Interesting food

Fish, fish and more fish. First, fish soup.

Then, a nice whole fish for my entree.

I passed by this back in Puno after the island trip, but was just so fascinated. They look just like worms but I think they were some sort of potato.

Floating islands on Lake Titicaca

The famous Lake Titicaca islands were... interesting. Strange, but interesting. We rode at about 5 mph on a dilapitated boat to get out to them. The island floor was made entirely of bamboo and every step your foot would sink several inches. Crazy!

This funny old man rowed us along to another island in a little boat made all of reeds.

What would a floating island be without a bare bottomed little boy and some chicks??

Colca Canyon

Amazing early morning view on the drive to the canyon.

And.... we made it!! There it is in all it's glory. Just HUGE.

This spot was famous for the condors that are always there. They were some big, ugly birds. I didn't quite understand the hype because they seemed just like buzzards to me, but I captured the moment on film anyway.

Views of Chivay

Continuing along heading towards Colca Canyon, we took an overnight stop in a little town along the way called Chivay. There was quite a view of it from above! Plus, the always present market people trying to sell stuff to us tourists. I especially liked this guy in his skirt.

Vicuñas

On my way to the Colca Canyon we passed a "vicuña crossing." Vicuñas are yet another relative of llamas and alpacas that are always wandering around. Beautiful scenery though!

Lllama close ups

One of my favorite past times is taking pictures of llamas. They are EVERYWHERE down here. These are a few of my favorite close ups... love these hair do's.

Arequipa

My mom and I continued onto Arequipa, the "white city" of Southern Peru with the huge Volcan Misti in the distance.

We went on one of those super touristy double decker bus tours of the city and got to see a few interesting spots. One was this mansion out in the middle of no where, and we got to hold this huge bird in the front yard!

Adios, Cusco!

I finally headed out of Cusco and onto southern Peru. I spent almost 3 weeks in total in Cusco, by far the longest I have been anywhere. I loved it!

View of the plaza and cathedral.

Inca Cola: the drink of choice in Peru.

Pisac market and ruins

Tipon and Pikillacta

More ruins outside Cusco.

Around Cusco

Pretty hillsides.

Everywhere in Peru you see these types of funky things on top of their houses.

Ruins in Ollantaytambo.

Visitors from home

In addition to my mom coming to visit, my friend Lindsay (more commonly known as Q) also came to Cusco. They originally came to Cusco specifically to see Maccu Picchu, but of course it was closed because of mudslides earlier this year. Still, there was plenty to see around Cusco.


Our first site we visited in Cusco - the ruins of Saqsayhuaman.

Ballestas Islands

We took a tour off the coast to the Ballestas Islands. First, our boat drove by the candelabra, a formation found in the sand sometime in the 1800's.

Next stop - the island itself. Pretty view of a rock formation that looks like a face.

I could not get over the sea lions. We were so close to them and there were so many!



Pelicans!

Even penguins!!

Nazca Lines

We went quite a ways from Lima to visit the famous Nazca Lines. First, our driver stopped along the way so we could get a glimpse of them from the ground.

Then we went to the airport and got into a tiny little airplane to fly over them all. You can see them much better from the air.

This is the hummingbird. These excellent photos were taken by my mom because I was too busy puking to take any pictures. I got super motion sick so this was not the most fun plane ride for me!

The spider.

Local Peruvian food

Palta rellena (stuffed avacado)

Ceviche