Peru part two - Arequipa to Cuzco

After Nazca we went to Arequipa, a really beautiful old town, with lots of old white houses. We spent a couple of days there, visiting churches and museums and eating good food. I tried Guinea Pig! It does actually taste a bit like chicken, I quite liked it.

Then we went to the Colca Canyon, which is the deepest canyon in the world. We stayed in a little village near Colca town, a really nice countryside place next to some tall mountains. We did a hike on the first day to acclimatize our bodies as we were at about 3800 meters. It was quite exhausting, but I just told myself "just keep swimming, just keep swimming" and it helped :)
The next day we went to the actual canyon which was really stunning, it´s so deep, and the walls are so steep! We saw about 10-15 Condors which were really cool, they are huge birds, about 3 meters wingspan. One of them came really close, and passed just a few meters above us. Cool!
In the evening we went to some hotsprings and had dinner at a restaurant where they played traditional Peruvian music and performed dances for us.

Spent a day in Arequipa before getting a nightbus to Cuzco. I really like Cuzco, even though it´s quite touristy. There was a festival going on so lots of people in the streets, prosessions and dances and fun. Spent the day wondering around markets, and visiting a convent with some old Inka-ruins in it. In the evening there was a concert and dances in the main square, and some great fireworks at the end!
The next day I went on a guided tour of the Sacred Valley, where we visited two different Inka ruin sites. They were both quite impressive. The last stop was an old church with beautiful paintings in the roof and on the walls, and lots of gold. A bit weird to find such a decorated church in a little town in the middle of nowhere! Came back to Cuzco and went to dinner at an English pub, before we had to pack for the Lares trek.