knows.



After returning from 3 days in the Colca Canyon, we went on a mission to eat at a typical Peruvian fast food joint in Arequipa. We noticed on our first day there, that there was a Peruvian fast food joint the specialized in a dish that consisted of "German" hot dogs on top of french fries. The locals also were drinking a local cola. We had to try it. We were successful and full after the endeavor. We also explored Arequipa and were struck by how modern it was. It is very dramatic when you move from the culture/history/touristy region to the metropolitan areas of Peru.



We also visited Mundo Alpaca were we got to feed alpacas and llamas and the caretaker even let me hold a baby alpaca. It was awesome and I definitely want to take an alpaca home with me... I wonder what Skidaway would think of that addition.



Before leaving Arequipa, we had one more adventure- whitewater rafting.(jimmy writing now) Our rafting trip was supposed to last 2 hours and with in the first 5 minutes we were stuck on a rock for over 5 minutes. This did not bode well for the excellence of our skipper and crew. It turned out the the rifer was about 10 ft below its highest point and there were 6 people weighing this raft down a bunch. In the end it was very fun and the one class 4 we did was awesome, even if it just involved us hiding in the raft as we dropped 9 feet.

Rafting built up a bit of a hunger and we headed over to a Turkish restaurant. Within minutes of arriving all the power went out. This set us up for a bit of a candle lit dinner. I ordered my 3rd hamburger of the trip here and have continued to be disappointed by every restaurants attempt to add crazy seasoning to their hamburgers. Eventually the lights came back on and I got some pop corn from a street vendor for about 20 cents.



We now sit in the Lima airport, awaiting our flight to Iquitos to the rain forest. We will be waiting for about 18 hrs and saving over $200 by not staying at the nearest hotel. A long day to night in the airport.

http://www.sleepinginairports.net/casa/lima.htm