Arequipa, Lake Titicaca and La Paz

We were staying in a really nice hostel near the Plaza de Armas in Arequipa called Hostel Los Andes. Once we finally had a room and a shower we explored the city a bit. It supposedly has the most beautiful main plaza in South America which is all made out of a white volcanic rock, it was very stunning. This is the facade of the Catherdral:

The plaza was full of pigeons and they just let their kids roll around the floor with them which I found quite disgusting:

We spent most of the afternoon shopping, or rather trying on silly hats and stopping ourselves from purchasing things we can´t carry:
In the evening we went to look around the Santa Catalina Monastery which is about 400 years old and is like a city within a city. It has high walls all around and once inside the nuns didn`t see anyone from the outside world. It`s a huge area, taking up an entire block of the city centre and inside there are loads of little houses and streets. The architecture is lovely with the arches and columns and little plazas but it`s quite a strange place to be, very still yet you can hear the city outside. It was a bit freaky seeing it as night fell because there`s some pretty dark rooms.

Here is a picture of one of the streets:

The next morning we weren`t feeling very well so we but our sensible hats on and decided to stay in Arequipa. We spent the day seeing the market, making jewellary and watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (so weird). In the evening we ate alpaca on one of the terraces over looking the plaza - very pretty!

The next morning we were very chuffed we had stayed because it was a perfect blue sky and we saw the volcanoes and mountains surrounding Arequipa which had previously been completely hidden by cloud. They are stunning and huge. This is the view from out hostel terrace:

This is from the plaza:
So, due to the weather we then were very excited about going to the Colca Canyon but when we arrived at the bus station we couldn`t find a bus leaving for over 4hours. Due to us still not feeling 100% and the idea of having to wait 4hours with nothing to do, and the fact that the canyon was 6hours off route anyway we decided to go straight to Puno. The bus journey to Puno on Lake Titicaca has to be one of the most stunning I have had yet. We were way up high on a plateau with snowy mountains sticking up in the distance. We then past a big lake with flamingoes on it! Here`s some pics out of the bus window:

First view of Puno:
When in Puno we went to a hostel called Inka rest but it was way too expensive so we bickered with the manager for a while and then left when they wouldn`t drop their prices but before doing so we bumped into Wes who we`d played pool with in Loki Cusco. He joined us for beer and dinner and we booked a tour for the next day to go see the islands.

On the tour we first went to the Islas de la Uros which are floating islands made out of reeds that grow in the lake. Apparently the people fled there when the Spanish came and have lived their ever since. There is a kind of desperation about the place in terms of tourism, they are so keen to have people visit so they can try and sell you some goods. Also, there are so many islands that they share the visitors around and so each island doesn`t have tourists every day. The women were literally jumping up and down when we arrived. I found it vry bizarre though, why would anyone want to live on a bunch of reeds in the middle of a freezing cold lake? Lake Titicaca is at around 3800m altitude so it is stunning because the clouds sit so low over the water but freezing. Here is some pictures from the community:

After that we sailed to Isla Taquile which is known for it`s textiles apparently. There are loads of people living on the island and it seems that every bit is covered in agriculture. We had an enjoyable couple of hours wandering around and then had trout from the lake for lunch!

This is us and Wes:

Some pictures from around the island:
We then had a 2.5hr boat ride back to Puno so we sat on deck and sung along to some cheese. Had some spectacular views:
That evening was our last in Peru so we went to a "posh" restaurant and had the local dish - cuy (guinea pig). Actually, we shared a guinea pig which I thought was pretty gross, like a fatty duck but with less flavour, and had alpaca steak as well which was soooo yummy. This is Bone with the cuy: The next day we all got a bus to Copacabana which is in Bolivia on the lake shore. It`s not a very interesting town but there were celebrating carnival which involved lots of shaving foam and water guns and car blessing. It`s quite bizarre. This is the view of the lake as we drove round it through the snow:
The only actual activity we did in Copacabana was pedalowing on the lake which was a laugh:
The next day we jumped on a bus to La Paz which I was extreemly excited about. We are staying in the Loki here (because Cusco was so much fun). We had quite a cool group of people in our dorm, 2 English - Jack and Nadia, and 3 Americans - Matt, Chris and errr someone else. After a group decision to all go out together that evening we bought a lot of vodka and "illegally" drunk in the dorm. By the end we had numerous people in the dorm and vodka everywhere. Being hardcore I made it out for the lovely clubbing scene of La Paz unlike the rest of the dorm - note: Alexa was asleep first before I`d even left. Got back at stupid 6am again and therefore wiped out most of the next day catching up on sleep. Alexa went out with Wes and Nadia so I went off with the Americans and some others. Ended up wandering round the witches market in La Paz with Matt and then going for a pint of tea in Olivers English Pub! I bumped into Oskar who we`d been with in Cusco which was cool. Had a slumber party in the evening with Jack and Alexa which was hysterical.

It is now Thursday 26th Feb (that took us a good 3mins to work out) and Alexa and I have been very proactive today. We wandered all over La Paz center and had sushi for lunch. Most excitingly we bumped into Eli who I travelled with for 3weeks in Colombia so we will be meeting him for dinner! Generally I`m feeling very excited and happy!!!