2 down, 1 to go

A little more of Peru:
-dogs think it is fun to bark at cars and chase them. It is rather dumb of them actually.

-driving here is ridiculous. So much so that a friend was explaining how his Canadian friend lives here and has become accustomed to the driving here and when he returns to drive in Canada, he usually gets at least 3 tickets.

-public peeing here is very common unfortunately, and disgusting. A friend was explaining that in Chile, if you are caught public peeing you get sentenced to 3 months in jail. Karlene made the comment that Arequipa would be half as populated if that were the case here.

-the variety in clothing is wide here. On the streets to going out at night I see anything and everything (even despite the temperature at times.)

-Last Thursday was Peru's Independence Day. Every house in Peru had a flag outside their house- so the city was filled with red and white. However most people left town to go on vacation because there was no work Thursday or Friday. And of course Karlene and I went out to celebrate Peru's 190th birthday!

Then we had a little time to travel. Friday we went to Yura which is about a half an hour away from the Arequipa. It was gorgeous. They had natural hot springs and it was so green. The actually city is small and boring, but the more and more we drove down the prettier it got- more green, more people, more nature.

Sunday we decided to take a nice little day trip to Colca Canyon. It is like a small Grand Canyon of Peru, maybe 1/3 as wide and I really don't know about depth but it was absolutely gorgeous!!

As you can see we stopped a few different places along the way. Then we stopped where the condors come out. What is a condor? Originally they came from California but now are going extinct there. They are trying to save them but they are many in Peru in this particular part of the country. One reason they may be extinct in CA is that they only produce one egg every 8 years. However, they can live to be 50-60 years old. They can have a wing span of  2 meters and weigh up to 30 pounds. These pictures don't do the size too much justice, but it was simply amazing.

Later we stopped at an excellent to place many of Arequipa's volcanoes all from one point. However because we were at almost 5,000 meters it was rather cold so Karlene and I couldn't pose for a picture.

We stopped in one little town where one of their forms of taxis was a motorized bike with a buggy type thing. It fits maybe 3 in the seat. We saw these in Puno as well. They are more economical however not as safe on the main roads- but we still took a ride in one!

The bus ride there and back was long, but it was very worth it for the beautiful part of the country we saw and all the people we met. Today we still had off work so we went to get our third $2 manicure!

Mine- wild blue, Karlene- elegant French  :)

There are a ton more pictures of Colca Canyon- and unfortunately the pictures can never fully capture what I got the wonderful opportunity to see, but I'd love to share if you're interested.

It's August first! How have two months already flown by- wow! See you in less than a month USA!