Lima was surprising for how dry and dusty it was (rain here comes in the summer months), but our trip from Lima to Arequipa turned surprise into shock as we entered high altitude desert. We woke up during our overnight bus trip only to find ourselves in the midst of a barren landscape that stretched from horizon to horizon. Few plants broke the monotony and no trees were to be seen; this rendered the surrounding mountains with rather surreal smooth contours. However, just as we were wondering how anyone could live here, we descended from the rolling hills into a vast plain containing Peru's second largest city.

Arequipa is a location of seeming contradictions. The sky was always sunny and yet the temperature remained mild. We walked through urbania, but nature was always in our view: two monstrous mountain ranges sat to either side of the city, and the main street through our suburb eventually made it's way to the base of a towering volcano that seemed to pop out of nowhere. We were well looked after and taking things slowly, but suffered from the characteristic fatigue of adjusting to higher altitudes...

But Arequipa is an awesome city. The volcano created a city of volcanic rock; most of the colonial buildings in the centre of town shine a brilliant white. And the surrounding hills are put to good use as billboards etched with huge advertisements. It was the people though that really made our time here special. We stayed with the family of one of Leah's friends in Australia; they looked after us as if we were royalty and were the nicest people!

My personal highlight always seems to be the food and Arequipa was no exception. We were packed full each day with a tasty lunch (a mid-afternoon affair) that was another regional specialty --- there seemed to be no end to the variety! Peru is the land of potatoes (I think they have over 400 varieties) and we tried plenty of them! The soups here are simply divine and were always a great accompaniment to the meals that ranged from simple bread, avocado and an addictive local cheese (pure goodness), to rice with stewed meat, to stuffed capsicums/chilies with a village potato bake! And did I mention the super-sized popcorn and local ice cream flavoured with cinnamon and cloves? We were spoilt.

A real highlight of our stay was the weekend trip to Colca Canyon --- at over three kilometres deep it is the world's second deepest canyon and also home to nesting condors. Once again the contrasts blew us away: here we were riding through an arid landscape dotted with cacti, peering down at a river perhaps a kilometre below us, whilst in the distance we could spot snow-capped peaks peeking over the canyon edges. And to top it all off we stayed in a little town that was a hop, skip and jump from some hot springs. We went there twice to relieved our aches and pains in one of the pools kept at 38ºC; absolute bliss after suffering the evening's chill! And of all things, I even got to try my hand at the local folk dancing; this meant dressing in gaudy sparkly red and prancing about to South American rhythms and pan pipe! Tee hee!

We're continuing to have lots of fun, and my next installment on Cusco will be one to watch out for ;o)