Colca Canyon

Right now I´m in Ariquipa, Peru, the second largest city in the country. It´s nice, kinda like a really big small town. See these pictures at http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079118&l=27d9c&id=58000349 But what I really want to tell you about is the Colca Canyon. We drove 4 hours there and 5 hours back over two days, in altitude that reached almost 6000 metres above sea level. I´ve learned about the wonders of coca tea which helps with altitude sickness and tastes really good. It gives you a good jolt of energy too that lasts throughout the day. I found myself breathing very heavily up there and running out of breath very fast, but that is all normal and it only takes the body a few days to compensate.

Now on to the Colca Canyon. It is the deepest in the world where at it´s deepest is 5000 metres. I desperatly want to try to explain the beauty of the region but words cannot do it. I´m serious, I´ve already had discussions with my peers and we´ve decided that it´s unexplainable. Mountains, rivers, shrub, cactus, countless miles of incredible views that look like they are painted and cannot possibly be real. Beautiful, idealistic, utopian, whatever word you can think of will help describe it. When you close your eyes and think of Peru, this is what comes to mind. We even went to a condor lookout point on the canyon. The Peruvian condor is the biggest bird of flight in the world. It´s wingspan is 3 meters long. We were thrilled when they put on a show for us, flying so low above our heads. I´ve posted pictures of this all but I´m afraid my camera is just not good enough to capture the true beauty of this land. See them at http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079124&l=a7777&id=58000349 and http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079144&l=7f0bf&id=58000349 Also make sure you continuously check in with Marco´s photo´s that I told you about before. He´s a photo buff and his pictures are excelent.

Tomorrow we wake up at 4:30 AM to fly to Cuzco, something I am looking forward to very much. (Not the early flight, but the city) It´s supposed to be Peru´s playground where everyhting and anything can be done.

So all together I´m still healthy, making good friends and having a grat time. Although I must admit I´m getting a little sick of the Peruvian food and have had massive cravings lately for a big mac. So thats it for this entry, see you in Cuzco.