Once upon a time... in heaven

Hello everyone,

Sorry that it took me so long before I wrote again, but internetacces wasn't always possible... so here's the (brief) story of what we've been up to in the last week or so....

Nazca:
After the Ballestas Islands, we went to Nasca, which was in one word: dissapointing. The lines itself are interesting and so is there story, but we felt that it was overtouristic and definetly way to expensive for what it was. After this it was time for our longest bustrip until now: 10 hours... to Arequipa, the white city number 1

Arequipa:

While reading the description of Arequipa ( the second largest city in Peru), I immediatly thought about Ghent.
And what a difference it was with Lima, Arequipe is clean, a lot less noisy, and very friendly and welcoming. We immediatly felt at ease here... While walking around and getting lost a bit we stumbled into a preschool play with typical music and somekind of neighbourhoodfest...but it all felt really nice...
The saint catalina monastry was extremely beautifull, like an oasis in the city, such a calmness that there was...
2 days here were actually too short, but so little time, so much to do!!!

Colca Canyon:
If I had to use one word to descrive the Colca valley and canyon it definetly would be HEAVEN.
This is undoubtly the most beautifull and amazing landscape I have ever seen in my life, and I even wonder if there actually is an ever nicer place on earth.
It was so beautifull that it made me cry (litteraly, can you imagine that???) It's almost esotheric to see how nature and culture live there together in almost perfect harmony. Tourism is however strongly growing in this place, so I'm afraid that in a couple of years a lot of the genuine feel will be gone.
Whith pain in my heart and tears in my eyes, we left the colca canyon behind in direction of Puno and Lago Titicaca


Puno:
This is the first town where I could actually see myself live, live is more easygoing here and a lot less rushy then in the other city's we've visited. Since Nathalie wasn't feeling that well the first thay I decided to take a leap of faith and discover the city on my own...

In the center there isn't that much to see, but just sitting by the lake, in the (really hot) sun, reading a book, that's life.... I also let myself drive by a tricycletta, a pretty typical way of transport, also known as the poor mans taxi... really nice because it's open air and slow (specially going uphill) and an experience on its own. In my opinion the perfect way tot discover the city more in its whole, then just the city center.

Day two, time for discovering the lake itself visiting the Uro's islands (floating islands, made out of reet) and the island Taquile.... Although it's a 'must do' it was frustratingly touristic, including the very annoying guide whith lots of bad and studied jokes....
On and all, I'm still not quite sure about how I feel about the day.... I just tried to block out the overtouristic part and enjoy the lake and the amazing views....

Tomorrow, it will be early again, going to Bolivia... hopefully the culture shock is not as big as arriving in Lima. And we can start the second part of our trip with a little less tourists around....

So that's all for now,

Take care and eat your veggies
Vero