Arequipa and Colca canyon, Peru

La Paz, Bolivia the Second

The last two days we treated ourselves to a little luxury. A deluxe luxury apartment in the middle of high buildings was our home in La Paz! We slept in, did all the laundry, cooking, recovering, visiting the hospital, and lounging in bed.

I had a splinter from an animal or a tree embedded in my right side that was cut out and stitched up with two small stitches! Great, after a month of poking and itching, everything is back to normal now! I'm really glad that Iris was there to support me!

Today we're heading to the Peruvian border and then off to Arequipa, the white city in southern Peru. The rest of the travel route will probably take us to Lima, where a friend of ours has a little house where we can stay for a while ;-)

AREQUIPA, the white city

Arequipa, a nice Couchsurfing host, our own basement room with a bathroom ;-), plenty of beer and fiesta! Another trip to the Colca canyon, hiking over 1000 meters downhill through impressive landscapes of the second deepest canyon in the world, barren mountains adorned with cacti and rivers. The trail leads us all the way to Llahura where we are greeted by a host with thermal baths. We enjoy the warm water, the magnificent view, listen to the rushing river, and for a change, talk to other tourists. The next morning, we bathe in the river before taking the bus on seemingly impassable gravel roads up to Copanaconde and from there back to Arequipa. Because we wanted to save money once again, we didn't see a single Condor, as this tourist spectacle, which is the main attraction here, would have cost a damn 70 soles for each person. Instead, we decided to invest that money in drinking fun, delicious pizza, and three mega fun days with our Couchsurfing host Victor (Supaya Tattoostudio).

All in all, Arequipa and the surrounding area are truly worth seeing, impressive, and beautiful.

1000km, a micro, a bus, two cars, 3 trucks, 3 days

We woke up at seven o'clock today, the bed crackles because the plastic is still on the mattress, and you can hear trucks rushing by on the Pan-American Highway! Great, now we just have to step outside to flag down a ride! Yesterday, Edgar, the somewhat strange driver, dropped us off here at ten o'clock at night, which I believe was better for us!

So we're continuing to Lima in a few minutes, and the whole journey might only take 8 hours, let's see ;-) So we step outside, have a coffee with a street vendor mama, and then continue walking. After about half an hour, a man who is the boss of an olive farm gives us a ride 59km in the right direction. Class, we hitch a ride with the friendly Jose in his truck from the village of Jauca, where there are tons of olives for sale on the road. The road runs along the coast and everything around is just desert. It seems like this will continue for the next 400km. We can ride as far as Nasca. Here, we wait for a while, then go to a gas station which is a truck driver's paradise. We ask some truck drivers if they can give us a ride to Lima, which is about 500km away. A gentleman offered us a ride in his huge truck, which was empty in the back, for 200km. Fortunately, we met GeorgeTony. We wait for him to shower and eat, then we jump into the mega elegant black driver's cabin and the journey can continue. George is 30 years old and a music enthusiast funny guy. We pass by the lookout tower of the Nascalines, stop for a moment, and finally get to see the lines from above, what a nice tourist tour ;-)

The feeling of freedom is alive, we shout along with the hellishly loud music, chat, bond, and let the wind blow through our hair. The hours pass and we get closer and closer to Lima. Along the way, we buy fruits and wine, which tastes more like overly sweet grape juice. 3 hours before Lima, we decide to take a break. We open the wine, enjoy it, and sleep until four o'clock in the morning. Iris is at the driver's seat, I'm at the passenger seat, and GeorgeTony is sleeping right behind us in his little bed. Very early, we continue and reach Salvador, a suburb far outside the city, at 7 o'clock in the morning. After another two hours of sleep, we decide to get off and take a bus to the mega city. Miraflores and the coast of Lima are our destination. Of course, we find our way there somehow, have a coffee, and meet funny young people on the street who make us smile early in the morning. Now we're sitting here in a park, looking at the sea, and enjoying a slightly different side of Lima.