Hi, I´m having a great time in Cusco and today I´ve hopped to Aguas Caliente, getting ready to see the much anticipated sight of Macchu Picchu. I did a three day whitewater rafting camp on Rio Apurimac with Mayuc Tours and met 17 Israelis. Basically when I landed at the agency that morning, I looked at the list of participants, and in vain, I found no non-Israeli besides myself. Then a couple of the Israeli guys popped over to greet me in fluent English, so phew...! So 18 of us, three rubber boats, down a river in three days, stayed in lovely campsites with too many mosquitoes. Everything about this trip was pristine, everything really, except the mosquitos who were especially hungry in the morning and so cleverly always attacked me while I was in nature-toilet, which was when I was most defenseless. *Sigh* Literally been itching my butt off since! The river was beautiful, very wide with rapids filled with grand white rocks. The Apurimac canyon, which is third deepest in Peru (trailing Colca and Cotahuasi near Arequipa - where I went trekking earlier) appeared incredibly serene to me in those three days. The second night´s camp is worth a note - basically for hours we laid under the nightsky, smacked in front of us lied the meeting of the canyon (a valley) silhouetted by a huge, and i mean really huge, starlit sky, that made me feel like I was in a very grand space museum. The constellation of Scorpio and the planet Jupiter was especially visible that night. Couldn´t see the Southern Cross because it was hiding behind the mountains. The Israelis were an especially fun bunch. Learned more about Jewish traditions/religions and about the war that I have ever from watching CNN. It was interesting to get a more untainted perspective of what life is like in middle east. Most of these youngsters are fresh out of the military (3.5 years) and are taking time off traveling before they go to college, most of them between 22 and 24. One guy, Dror, who I got to know better, was in the bomb department, however he refused to share much about the makings of bombs. Apparently many many Israelis will spend several months in the US selling random things (from cosmetics to flavoured water cigarettes) in malls, then head down to South America to travel for many months up to a year. Little did I know how powerful their presence in South America is, until this club we went to in Cusco on the day of our return started to play Hebrew songs after Hebrew songs. Now it seems like everywhere I look, there are Jews. Oh and also, all of their names have interesting spiritual meanings, such as Hila, which means aura in Hebrew, Ori, which means my light, and Eyal, which means strength. Incredible.

Back to where I am currently. Aguas Caliente, which is the nearest town to Macchu Picchu, is 4 hours from Cusco via a train or can be reached via various multi-day treks. I opted to travel by train because I couldn´t reserve a spot on the most popular Inca Trail (needed to book 3 months in advance), so thought I will save my breath to just fully enjoy Macchu Picchu by arriving directly on train. The weather is bad here today, was pouring for several hours since I arrived this morning so will go see Macchu Picchu first thing tomorrow morning instead. I plan to stay here for several nights. I´ve been feeling so high since I landed in the train station at 6am this morning, don´t know what´s causing me so excited about this place!! I plan to do a tour of Macchu (without guide) then another tour of Putucusi with a private guide, which is a peak near Macchu where you can get a great view of Macchu. I´m quite excited about going up Putucusi because that is where Ian White made the Angelic Essence (which I´ve started taking last night!! perhaps that is why I´m feeling so high...) Aguas Calientes feels extremely like Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) in China of which I really only remember seeing clouds and clouds and clouds and no mountain because of the weather condition while I was there last year. Even the smell of the hostals bear resemblance...

Got this book which discusses Incan wisdoms about Mother Earth and the Sky and have been fascinated to discover that Lake Titicaca, where I have just visited, is the very center of the feminine electromagnetic field of our planet Earth!! For those unfamiliar of energy fields, basically all things in existence are energies with electromagnetic fields, and therefore have positive and negative polarities (including human where our two polarities lie in the head and heart for men, and solar plexus and womb for women). According to this book, the masculine center of Earth lies in Mount Everest, and the feminine in the Andes, of which the very very center is Lake Titicaca! So incredibly cool! It is no coincidence men are so drawn to both destinations! SO! For those of you who wants to get in touch with your feminine side a bit more, to get in touch with that part of yourself that expresses pure unconditional love, that part of yourself which nurtures and creates, that part of yourself which speaks in the language of intuition and emotions, and this applies to both girls and guys, and you cannot quite visit Lake Titicaca in person YET, feel free to visit it in your meditations (in the future I will share my pictures for your pleasure and energy source!), for it is indeed a powerfully healing place, at least from what I´ve experienced. Then for those who feel you need to be a tadbit more assertive, a tadbit more angry sometimes, a lil´ bit more aggressive just so you can pull thru whatever type of sticky situation in your life at the moment, feel free to visit Mount Everest (in your thoughts or even better, in person!), I´m sure it is an amazing place and I want and want to visit, in the NEAR future, at least its base camp in Tibet or Nepal!! Funny I´ve been thinking about it alot these past few weeks... Anyway, too much jibberish from me, will update you again after I visit Macchu. Hasta luego amigos.

After a seven-hour bus from Puno, I arrived in Cusco this afternoon. And after nearly 45 minutes in a taxi fishing for a hostal, I am booked into Amaru Hostal, in which I will only stay one night (because it is full tmr). Luckily I have found a nicer place to stay for tomorrow, hehe. Thanks to Macchu Picchu, which was discovered in the early 1900s, Cusco has become probably the most touristy city of South America, and is often called, the Kathmandu of South America. At first glance, it is just like any other non-modern Peruvian or Bolivian city (dirty and rugged..). Initially I thought it looked a bit like La Paz, being at 3,400M in altitude and also having hills of houses caressing its center. At a closer look, Cusco is a shopping paradise for tourists and a salad of Spanish and Incan cultural attractions. On your feet lies Incan style cobblestones while above your head rise Catholic churches that were built by the Spanish conquistadores since its invasion in the 16th century. Like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory, it took me two hours to cross three blocks from my hostal to the Plaza de Armas as every touristy store seemed to be beckoning my visit, and every store, at first glance, seemed to hold so much potential...

Before I ramble on more about Cusco, let me regress slightly to my two-night Isla de Amantani trip on Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is one of the three sacred lakes in the world (the other two being Lake Baikal in Russia and Pyramid Lake in Nevada). Legend says it gave birth to the father and mother of the Incan Empire in the 1100s and it is also the cradle of two pre-Incan civilizations with about 3,000 years of history, the Quechans (which I met on Isla de Amantani) and the Aymarans who live on the Uros Reeds Floating Islands, which I also toured.

Basically that morning right when I landed at the pier I was pulled into a tourist boat and was quickly acquainted with a bunch of other travelers. Shortly after we pulled out of the dock, I quickly forgot about the harbour which I found dirty and was mesmerized by the incredible stillness of the lake, which really felt more like a sea. We stopped over at the Uros Reeds Floating Islands, which initially seemed really interesting - they are basically a group of mini-islands made out of woven reeds and you have these Aymaran families selling tourist things on them. 15 minutes of being surrounded by the touristiness of on these islands felt slightly suffocating. What is worse is that I found out from earlier travelers that the families no longer live on the islands anymore, so they merely come here during the day for the tourists. Well, to be more practical-minded, tourism has its merits for bringing in wealth to the poor. Another 3.5 hours on the lake, we landed on Isla de Amantani and four other travelers and I were grouped together to stay with one host family on the first night and had a nice peaceful time enjoying island scenery and food. Shortly after I landed on the island I hit myself really really hard on the top of my head and felt drowsy from it afterwards, so instead of following the group to see the ruins on the top of the hill, I took things slow and went to the harbour to meditate and rest. Second day I pretty much spent the whole day on my own (as the group has left to visit the neighbouring Taquile Island while I opted to stay behind for some quiet time). I spent the morning on the top of the island awing at acres and acres of dry terraces separated by low rise stones and their interplay with exotic clouds (where clouds are so huge and close I can almost touch them), which rendered various great photo moments. After a cleansing meditation on one of the ruins that overlook the beautiful lake, which really resembled more like a sea (Lake Titicaca takes 12 hours to cross on a moderate speed boat), I descended to the other side of the island and met a bunch of local musicians in the plaza who delighted at meeting a Chinese girl. They eagerly showed me their instruments that were made in China! Shortly after they invited me to a wedding ceremony, at which they were playing their music. I followed the group of musicians to retrieve the marrying couple from their home and followed them on a long windy path to the wedding place, which is an open area with two long benches and some local women sitting on the floor in the middle. Many courses of food were served, which started with soup (first course), followed by another soup (second course), then a handful of cereals, then rice dish with different types of potatoes.. which I couldnt quite finish as I was stuffed to the brim already from the previous soups, and a local came over, grabbed my dish and passed it to a local lady who poured my dish into her bag. The courses went on and on, and somewhere in the middle, I sneaked out of the wedding to take a nap at the lakeside. Without enuf sunscreen, my face is now as BBQed as a half-cooked duck. And as I edged my way back up the island passing the wedding, they were still eating... probably onto the tenth course! I made it up to the top of the island again, to the other ruin (there are two in total on the top) to watch sunset. Watching the sunset brought back memories from my previous trip to Taquile Island (the neighbouring island). Thinking that the sun will take a while to fully set, I started to make my way to my family on the other side of the hill. My sense of timing was off and by the time I got near my family on the other side of the island, it was already dark and I did not have my headlamp with me and I was trapped n lost in the rice terraces unable to find my way back to the family. Just as I was really panicking and thinking that I need to just walk to any house with light on, I was saved by a family that kindly conceded to let me stay overnight until I can leave to look for my family in the next morning. And just as I was happily settled into their dark house (all they had was a candle for me in their room), the whole family came in and investigated me on the details of the family I was supposed to be staying with. I could only recall the name of one of little boys in the family... and after much debate among the family members in their native language Quechan, they have managed to narrow down the possibility of my family to two and then kindly launched a search crew, which consisted of the mom and the little son, to locate my family in the dark. Luckily these ppl do use flashlight so very quickly I was able to re-unite with my family and had my warm dinner followed by a restful sleep. Next day I went back to Puno and today I am in Cusco. Overall, the experience was healing, fun, and a bit shocking (the getting lost in the dark was a bit scary for me...).

Have booked myself for a 30-minute Coca tealeaf reading with a local shaman tomorrow morning. Friday I will do a three-day whitewater rafting trip on Rio Apurimac, which has come highly recommended by many. So I will not write until after. No Incan trail for me as it requires 3-month advance booking and I was too late. Instead I plan to do some bus hopping to sandwiched towns with connections via the Incan train, to see the much awaited Macchu Picchu.

Puno is a monet, beautiful from a distance, very dirty from close. Nonetheless it is still the town that tangents (can this be used as a verb?) Lake Titicaca, so a must-come spot. I am happy to be staying in the same hostal I had stayed 5 years ago, the Pukara Hostal, which has incredibly yummy breakfast, vey clean and charming rooms and these Bohemian-feel resting areas on certain floors. Puno is above 4,000M so I am feeling the thin air a bit, especially when i have to walk up 4 flights of stair to my room that is situated on the 5th floor, nevertheless it is a blessing in disguise because breakfast is served on the 6th.

Puno appears very differently to how I have remembered it. We have both changed so it took me a number of hours today to adjust. Today I strolled around town, first to an outpost that allowed me to see the town from a relative height, then thru a rowdy local public market to the harbour where I can see Lake Titicaca. The harbour is very dirty so I didnt really feel anything spiritual about this Lake. Rather, I had great fun strolling through the local markets as I love to check out what merchandise the local people like to sell. Interesting merchandise such as Crema Lechuga y Crema Chirimoya (lettuce cream and chirimoya cream, a type of fruit) intrigued me, of which I bought a small box for 50 centavos. Also enjoyed sifting through the incense sticks (they had archangel incense sticks which I havent seen sold in HK), the snack stands, and the amenities stands (Head & Shoulders, Gillette and Lux are also popular). Had a game of 1943 (airforce game) in the local arcade, which is about the only public video game i ever play. Being in an arcade suddenly brings back memories of being home, the fact that I havent been in a public theater nor a karaoke box for quite a number of months makes me slightly nostalgic.

Tomorrow I will take public ferry early in the morning to cross Lake Titicaca to one of the two popular islands, Isla de Amantani, on which I plan to stay 2 nights with a local family, a common practice for all the tourists. Am feeling like just touring the island on my own. Going with a tour agency feels like work n stress.

Hi there I´m still in Arequipa, am leaving on Friday for Puno to see Lake Titicaca. I just finished climbing my first mountain ever, Mount Misti! It was the most strenuous experience I´ve ever had in my life. Please see above the picture (Simon, me and Matthew from left to right at the crator of Misti at 5,700M). As I was using a disposable camera, which took horrible pictures, please use your imagination a bit to enrich these pictures. Left my digital camera behind as it wud´ve been too much to carry on my lil´ back. In retrospect, I´m ecstatic that I did it, but during those intense hours of gruelling uphill ascension, I´m not sure if I felt ecstacy, perhaps only during glimpses of being in the Now moment (which I´ll shortly explain why I´m describing it as such..), there were indeed some infusion of joy. So let me start with a lil´ background of what this Mount Misti is about.

Mount Misti is a 6,000M volcano very close to Arequipa. It is Arequipa´s signature mountain, pretty much everywhere you go in Arequipa, you´ll be able to see it. It is also probably the most popular mountain to climb, first, because of its proximity, and second because its starting point is lower than the other two also popular mountains, which makes it easier for those who are not acclimatized. Misti is also the only mountain in the vicinity that does not have an Indian name (Misti simply means Mister), because of its associated bad energy. Apparently many people have died from climbing this mountain, not because of its difficulty, but because it´s very easy to get lost on the mountain. And because of this bad record, it has not been bestowed an Indian name, such as Pichu Pichu (the mountain range on its right, or Chachani, behind it..) Basically from afar, Misti looks like a big blob of dark grey thing, not so attractive, but still, a popular target for many amateur and experienced mountaineers.

So my story all started in Bolivia, when I received many signs from above that mountain climbing is gonna become my new much loved hobby. So I let the idea sit, and nothing has come to fruition since... until last Thursday, I think it was, when Ampaco, the lady in my host family, asked me to watch this American movie about mountain climbing (sorry forgot the name and the actors´names..) with her in the living room, albeit her knowing that I can´t understand any of the Spanish without subtitles. At that moment, the thought of climbing Misti popped into my head. And then I started to recall how everyone I met have been saying to me that they want to go to Misti... in retrospect, I took that as being a projection of my own desire. The thought stayed in my head and shortly after I manifested it with Carlos Zarate Tours, which is owned by the son of the 83-year-old guide from Zarate Expeditions. In reality, they´re just one big family running different agencies that charge differently. This time I chose not to be ripped off and went with the cheapest branch - USD50 for 2 day expedition, which was really actually 24 hours.

Day one - picked up at about 830am from the agency and met the other four people in my group: a French couple (Alexi and Mirei) who I barely communicated with cuz´they can´t speak English, I could tell they are extremely fit as they were wearing neon colored gear with all the proper gear, like bright orange Oakley sunglasses with bandanas and those sleek black gloves that I yearn to possess, then two other French Canadian boys from Quebec who are like me, not much prior climbing experience, just here to have fun. On the way, we got our water and snacks, then shortly after, we arrived at the starting point of the climb, 3,400M. I had in my backpack, my bulky mummy bag (suitable for -ve 20 degrees), 3 litres of water, sleeping pad, clothings, snacks and regular amenities. I was ecstatic when my guide Angel (a man) said he wud carry my tent for me after I gave him this face like, ohmigod my bag is already too much! ha! The first 60 minutes was a whiz, then the next 60 minutes, then the next... and.. ar... the terrain keeps getting steeper.. and steeper, then big bulky rocks that I couldn´t just walk up but had to climb with my hands as well. Thinking back, the first day was tough, and quite to my surprise, incredibly enlightening as well. In fact, I was so deeply gratified for those feelings of tremendous groundedness and presentness while I was getting up that mountain on the first day, that I did almost feel ecstatic despite feeling intense exhaustion at the same time. The reason I say the above is that while I was making my way up the hill, all I could think of was the present, how I am breathing, and how I am alive, on this planet, and no other thoughts penetrated, not even the thought of arriving, because arrival was too far away to bother hoping for. I don´t recall that I´ve ever felt so grounded in my life. It is like, I´m here, and it´s all that matters. At moments, I almost felt like I could understand how people with extreme handicap or those people who face death but continue to live on, live. For a short moment, my heart connected with those courageous souls, which I´ve never quite understood in the past, and it was just an amazing moment of grace. And, shortly after those feelings of enlightenment and about 5 hours of trekking, I arrived at base camp, 4,700M. Angel already set up my tent when I arrived, so great! Dinner was ready within an hour. We all watched sunset, which was to our right, really picturesque, view of Pichu Pichu was on our left, also beautiful. Right after the sun left, we crawled into our tents (I had my own) to rest, and at 1am the next day, we got up to start the second day ascension. Temperature of about 0 degrees in nighttime. My mummy bag kept me as warm as a poached egg inside.

Day 2: Had breakfast at 145am, few pieces of toast with marmalade and a hot glass of mate de coca. Great thing, no need to carry backpacks because we could leave our stuff at base camp. You should see my face when I heard our guides told us that. Started to walk at 230am. First hour was bearable, second hour was hell. My first thought of maybe-i-should-quit popped in at about 5,000M. I was just plain tired. My other inner voice quickly shot down that hideous thought. Rationally, I had no excuse to quit, because apparently only those with extreme soroche can ask the guides to take them down. One of the French Canadian boy has asthma and he was fine, so oh well... The majority of the terrain is as steep as a black ski-run, and occasionally you get these maybe 30-minute stretches of nasty double-black run with big slippery rocks that require climbing. Then came the last 2-hours of the ascension, the worst part ever. About 730am now. Sun is up but behind the mountain, so no help. Temperature now below zero, with very strong winds. I was wearing three pairs of pants (two long johns and one cover), two turtlenecks, two fleece (1 vest and a jacket) plus a gortex, AND,I was still feeling cold even when walking. Fingers in pain. Water turned into ice and my yummy chocolate bar has transformed into an inedible piece of rock. Took minimal breaks because no point - body cooled down really quicky for me (if I rest), and took more than 30 minutes to re-warm up, and also much harder to re-warm up because air was thin. French couple nowhere in sight, they´ve zoomed way ahead of us. Then came the last stretch and I got grumpy at those slippery and sharp pink rocks that made me climb them. Cussed at the rocks but was no use. Felt bad afterwards because cussing is no good to their energy nor mine, so calmed down, kept going. Done. Arrived. Me, the two other boys and Angel ended the hike at the crator at 5,700M, which is not the highest point of the mountain (the highest point is 6,000M), but we were satisfied. The ending was a bit anti-climatic, I guess cuz´we were all tired, and also because the weather was bad. I could barely see the crator, only smelled the sulfuric fumes and 5 minutes plus a photo of only mist in the background (see above) was enough. Descension to base camp only took 1.5 hours. The path is a separate one, on very fine volcanic sand where descension felt like skiing (especially with our sticks) and looked like hopping bunnies from behind. Another 1.5 hours to the bottom from base camp and I was back in Arequipa by noon on the second day!

Overall it was a memorable experience. In the future when I become more fit I will bring a better camera to the mountain, the pictures from my disposable camera are really horrible. Bummer. I´m resting and running errands today and tomorrow, and on Friday, starts my journey into the gems of Peru (Lake Titicaca, and Macchu Picchu shortly after). Bus to Puno is 6 hours and 20 Soles (USD6 bucks). Until then, later.

Hola es mi tambien. Just finished six-day intensive Spanish course, learned like 7 or 8 different tenses so my head´s just spinning with too many forms of verb conjugations. Enough classes for now so I dun think I´ll be taking much more for a while. Have decided to stay on past next Tuesday the 15th because it is a big Arequipa festival where lots and lots people with traditional clothings dance on the streets, and Jessica from my host family has promised to take me to her friend´s party so I look forward to staying for the fiesta. In the meantime I´m trying to decide first, whether, then, with which tour group I should go with for a tour to Mount Misti. Mount Misti is a volcano nearby, and one of the three mountains that you can climb close to Arequipa. It´s supposed to be the easiest one because you start at a lower altitude of 3,500M and ascend to its peak of 6,000M on the second day. Will update if i decide to embark on this venture. Worry about soroche (altitude sickness) cuz´ I haven´t been in really high altitude since Bolivia. Continue to eat lots and lots n tummy protests from time to time because i´ve been ignoring its feelings (of bloatedness and stuffiness..) I discovered that Arequipa not only has very yummy Peruvian food, but also very yummy international food, have eaten yummy Turkish, Mexican, French and Italian food for the past week. Arequipa also has the best postres (desserts), chocolate y chocolate cake with dulce y leche (a popular sweet sauce used for sweets, sorta like caramel), n lotsa n lotsa crepes, including crepe with nutella!! Tan rico!

Just had a massage in Arequipa, really won´t recommend it. Have been back from my Colca Canyon trek and has had two days of Spanish class already. Ok, hehe, lotsa to update. First, let me start from last Thursday when I booked my Colca Canyon 3-day trekking tour. I booked with Zarate Expeditions, which is owned by this 83 year-old mountaineer who has been guiding mountain climbing tours to Misti and Chachani (6,000M peaks nearby) for like 50 years and is supposed to be the oldest mountain guide still working on Earth. He charged me USD60 for my 3-day trekking when I consciously knew that the agency across the street was charging 45. Anyhow, this stout lil´ old man (not even 5 foot tall) seemed really nice n sweet so it´s ok I was ripped off. But the truth is it doesn´t matter which agency you book with, you often end up with another one cuz´ all the travelers are pooled and in my group, everybody paid different prices for the same thing. ah well. So I was told I wud be picked up at 5am on Friday, ended up the taxi didn´t come until 6am to take me to the public bus station where I met up with the other group members. There were 5 of us in total, an Australian couple (Sam and Jason) who are traveling Europe and South America after having worked in London for many years, a 20-year old Danish boy (Morten) who has worked night-shift in a furniture factory for 8 months and just saved enuf money for him to travel the whole world for a year, and a French girl from Breast (some town in Brittany of France supposedly) by the name of Claire who´s traveling in Peru for 6 weeks while doing 3 weeks of volunteer work here in Arequipa.

We boarded 630am public bus which took us to Chivay in 4 hours, then hopped onto another bus which took us to Cabanaconde in 2 hours, a small town which was the starting and ending point of our hike. The hike started with wide flat terrain overlooking a lil´ snowy peak called Apple? where the indigenous people apparently go each year to worship God. Then the trail in the canyon started to take form and we descended for about 4 hours on this slippery rocky road which took us to our first night of stay, San Juan de Chucco. Shaky legs and improper shoes (i intelligently didn´t wear my hiking boots!) triggered a minor injury where I slipped and landed on my back - luckily my lovely pink Lafuma backpack was long enough to cushion my lil´ ass while my abs shielded my camera, rendering only an injury of merely 1 mm in diameter in my left palm. In my recollection, San Juan de Chucco is probably the nicest lodge I´ve ever stayed on a trek ever. It felt so serene and clean! Took a cold shower and strolled about barefoot until the sun went home. Next day we got up at 730am and started hiking around 830am. Terrain was fairly mild on the second day, some flat, some uphill, then downhill for the last hour or so because our destination was an Oasis in the middle of the barren mountains, which had a huge swimming pool! It was great! Sunbathed for several hours until again, the sun went away... Since we were at the bottom of the valley on the second day, it meant that we have to make our way back up, and quite a long way.. back to Cabanaconde on the last day. There were several other groups that had to do the ascension hike on the same second day, which is basically a 3-hour non-stop uphill hike of 1,200M (from 2,200 to 3,400M in Cabanaconde). I´m so grateful my group had an alternative itinerary of doing it at 3am the next morning, which, although sounds horrible (having to wake up at 230am), but really was miles better! So we had dinner at 6pm and at 720pm, we were all tucked into bed together in one big round hut thingy (that actually had great comfy warm beds). At 730pm, Jason discovered static electricity by rubbing his hands on the mattress in darkness, and for like 30 minutes, he and his girlfriend would not stop trying to make a video out of him running his legs on his mattress, and of coz, to no avail, since any light (from the v-camera) wud just kill the sight of any electricity. I fell asleep around 9pm, so had a good 5 hour of deep sleep with the sound of running creeks right next to me. And we started hiking at 3am in pitch darkness. We had our headlights so it was fine. In fact it was great, cuz´ we got to stop every now and then to stargaze! The first 45 minutes was grueling, I was panting my lungs out and had to consciously tell my legs to lift like a baby learning to walk. After the first hour or so, my mind sorta stopped spinning futile thoughts and my body just took over my soul and I was marching like a machine. So I got to the top around 6am, just when the sun woke up from its sleep and greeted me with a gentle ray of gold. Sun rays painted the rolling terraces at the top with a sheen of yellowish gold. In awe of the beauty I was surrounded in, I put on my fleece jacket and gloves and took a few shots with my camera. The day then kicked off with a full course breakfast, followed by busing over to La Cruz del Condor (a higher point of the canyon) where we watched huge condors (a kind of big birds) in white and brown colors swirl right over our heads with the backdrop of the Colca Canyon, which is apparently twice as big as the Grand Canyon. To my naked eye, it looked, DEEP. So that was the trek. Highly recommend.

Joined my host family on the night I returned and I have this room in the backyard of their house which renders great sunlight in the morning, so so precious as hostals are rarely bright and lighting makes SO much difference. There was hot shower on the first day but this morning my luck was out, no hot shower because thermal wasn´t on or something so resorted to duching with a bucket of warm water. Spanish class is fun. You can´t believe this! I ran into Rebeka, the girl I met in La Paz!! in the very beginning! It´s so incredible because I tried to write her last week, suspecting with my intuition that I could see her and Jewels again in Peru, but then because I´ve lost my notepad (where I have recorded everyones emails) in Bolivia, I didn´t recall her email off the top of my head properly and the email was bounced back! So there she was, in the Spanish school on Monday! So we´ve been hanging out since and are in the same class together. Our teacher, Alan, is a 21-year old Peruvian university student of literature and an aspiring novelist who loves Edgar Allan Poe. He´s great. Went out drinking last night with some girls I met on the Colca trek - my first time partying/´po-ing´ since my travels in South America. Had multiple glasses of Pisco Sour (a popular Peruvian drink made with Pisco, lemon juice, sugar and egg white), which is incredibly yummy but really actually quite strong..

Will return to host family for dinner (get two free meals per diem with my stay) and catch up on my readings. Finally got a hold of the book, Che Guavarra´s motorcycle journals in South America last week, am enjoying it!

Am in my third full day here in Arequipa. Totally skipped Arica cuz´ it was completely overcast when i landed from San Pedro and therefore, no sign of beach possibility. Hired a driver to go to Tacna in Peru (1.5 hours from Arica), then boarded a local 7-hour bus to Arequipa. Arequipa is real paradise - HOT weather in the day, like I am wearing my tanktops and shorts, and yummy Peruvian food and French crepes abound. Yah there is actually quite a French influence here. The nice part of the city actually resembles Europe in many ways (from the Spanish influence i guess), cobblestone streets, elegant iglesias (churches) and pigeon group gatherings. Arequipa is also close to much natural beauty and several very high mountains (6,000m plus) and the relatively well-known Colca Canyon where you can see condors, of which I will trek from Friday to Sunday.

The past few days have been nice, relaxing and full of interesting signs, i wud say. Strolled around town alot fishing for some Spanish classes, then by accident stumbled on a New Age spiritual talk poster called the Raelian Movement (based out of Japan) that emphasizes UFOs, for apparently, Rael, the founder of this movement, has had direct contact with the ETs back in the 70s and has since been since been spreading spiritual intelligence sourced from them. Well, it´s interesting to know that this movement has spread to Peru as well, but what I´m not sure about, is whether this strong emphasis on UFOs is truly necessary. And out of curiosity, I did go to the talk (albeit for only 10 minutes because I was understanding like 2% of the spanish..) and what caught my eye was its mentioning of the Mayans recordings of intelligence from extra-terrestrials. In particular, they were showing the temple of Palenque, which, to no coincidence, is where the White Light Essence I´m currently taking (Higher Self) was made and also where I´ve wanted to go badly in Mexico. On a separate note, Í´ve also been randomly visiting many churches / cathedrals, one of which has made a particular impression on me, as unlike many old touristic churches, it does not have bloody Jesus on a cross right in the middle with too much gold ornaments on the sides, but rather, two lovely angel statues, a painting of the ascended Jesus and a great hi-fi system that was playing a soft New Age meditation-type celestial music when i entered. I also went white water rafting on the Rio Chile for one morning, very very fun... lotsa Class III rapids and a two-second Class IV rapid which was basically like being on a free-fall ride in the theme parks!

Next week I´m doing a five-day intensive group Spanish class (4 hours a day) and staying with a local family. Been conversing more with the locals and feel it´s time I take my Spanish to another level, whatever that level is...

So that was my week up til´now. More, later.

Photo: La Catedral en la Plaza de Armas at 630pm in Arequipa