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DAY 3: Arequipa

Another beautiful day in this beautiful city. Jesuits, Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians: all competed for Arequipenan souls and built churches to stake their claim. The Jesuit church, La Compania, is architecturally the most striking. Its superbly carved baroque portal incorporates classical pillars, the Habsburg crest, Catholic and Indian icons. The Jesuit cloisters are equally magnificent and a quiet place to escape the heat of the day.

Having reached architectural saturation point, I drive out of the city past the Victorian mansions of British men who came to Peru in the early 20th Century to run the railroad or deal in wool and then married into aristocratic Spanish families.

At Carmen Alto, a shaded terrace provides a fabulous view across the terraced Chili River Valley towards El Misti volcano. I drink freshly squeezed papaya juice from a nearby orchard and feel sorry for caged guinea pigs being fattened for Arequipenan palates - cuy is a traditional Peruvian delicacy.

Arequipa is a city to savour at leisure. I sit drinking a pisco sour at a street café behind the cathedral watching people hurrying along the busy street. Every second vehicle is a taxi - the Peruvian solution to urban unemployment. Later, I eat at one of the many lively restaurants off Plaza San Francisco, planning my trip to the Colca Valley.

DAY FOUR: Colca Canyon

At the direction of my Peruvian guide, Hermann, I take the road out of Arequipa over the shoulder of Chachani volcano, climbing to a head-splitting 4,500m. We pass herds of vicunas grazing on the Altiplano, wild species of the llama family, valued for their fine wool.

The Altiplano is bleak and cold. Above 4,000m, vegetation is sparse save for tussocks of golden coiron grass that stick up rigidly as if they have been electrocuted. The few settlements we pass look grey and mean, low stone buildings with grass roofs. The people are dark skinned, their faces pinched, their bodies hunched as though perpetually cold. Descending into the Colca Canyon we drop back in time. Indians are breaking the soil into clods with picks. The terracing that covers every practicable inch of this vast cleft in the earth, dates back hundreds and in some cases thousands of years, certainly long before the Incas conquered the valley.

We cross the Colca River and drive into the village of Sibayo. Women sit spinning wool in front of the mud-brick church. I buy a pair of knitted socks to break the ice. The wool is wonderfully soft but I can feel spiky grass seeds caught in the weave. All of the women wear traditional dress: long flowing skirts, heavily embroidered waistcoats and embroidered hats with a rosette on the right side.

As we progress deeper into the valley we get frequent views of volcanoes. One is Ampato, where the mummy, Juanita, was found in 1995.

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