Today I arrived in the lovely town of Arequipa - so lovely that the department of Foreign Affairs has warned against visiting.
In actual fact, it is lovely... Though I´ve only been here for 4 hours and walked basically in a straight line from the hostel to the kebab shop... That straight line, however, took me through the main plaza which is by far the most impressive I´ve seen in South America so far and competes with most European cities (And its even too cloudy to see El Misti, the snow-capped volcano which is supposedly in the background). For the first time since my first night in Santiago I´m staying in a real, live hostel so hopefully now I´ll be able to practise some of that english I´ve been trying so hard to learn over the last 21 years...
Since I last posted, I´ve made my way at a snail´s pace around Lake Titicaca. I mentioned in the last post that I would have the opportunity to meditate in quiet solitude on the Isla del Sol, and meditate in quiet solitude I did. The place was magical. The most beautiful place I´ve been so far. I´m not even going to bother to describe it. Plenty of tourists, but all argentinian, hence the quiet solitude... On my last day there I was walking back along the path from the ruins and after struggling to find my way through the fields to this secluded cove, stripped down to my jocks and went for a swim in the lake.
After returning to Copacabana for a night-in-waiting for the bus the next day, I made my way around the lake to Puno in Peru. The last country I´ll visit before coming home. I was told Puno was the poor-man´s (though its more expensive) Copacabana and I only really stayed there so I could go out to Los Uros - floating, man-made reed islands. The guide openly told us that the only reason the islands were still inhabited was to make money out of tourists. At least it gave me a chance to take some photos of some native people (they hadn´t really let me up till then).
I´ll be here for a few nights (including an overnight trip to the Colca Canyon) before going up to Cusco, my last proper stop before coming home via a day in each of Lima and Santiago. People have to let me know now if they want any llama wool products brought home!
In actual fact, it is lovely... Though I´ve only been here for 4 hours and walked basically in a straight line from the hostel to the kebab shop... That straight line, however, took me through the main plaza which is by far the most impressive I´ve seen in South America so far and competes with most European cities (And its even too cloudy to see El Misti, the snow-capped volcano which is supposedly in the background). For the first time since my first night in Santiago I´m staying in a real, live hostel so hopefully now I´ll be able to practise some of that english I´ve been trying so hard to learn over the last 21 years...
Since I last posted, I´ve made my way at a snail´s pace around Lake Titicaca. I mentioned in the last post that I would have the opportunity to meditate in quiet solitude on the Isla del Sol, and meditate in quiet solitude I did. The place was magical. The most beautiful place I´ve been so far. I´m not even going to bother to describe it. Plenty of tourists, but all argentinian, hence the quiet solitude... On my last day there I was walking back along the path from the ruins and after struggling to find my way through the fields to this secluded cove, stripped down to my jocks and went for a swim in the lake.
After returning to Copacabana for a night-in-waiting for the bus the next day, I made my way around the lake to Puno in Peru. The last country I´ll visit before coming home. I was told Puno was the poor-man´s (though its more expensive) Copacabana and I only really stayed there so I could go out to Los Uros - floating, man-made reed islands. The guide openly told us that the only reason the islands were still inhabited was to make money out of tourists. At least it gave me a chance to take some photos of some native people (they hadn´t really let me up till then).
I´ll be here for a few nights (including an overnight trip to the Colca Canyon) before going up to Cusco, my last proper stop before coming home via a day in each of Lima and Santiago. People have to let me know now if they want any llama wool products brought home!
posted by YT at 9:02 am
2 Comments:
hey, its not my last one..I still have one in cusco and my last night in santiago (where I´ll be the one zipping and unzipping - i arrive at 3am).. Bet you´re jealous..
Tommy here.
JJ told me you have abandoned your plan to visit Machu Pichu. I just hope you appreciate that you may not get another chance to.
Aside from that, hope everything in South America is still going swimmingly.
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