Adventures of a Gringacita: Cusco, Arequipa and the Colca Canyon in Peru-llywood

Traveling in Peru makes me feel like a bit of a movie star in comparison to traveling in Bolivia. On the Bolivian buses there were no bathrooms, the TV was usually just an empty box that stored the drivers belongings and the seats weren´t often in great condition, nor did they recline. I feel like a regular Jennifer Anniston, fully reclining seats, meals, bathrooms and even the occasional movie (though I´ve seen the same 4 movies 2 or 3 times each).

After resting from the Salkantay Trek, I spent two days exploring Cusco. It´s a beautiful city, probably one of my favs in South America. It was great fun cruising the streets during Easter celebrations. Fire works went off consistently for three days and numerous people paraded a coffin holding a Jesus through the streets. I headed south to Arequipa after Cusco in hopes to hike the Colca Canyon. I met up with my friend Philip from the Salkantray trek after a 12 hour night bus. The streets in Arequipa were bustling with Easter festivities as well. There was a tent set up near my hostel that had been playing music since 8 in the morning on Easter Sunday. Around noon I poked my head around the corner and within minutes 10 locals had sat me down, poured me a beer and a lovely lady was singing Spanish songs to me – she parked herself two feet in front of me. I attempted to chat with a couple of the ladies, who had been celebrating with many beers for a number of hours and they loved having a gringa join their party. Some time later I went back to my hostel after many goodbye kisses on the cheek, only to bring back 4 fellas from the hostel. When we returned the party had turned into a dancing fiesta and all of us were pulled onto the dance floor to show off our moves. It was quite the Easter celebration!

Philipe and I managed to convince an American lad named Pat to join us on the hike. We hiked in the Colca Canyon for 3 days, through tiny communities, camping along the way. Once the hike was finished we got on a dusty bus for 6 hours back to Arequipa. Once in Arequipa Philipe and I said goodbye to Pat and bought a ticket to Lima. 15 hours later on a night bus we arrived in Lima. We spent the day eating Helado and drinking coffee, waiting to get on another night bus for 10 hours to arrive to Huaraz. The canyon was beautiful, but I´m ready to hike up mountains again instead of down into a canyon. Here Philipe and Francesco (from the Salkantay trek), along with Frencescos cousin and her friend, and myself are going to complete the 5 day Santa Cruz circuit.