Arequipa, Colca Canyon and Puno

From Nazca we followed the coast road south then the next day headed inland to Arequipa. It was founded in 1540 by the Spanish and is Peru's second most populous city. After Peru gained its independence from Spain in 1821, Arequipa was declared the capital city from 1835 to 1883. The city is filled with baroque buildings constructed from a white volcanic stone called sillar and the historic centre was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. Unfortunately, an 8.4 magnitude earthquake on 23rd June 2001 damaged several of the historical buildings.

The city is framed by three volcanoes, and here is the view of Misti (last erupted in 1985) from our apartment window

From Arequipa we continued our climb to the town of Chivay (at 3,700m), the gateway to Colca Canyon. 

On the way we passed herds of alpacas (which are very tasty) and the shy and protected vicuna, whose wool is extremely fine, more so than cashmere. 

Chivay is a small town and the last earthquake in 2016 caused damage to a number of buildings

and this one in the central park just made me smile

The canyon has a green valley with terraced agriculture that pre-dates the Incas.

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To the west, Andean condors circle above the Cruz del Condor lookout. We saw about six or seven during the time we were there (or might have been the same two flying back and forth) 

We then headed to Puno on Lake Titicaca. Not a very memorable place but it is known for it folk festivals and colourful dancers. We happened to see a parade with lots of dancers in the main square that evening.

Now that's it for Peru. The next day we crossed the border into Bolivia and are now in Copacabana on Lake Titicaca (but that's another blog)