On Monday, back in Cusco, Verena and I had an lovely day: post office (sending home the latest picture dvds), the most delicious breakfast at Granja Heidi, a German restaurant in Cusco, sightseeing, HOT STONE MASSAGE (and waxing - that was funny!) – awesome, back to the hostel, ran into Kati and Daniel, also on their way to Arequipa, but on a different bus, and then took at taxi to Cruz del Sur. As we arrived there at 8 pm (the bus was supposed to leave at 8:30 pm) we were told they had just cancelled the bus as the company was too concerned about the protests that were announced for the next two days around Cusco. Of course no one spoke English, but Verena and I are getting better in Spanish every day. Our grammar is still rather bad, but we often surprise ourselves how well we can make ourselves unterstood - not always, though 
So we had to get to the main bus station. The guy from the bus company just hailed a cab from the street - a cab with no sign, no sticker. To take such a cab is not a good idea as there is the chance to get robbed by such ¨fake¨ taxis. So I told him to call an official taxi, but he didn`t understand why. So I told him that tourists have been robbed and even killed by taking such unofficial taxis. Eventually, we got an official taxi, drove to the main terminal, ran inside as it was already 8:25 and check-in was already at 8 pm for buses leaving at 8:30pm. We managed to get a ticket with another bus company, and just got on the bus literally a minute before it left. 9 1/2 hours later…
on Tuesday morning around 6 am we arrived in AREQUIPA 
We met Kati and Daniel at the hostel, checked out a few more hostels, went for breakfast, met a couple from Vorarlberg (he was wearing a ¨Kletterhalle DORNBIRN¨ t-shirt), strolled around the city center, checked into our hostel, went for lunch, then went our separate ways. Verena and I went on a 4-hour city tour which was nice and informative In the evening Verena was about to buy a deck of cards when there was a blackout in the city – or at least the part of the city we were in. So we did some shopping using candles
On Wednesday Kati, Daniel, Verena and I took the bus at 6 am from Arequipa to CABANACONDE, where we arrived around noon. That`s where the Colca Canyon is located and we went our separate ways from there: Kati and Daniel trekked down (and back up the next day), and Verena and I rented mountain bikes to check out various viewpoints in the afternoon
In the evening we were just about to leave our hostel as Stephen (Claire`s boyfriend) walked in – we had met them in Rurrenabaque on the pampas trip) and next ELI walks in. This was such a nice surprise. We were hoping to meet up in Peru, possibly Arequipa, but we did not expect to see each other in the small village of Cabanaconde. Claire came a little later, and we all had dinner together: Verena, Eli, Claire, Stephen, Armin (from Austria), and a guy from Spain. It was soo nice and it felt as if being with old friends
On Thursday we took the 7 o`clock bus to the CRUZ DEL CONDOR, a viewpoint at the COLCA CANYON where you can see condors in the morning between 8 and 9:30. While Eli, Claire and Stephen stayed on the bus back to Arequipa, Armin, Verena and I got off to watch the condors. And we weren`t disappointed: we saw LOTS of CONDORS Then we got our mountain bikes on the next bus and rode back to Cabanaconde. The bike ride was beautiful!!! Then Colca Canyon looks like a mixture of Tuscan landscape and Swiss/Austrian Alps And we had the road pretty much to ourselves – no traffic. At one point there was a rather aggressive dog that Eli had warned us about – and we biked FAST Back in Cabanconde we returned the bikes, took a shower (a real HOT shower - yes!), had lunch, and at 2 pm took the bus back to Arequipa where we arrived aroudn 8 pm. Back at the hostel Kati and Daniel were already waiting, Eli stopped by, too and the 5 of us had a nice reunion dinner at an Italian restaurant. We played a few rounds of ¨shithead¨, a card game that Eli had taught us on the Uyuni trip. Good thing Verena had bought some cards, as Eli`s were stolen about a week ago (his backpack, actually). We had a fun evening – the last one probably with these guys. Eli, Kati and Daniel will climb Chachani mountain tomorrow, then travel through Peru – same direction but at slower pace. Verena and I have to travel faster as we have to make it to Colombia. So we-ll be taking the overnight bus from Arequipa to Lima tomorrow night and then head to Ecuador. I`ll miss Eli, Kati and Daniel!
Today, Friday, Verena and I are taking it easy, which means, not getting up in the wee hours of the morning to do some hike or catch a bus. We`re spending some time in the internet cafe near the Plaza de Armas, where we met Stephen and Claire, who`re heading to a campsite tomorrow…
Having to say good-bye to Eli, Kati and Daniel made me a little sad and also reminded me of my friends back in New York and Austria. It`s been 7 months now that I have been traveling and I feel the same way I felt back in January (about 3 months into my trip) when all of a sudden I missed my friends. It`s funny how it comes in waves and also how it hits you all of a sudden! I don`t know why. Maybe at a point when you`ve seen a lot, are tired, I don`t really know… So far it`s been really exciting to travel in South America, but since we arrived in Arequipa I feel I`ve seen so much already, and I just enjoyed the company of nice people whom I had met before. – Sometimes people ask me if I think I`ll be ready to return to a ¨normal¨ life again at the end of this year, and I believe I will be ready. I`m incredibly thankful for having had the opportunity to travel this year, to see all the places I have seen, to meet all the people I have met, to have had all the experiences (the good and the bad) I`ve had! But I also don`t want to ¨live¨ like this forever. I`m looking forward to getting an apartment in Vienna, working (teaching)again, spending time with my friends…
PS: Taking the overnight bus to Lima tonight.
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