I love visitors!!!

I love visitors! In the past two months, I have had six different sets of visitors. The staff at the hotel by my house where I put people up seriously think that I work for a travel agency. All the waiters at my favorite Peruvian restaurant, José Antonio´s, recognize me and I am sure that I am eligible for some sort of frequent visitor pass at the Circuito Mágico del Agua at the Parque de la Reserva. Hee hee. My cupboards are nice and stocked with all my favorite Trader Joe´s goodies and my heart is happy after seeing so many familiar faces and loved ones.

Last month (May), my dear friend, Irene, and her boyfriend, Arin, came to Peru and we traveled to Arequipa and Colca Canyon together. We had a blast!

In Arequipa, we visited ¨Juanita- the Ice Princess,¨ an Inca girl tightly wrapped in textiles who was ritually sacrificed and buried on the peak of Ampato mountain over 500 years ago. She was discovered in 1995 and it was very cool (and a little creepy) to see her body.

We took a stroll around the main plaza and the toured a beautiful monastery.


(I now know how I want to paint my future house some day!)

After touring Arequipa, we loaded on a bus and spent a day and a half in the Colca Canyon. We saw llamas, alpacas and tons of beautiful flowers and scenary. We also took a dip in some natural hot springs (no photos of that haha!)!!




It was beautiful. Irene and I are convinced that Colca Canyon is where the smurfs live. Don´t these look like Smurfette´s shoes??


One morning, we woke up at the crack of dawn one morning to drive out to see the condors. We saw about 10 of them!! They are so majestic! My bird-watching grandpa would have loved this...

If you get a chance to make it down south, I highly recommend Colca Canyon!