Feliz Año Nuevo en RURAL PERÚ!!!!!

So friends and family. We decided not to take the long trip all the way back to Cuzco for New YEars like we originally thought. We decided to check out the OTHER canyon in Arequipa, its the Cañón del Cotahuasi. We had to ask around at a few Tour Agencies for info because none actually take groups out there. Its about a 10 hour, unpaved, bumbyass bus ride outside of Arequipa. We also read in our guidebook that there was a dinosaur footprint SOMEWHERE out there. So we made the gameplan to spend New Years out in the World's Deepest Canyon.


-lovely view of lagoon just outside the one main road of Cotahuasi. it is most beautiful.


-WORLDS...okay REGION´S highest hanging bridge over canyon Cotahuasi. It was super high and creeky. Even though we saw cowboys crossing with their horses, we couldn´t do it. So here´s our shadows.


-view near the tiny town of Alca on our walk to find the thermal baths. pretty terraces and cowboy typa stuff everywhere!


-heyyyy there good lookin´ whatchu got cookin´? seriously, the thermal baths were off the hook. really hot water, rock bottom pool, beautiful view, what more could you want? most people came and went just to bathe but we stayed for a few hours because we love swimming and had never been to such a beautiful hot spring. the hot water helped cure our peeling sunburn. we no longer look like snake people. we have new skin for the new year. also, hannah´s hair was looking better than ever that day. we are looking more 80s everyday.


-marie took this photo on the bumpy bus ride, view of the glacier mountain in the canyon. really pretty sunset. we thought we were taking the bus to go check out the dinosaur footprint, but we were never told when to get off so we ended up BACK in arequipa. no big deal we know the bus station like the back of our hands.

hannah took many photos with her 35mm camera with different color flashes!!! we have yet to go develop them, so we might be able to scan and post some in the near future.

quick story about our new year´s eve celebration...
entonces...we get back to cotahuasi after the thermal baths and find a bodega to buy some beer. the bar is full with dudes drankin´ and eyeballin the only gringas in town. we ask for the beer to go and the friendly, young chica working asks where we are going to drink tonight. we said we were going to drink at our hostel because there wasn´t much happening in the town besides a few bodegas and one music store blasting cumbiya and a few bollywood jams. we did the name introduction thang, her name was Yomara and she invited us to come back to her bodega-restaurant and then we can all go out to the discoteca. our eyes lit up when she told us the town HAD a discoteca. i guess no matter how rural you go, there is always some place to dance.

so we drank our beers in the hostel, played some power hour and then met up with Yomara. she was still gettin´all ready to go dancing and we drank our champagne while we waited for her to close down the place. we met yomara´s amigos- jessica, who worked at our hostel, wilbur, jose, sonia and a few other peeps at the ´´club´´. it only cost 5 soles for both of us to get in. the band started playing. the lead singer was hilarious to watch. dirt floor, outside, everyone sharing and passing around a half liter of beer with a small cup. we danced in a circle for hours and once in a while this crazy 55 year old man would pull one of us aside and do crazy kick and spin moves while laughing his ass off. he was awesome to dance next to. he also bought us so much beer to share with our friends. on the stroke of 12 everyone hugged everyone else and said feliz año nuevo! also, yellow is the color of good luck so everyone threw lil yellow confetti EVERYWHERE. it was all over our heads and in our coats. we stayed out til 5 a.m. and then realized we had drank wayyy to much and needed to go sleep. most people stay out until much later.

the next day we slept in and then ate some lunch with wilbur and then caught our bus. bummer about missing the dinosaur footprint, but hopefully we can see some somewhere else. we are back in arequipa now and meeting up with lindsey in LA PAZ on the 6th. YES! thank god we found a computer that allows us to upload pics.

it feels good to be back in a cake district...seriously there is soooo much cake here and it´s all within a 4 block radius. it rules.

we also went and saw the movie AVATAR before we went to the canyon. GO SEE IT! it rules! we had to go to CINE PLANET located in the mall, which was a trip. they have burger king and pizza hut there. we went all out at the mall. marie bought a sweet tank top with wolves on it. we also bought the ´´combo gigante´´ at the movie. so much popcorn, and no ice in the soda...but i guess that is typical here.

hope you all had a happy holiday. welcome to 2010! it´s the future!