Testing our altitude abilities in the Colca Canyon

What's more than twice he depth of the Grand Canyon and has two Aussies attempting handstands at 3500m above sea level?

The Colca Canyon of course!

It seems the continuous increase in altitude over the past few days has sent us all a little loopy! The jokes seem to be flowing faster and are probably less funny, even though the response of laughter is growing. A new phrase "it's the altitude" can be used anytime one of us slips up or does something hilarious. But all in all we are coping with heights well, sometimes we just need to catch our breath after a really long sentence...

Before the high altitudes of the Colca Canyon, we were in Arequipa; a stunning city, and probably the most upmarket central square we have seen. The Spanish influenced architecture and cobble stone roads made you feel as though you were in Europe! The highlight of Arequipa for me was a HUGE local market Giscard took us to, the freshest produce you can imagine and no shortage of choice!

Just a taste of Arequipa 

A tiny section of the market that sold every type of food

I was so stoked to find oeas already out of heir pod

Yes another bus ride ride later and we found ourselves in a little town called Chivay, in the Colca Canyon region. No sooner had we arrived, we went on exploring the gorgeous valley town. We pushed our boundaries a little when it came to altitude, as you'll see in the pictures below, but I'm feeling a little more confident about the 4 day trek to Machu Picchu. 

Zac and I saw a small mountain, we pushed ourselves to climb it, so worth the exhaustion!

Gran embracing Chivay scenery, we love her

The following day we drove through the most beautiful towns I have ever seen; the tiny farming communities on the sides of the canyon looked as though you'd stepped back in time. Next we visited a popular spot to view the canyon, at its shallowest point the canyon was still ridiculously impressive and I think the best part for all four of us was sitting with our legs dangling over the edge taking in the brilliance and peacefulness of it.

My fury friend nearly fell asleep on my leg, drool marks for days... 

The shallowest point of the canyon, and Zac's rock tower

Gran at the highest point of our entire journey

Sitting up top, my face shows I've been in enough pictures...

Zac and I are kinda getting delirious, and so we do handstands...

Ok enough of my long list of adjectives, the next stint of our trip is to Puno, and you guessed it, we travel via bus!! Yay... (100% sarcasm on the bus positivity) But on the upside, Puno is the hometown of our tour leader Giscard, and we are all excited for him to show us the sites!