Well, I know we promised to update the blog about once a week but we have been on the move and not always with access to internet. We arrived in Lima on Oct 15 after about 14 hours. We came through San Francisco and the flight was good. Lima is a huge city with crazy traffic and even crazier drivers. They drive straddling the white line so they can change lanes easily. We almost had a heart attach just getting from the airport. After about 3 days in Lima, we were off to Arequipa, which is an old colonial city in the middle of the desert. Pretty city, really ugly countryside.

We took a tour to Colca Canyon, about 5 hours from Arequipa. The Canyon is huge, bigger than Grande Canyon but not nearly as pretty. Rock is all brown and grey. But, they have the condors there. Condors are huge birds that soar on the winds and are really quite wonderful. On the way to Colca Canyon, we travelled through a pass that was 15,000 feet and I got altitude sickness. I was really quite ill for a couple of days even though I was taking drugs. It went away when I descended and I just hope it does not come back at Machu Picchu. Jennifer, I now appreciate what you went through in Africa and I am sure mine was quite mild compared to yours.

After Colca Canyon we were off to the Nazca Lines, lines drawn in the desert 1500 years age. No one really knows what they are all about but I think the were made by aliens and it is their landing strip. We went up in a small plane so we could see them better and that was really quite exciting. Especially after we learned the planes are really not well maintained and they often have to make an emergency landing on the Pan American highway. While in Nazca, we visited a graveyard that is full of mummies still all wrapped up in rags with just their skulls sticking out. It was really quite bizarre and our pictures are wonderful. Today we are back in Arequipa and this afternoon we are going rafting on the river. Tomorrow we are off the Lake Titicaca and the reed islands.

Helen & Donna are off on another adventure, this time to South America. We leave tomorrow for Lima, Peru and after a short stay there, we will go to Arequipa, Colca Canyon, Lake Titicaca, Cuzco and Machu Picchu. After that we go to Ecuador and the wonderful markets there and then off to Chile, spend some time in Santiago, Valparaiso, wine country and then down to the very tip. We will be home Dec 13 and will try to update our blog every week or so. Send us messages on our blog so we still know what is going on at home. Next post, probably Arequipa, Peru.