Huacachina, Ica

We had been told to do sandboarding in Peru but we weren't sure exactly where until we met a couple that said we HAD to go to Huacachina, where we could sandboard and chill out for a little while. Huancacina is a part of the city of Ica, which is between Arequipa and Lima towards the coast, and is natural oasis surrounded by huge desert dunes.

For months, we had eaten whatever "breakfast" the hostel included in the price, which was usually bad bread with some jam. Here, none of the hostels included breakfast, which came as a blessing in disguise. We found this place with the biggest pancakes we have ever seen filled with fruit and topped with chocolate syrup (bc why not). Look how happy Scott is!

Most of the hostels did however have pools. Here is ours! We arrived at 7am, booked a sandboarding trip which didn't start until 4pm, perfect for us. We laid at the pool all day!

The sand dunes with Ica in the distance (a city in the middle of the desert)

"Us" picture

Surf's up dude!

Our dune buggy...riding in this was almost as much fun as sliding down the mountain of sand!

Sun setting over the dunes

Arequipa

We didn't get to spend a lot of time in Arequipa but we liked what we saw. The main square was very beautiful, with a large Cathedral on one side and three sides of double tiered arches. The rest of the city retained a great deal of the Spanish architecture and the city itself was surrounded by volcanoes. Very pretty.

View of the city with one of the few volcanoes that surround the city in the background...

Catelina Convent was started a view years after the Spanish came in and was for only very rich families. Although it still runs as a teaching convent, it was only opened to the public in 2005 and has been recognized by the goverment as a historical landmark.  The girls were always the second daughters of wealthy families and it was an honor to accepted into the convent. That being said, the girls went 4 years from ages 12-16 without speaking to anyone except their teachers. After age 16, they were allowed to speak to other nuns and receive visitors, but they could never leave the convent. They could only see their visitors through a screen (similar to the glass at prisons) and they couldn't touch anyone directly (gifts had to pass through a turntable). It doesn't sound like a nice life compared to today's standards, but they did have servents to cook and clean for them. The convent itself is beautiful.

Coutyard in the Catelina Convent...the convent was very colorful with the different buildings painted bright colors like red, yellow and blue.

One of the older streets within Catalina Convent...

Mirador on top of a roof of the convent...

Main plaza in Arequipa...

Big cathedral off the main plaza...in 2001 one of the spires was damaged in a big earthquake, locals are upset because the new spire didnt meet the artistic standards of the older one...can you tell the difference? 

Great meal discovery...chifa...or Peruvian chinese food, in particular this dish was called "Aeropuerto" and was my personal favorite...it combined angel hair pasta ans rice cooked with brocolli and chicken with this sweet red dipping sauce...amazing!!  and of course the ever popular Peruvian beverage..Inca Kola...which is way too sweet!

What in the world is this you might ask...well its a foodstand in the back of a trunk of a car that was parked on the side of the city street...the lady was selling olives in huge 5 gallon buckets!!!

Pretty angle of the cathedral...

Night shot of the Cathedral from the second floor arcade where we sipped coffee before leaving Arequipa

Another pretty picture of square (I'm a sucker for palm tree shots!)

Colca Canyon, near Arequipa

From Cusco, we took a nightbut to Arequipa and continue on the same morning to see Colca Canyon. After all the hiking, we decided not to do the 3 day hike through the canyon, but rather an easy tour bus. We later wished we had hiked but the nature and beauty was not lost.

Colca Canyon's name to fame is that it is the deepest canyon in the world, deeper than the Grand Canyon. The Colca Valley is a very wide, beautiful valley full of small towns and tons of farmlands. There are some terraces that predate the Incas that are still used for farming. Since before the Inca time, it has been an important place for producing crops.

You can see the terraces leading down to the river

We stayed in a the Lovely Chivay (pronouced Chee--bae)...a very small town at the start of the Colca Canyon. They had hot springs here that were just the thing after all our hiking and lack of sleep. We didnt bring the camera, so no pictures, but they were much nicer than the hot springs in Aguas Calientes, for which the town is named!

Chivay from far away and the start of the Colca Canyon

Church in town...

Local women in town with their traditional garb...very colorful!

This hawk just swooped in and landed on my shoulder and we were lucky enough to snap a quick photo before he took off...

The llama was all decked out so I had to take a picture with it!

The Colca Canyon...

It was very difficult to get a good picture showing the depth...it's a very narrow can

The Condor, as we have mentioned, has always been an important symbol for all the Andean cultures throughout all of South America. We have heard several reasons why it was important, it represents the heavens, it assists the souls to the afterlife, etc. One particular area of Colca Canyon is a safe spot for the Condors to lay their eggs and therefore there are always several Condors sweeping around. The zoom on my camera broke and Scott's zoom wasn't great so our pictures of these awesome creatures are pretty ho-hum, but these birds are just massive. They soar instead of fly and it is easy to see why the ancient cultures reveared them so.

The giant condor soaring overhead...

Colca Canyon in the background

On one of our stops back into town, we saw this girl feeding a baby llama...too cute!

Machu Picchu!

And after the amazing hike we arrived at this place called Machu Picchu, some of you may have heard about it...dont believe all the hype...its amazing!!

We awoke at 3:45am...yes that's right 3:45am to do some more hiking up the Inca steps to the Machu Picchu site.  Everyday they allow the first 200 people up the mountain a special pass to another part of the area called Huayna Picchu (the mountain in the back of all the famous photos)

Just when you thought all the hiking was done, they go and put steps ALL OVER the side of a steep mountain...well worth the effort though!!

The original Inca steps that we trekked up...there were only like 750,000 of them...I mean why not...

An early morning shot of the area...it almost looks like my body is superimposed onto a postcard of Machu Picchu, but I assure you I was there!! Pretty special!

Although it was early and our legs were killing us...it was definitely rewarding being some of the first people to look out over this gorgeous scenery!

Group photo cliffside...Hyuana Picchu is the mountain in the backgroud...

Beautiful views of the terraces as the sun rose...

Everyone has seen these famous pictures of Machu Picchu, but ours are mo' better!!

Steep steps!!

The sun rose pretty quickly and warmed us back up...

Us trying to knock the main gate down...here you can see the precise Inca stonework...

View of Machu Picchu from atop Huayna Picchu...absolutely amazing!!  Although you cannot really tell from this photo, the Inca constructed Machu Picchu in the shape of the condor (giant bird popular in the area)...just look how small it looks from here and yet how big it is close up...

Atop Huayna Picchu...the views were amazing, but more incredible was how they managed to build the things they did up here...its so high and steep the stairs alone were difficult to just walk...

Kerry with a hairy dude...

The road the buses travel up to Machu Picchu winds back and forth, back and forth...the Inca steps we took goes in the middle of that "little" green area between the switchbacks...straight up!

The guardhouse with its most famous guardian...the llama...who roam randomly around the area

These plants even existed back during the Incan times...pretty cool huh

Finish of the Hike...

More photos from the hike to Machu Picchu...

The group atop the mountain pass...

Pretty view on the way back down...

An example of the houses out in this part of Peru in the middle of nowhere...we camped near these houses on our second night...

Pretty landscape...of the joys of walking downhill after 4+ hours straight up...

As we made our way back down the mountain the leaves and trees started changing...before we camped for the night the landscape was completely different because we had started to enter a rainforest...it was crazy to think just hours before we were atop a mountain pass with snow and now we we about to enter a tropical climate...

A waterfall on the way...this particular one was pretty unique because it had 7 different falling points, 3 of which you can see in the picture...

Pretty picture of the valley we walked through...

Here's a turkey, not sure why this is so special...I mean we have these ugly things back home...(oh yea I almost forgot, Kerry went to Virginia Tech home of the "Hokies"..a mythical bird with supposed special powers...hey I am just reporting the facts here)...but really this bird kept strutting its stuff during one of our breaks while we relaxed...

Now back to the important pictures...fresh passion fruit from a tree on the hike...you crack open the shell and this soft, sweet fruit is inside, its really good!!

Because of the massive flooding in the area earlier this year the local roads and bridges were completely wiped out...they have been forced to use this cable care system in order to get people from one side of the river to the other...here are some pictures from our little ride...

There were no seat belts on this ride, you just packed yourself and all your gear onto this little platform and off you went ziplining across a ravine...some idiots even stood up for the trip...

Although extremely dangerous I had time to take this quick phot

Finally made it to the train that took us to Aguas Calientes, at the bottom of the Machu Picchu mountain!