Los Aventuras de Edmundo y Linda

Took a 10 hour bus ride to Arequipa and arrived at 5:30am. We didn´t sleep much on the bus because the heat was on full blast and we were sweating like crazy. The whole bus stunk because of the sweaty, discusting people. Had a free breakfast at the hostel. Met Kealy & Nico, a cool Austrialian/Argentinian couple. Slept for many hours on the hammocks on the roof and did some city exploring.

Left the hostel at 8am to Colca Canyon, the deepest canyon in the world. The bus ride to the canyon took us over 5000m above sea level. Everyone on the bus had altitude sickness and had to drink coca tea and chew coca leaves or take pills. One man even had to take a ride back to Arequipa because he was having problems with his heart. We saw lots of cool lamas and alpacas, man are they cool and cute! We ate some that night and they were really tasty! Did a hike up to some pre-Inca tombs and lookout over the valley and then went to some hotsprings. Stayed overnight in a town called Chivay.

Left our hostel in Chivay at 6am and did a hike through part of Colca Canyon. The canyon was about 3500m deep at the point we visited but gets to over 4000m in some places. We saw tons of HUGE condors flying around the canyon. There wing span is about 2.8m! Took the bus back to Arequipa and sang along with the sweet 90s tunes the driver was playing. Said bye to Nico and Kealy… thanks for the book!

We enjoyed the fantastic view from our hostel, while eating free breakfast, which Edmundo thinks is awesome because he writes it down in our journal everytime. The hostel is really cool, it has been converted from an old farm. We spent most of the day walking around the main square (Plaza de Armas). We also looked for warm clothes since our bags got stolen in Huacachina, Peru. During the night we enjoyed an awesome meal, even though Edmundo was still a sicko.

We went to a few stores to replenish our gifts and did many walks back and forth to the hostel. The Plaza de Armas was full of people today, because of the Festival del Sol celebrations. We checked out the parade and festivities. We decided to cook our own meals and went to the supermarket. It´s cheaper and we are also way over budget. We also stopped at a delicious bakery on our way back to the hostel.

Woke up at 6am. We both didn´t sleep much because Linda was coughing all night. We met some friends at the Plaza de Armas at 7am. We grabbed a small bite to eat and then walked to get a seat on a dirt hill overlooking the festival area. We arrived about 6 hours early and it wasn´t even that good. Peruvians were throwing rocks at other people standing up and blocking their view and thousands broke through police barricades to sit on the ruins to see the festivities. Later that night we meet some Brazilians, French and Americans and all had a mini fiesta at the hostel.

We decided to walk around town very slowly, because were waiting for our bus to Arequipa, Peru.  We were so hot cause we left our long underwear on all day.  Edmundo thinks its so funny that the propane companies deliver tanks chained to the delivery mans motorbike.  The rest of the day we hung out around the hostel and admired the view. 

 

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