Well I have so much to tell you, after spending many hours on a coach it was still a fantastic weekend, returning this morning at 7.00am.

We left Cusco on Thursday night to arrive in Arequipa by early morning, few hours into our journey a coach just ahead of us had crashed so we picked up the injured to take them to the nearest place for help. It was dark so hard to tell what was going on after a bumpy trip down back roads I guess we delivered the main injured person for them only to bring him back on the coach. It was awful as he was wailing in agony about an hour later he was droped off with the others somewhere which hopefully would help them all.Unfortunately I dont think there was much hope for him, I wont go into why. Anyhow we finally got back on to our route and continued with the journey ahead. I didnt sleep much at all so when daybreak broke through I enjoyed looking at the beautiful scenery around us. The road was windy and amazing how they cut them out of the mountains,luckily we had just arrived outside of Arequipa when we got a puncture, not to bad as it was on the inside at the rear. so we all had to unload. They dont tell you anything but luckily taxis where passing so just jumped in one of those, we where only 15mins outside of town.

We found a hostel close to the Plaza it was 25sol each a night about £5.00,bargain. We then went into the main area and booked the trip to the Colca canyon it was to be 2days one night. It is a very beautiful town and the weather was very warm, we loved it straight away. Because its the week leading up to Easter the festivties are amazing in these places, they are all so religious that every night there is a parade carrying around floats of Jesus, Mary etc its hard to explain you have to see it to believe, but its emotional and makes you think about the whole thing. They are so dedicated to there religion.

Day 2 we went off to the Colca Canyon amazing the views where spectaculiar it took hours of climbing around mountains & visiting little villages at the bottom of the Canyon. It had been Volcanic years ago but now people had set up homes, think the last eruption was 1985. Of course in the middle of all this is the church & the village built around. We stayed in a hostel in one of the villages and visited a hot spring that was a blessing on the old bones, very hot.

Day 3 we left the village and climbed our way back up to the top of the Canyon we travelled up & up until breathing was harder & water bottles started even breathing in. But it was worth it the views were breath taking & we saw many Condors dancing in the air for us. Unfortunaly my camera needed recharging so have no pictures till I get some of Lynsey. So far Ive got to say that was my favourite day since being away, but Im sure there is more to come. It was a long journey & on the way back,guess what the bus in front of us was in an accident, not good. Plus along the way we had picked up other tourists who`s bus had broken down. We belive now that we have had our fare share of bus disasters which fortunately the disasters were not ours, just enough to make you think.

You will be pleased to no we have learnt from it & payed out more money on a bus to bring us back to Cusco. Dont touch the local buses. We came back in a coach with Club class seats,movie & supper plus arrived back hour ahead of time. We call that a succesful trip. Especially as it was the third coach !!!

We had a great time & found that Lynsey and I can travel well together which is important for the next 4 weeks. What else came out of it was that we realise we are ready to leave Cusco as there is so much more out there to see. After getting back this morning Lynsey has gone of with Jess on a 4 day trecking trip, thankfully I baled out of that one. So have a few days to sort myself out before I go to Machu Pichu on the 3rd.I cant believe how much stuff I have, Jess has lent me her rucksack so need to whittle down my gear as I came with a huge case with winter clothes, & only have half the space. So its going to be good bye to some clothes as we will be making our way to warmer climates on the 5th. Just cant carry it all on my back.

Not many photo`s Im afraid but hopefully will add some if time on Sunday.

Hope you enjoyed that journey as much as me,its hard to express what you see and feel. xxxx