This was our first stop in Peru- the land of Inka's! Almost every city or town has an Inka's ruin for you to tote your camera at.

We wasted no time in organising a tour that would drive us through Colca Canyon from Arequipa. Day 1 was not too impressive as we made our way past the cloud covered El Misty (the iconic volcano mountain just on the outskirts of Arequipa). Every day the locals of Arequipa experience mild shakings as the active volcano releases pressure... I didn't feel the shakings I think the tour guide is trying to make his life sound more exciting than it is. Anyway the day ended well as we soaked ourselves in hot springs situated outdoors amongst the Andean mountains and rain - it was lovely and hot with the steam rising off the water and cold drops of rain on your face, I felt like I was in a Timoteo shampoo ad.
Day 2 we reached Colca canyon, which was an awesome sight! In fact it was mesmerizing as you stared down and down into the valley. At 4000m Colca canyon is twice as deep as the grand canyon (although not as vertical) with green slopes from the Andean rain and a pumping river flowing through the bottom. In some parts cliff edges were terraced where little villages have settled (crazy why they want to live somewhere so steep! No ball sports I imagine.)
The other tour 'hi-light' was Condor spotting - they just look like Lamagaia really - we spent about 2 hours perched on the edge of a windy cliff with the whole tour group's head tilted up squinting in the sun. The most excitement was provided by our Russian friend! She got so excited when she saw a Condor she would yell and point it out but never managed to take a pic she was pointing so much! (Haha, just mimic that in your minds with a Russian accent!). To top it off we stopped off at a local market where a baby lama was posed for tourists to hug and kiss (for a small fee of course). It was so cute dammit! I tried to get an epic pic with me and the lama but it kept on squirming around and never looked at the camera, so I have an AWESOME pic with me over smiling and my hand around its neck forcing the poor thing to look perfectly at the camera!! I look like I'm strangling the thing. Haha. (I wasn't of course) And it was so young still it couldn't yet spit (as Lama's do), so it would keep turning around sniffing really close to my face and then 'spit' air at me. Hahaha too cute, but I still won with the pic!

Back to Arequipa we did a quick walk around and were quite impressed with the town planning and organization of the place in comparison to the last few weeks of chaotic cities. Again it was cloudy and drizzling so still no pic of damn El Misty, oh well, hopefully sunny weather at Machu Picchu - our next stop!