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| Plaza and Cathederal in Arequipa |
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| Traffic Chaos in Arequipa |
After staying in Arequipa at the El Solar, Calle Ayacucho 108, right across the road from the bus transit stop most of us were feeling much better in the altitude, but in no way not for the noise of the beeping horns and buses right outside the front door of the hostel.
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| View of the volcanoes from the roof top of El Solar Hostel |
It wasn’t something that we were really prepared for but was to be expected given we were in the second largest city in Peru. We were told before our arrival in Arequipa that the temperature would be around 5 degrees Celsuis – we agreed but thought it was actually colder. We were also told that for our comfort we would have Alpaca blankets on our beds. At this point Tony was still feeling the effects of the altitude and said it felt like his chest was crushing in. The brochure for El Solar said that staying there would feel like staying at a 5 star hotel. I thought that with the weight of the Alpaca blankets (4 on the bed) was the reason why TJs chest felt like it was caving in and having the feeling of a live Alpaca lying on you to keep you warm!!
One of our observations of hostels and hotels in Lima is that from the outside they look a bit dodgy, but many times we've come through huge inconspicuous front doors into what seems like something out of a movie set. They have grand staircases, mostly Spanish style, with wooden balconys that are intrically carved and polished. It's hard to explain and hopefully I can publish some of these in later blogs to give you an idea of just how beautiful they are.
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| Freddy and the Cocoa Leaves |
After a restless night had by all it was time for us to head up to the Colca Canyon to a height of 3600 mtrs above sea level, passing over mountains that would take us up even further to 3950 mtrs. This was about a 6 hr or more bus trip further up the Andes, this time in broad daylight (horror, horror). We met our new guide for the canyon (Freddy) and he showed our travel colleagues the right way to chew fresh Cocoa leaves and the little ritual that goes with the leaves. Some of our fellow travellers were still a little heady so we’re not sure if it was from the altitude or the cocoa leaves or, in some case too many the Cervezas (Cusquenas) and Pisco Sours from the night before.
Only about 45mins into the trip, Freddy says there is a fantastic photo opportunity for us and he’d ask the driver to stop so we could hop out and take some pics of the 3 volcanoes of Arequipa.
Now for those who get a little squeamish and not open minded – please go to the paragraph after the next !
Our bus pulls up on the side of the road next to a grassy field surrounded by a high mud brick fence. Eager to take photos nearly half our fellow travellers get out of the bus. As I’m getting out of my seat I see a guy squat down in the grass, pull his pants down to have a Number Two-ziees. Those who rushed out didn’t see this and are already snapping and clicking away. This poor guy, sees the bus, sees the keen photographers and squats down even lower with his head down even further into the grass. When I finally got out of the bus, delayed because I was laughing my head off, I told our crew about the bloke in the grass. You could imagine the laughs from then on and their attention (and cameras) focussed on him. That poor bloke was squatted for about 15 minutes, above his own muuush, just turning his head slightly from time to time to see if the bus was leaving.
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| I spy with my little eye something starting with G..... Guy in the Grass Squatting !!! with the hat on. |
You could imagine the toilet humour on that bus – it made for a quicker, and distracting, trip to the canyon.
We stopped for refreshments, and Cocoa tea with the triple factor ie. Cocoa leaves, peppermint leaves and another herb growing in high altitude in the Andes, called Muno pronounced Moon-ya. This was at a little road junction near Tintaya which is huge for its copper mining (X-strata), and you could tell, no- one could live in that sort of environment. A little like some of the mining hotspots in Queensland, Fly-in/fly-out is the preferred option by the majority of our resources folks. In fact Mining is top of the list of Peru exports, followed by agriculture (potatoes – 3000 varieties of them) then Tourism. Back on the ascending road it's more dry barren land.
That night on reviewing the photos, very strange, I actually could see what I thought was an Inca looking face. As I zoomed in even further I could see another 4 faces in addition to the main larger face. Take a look, zoom in and see how many you can find. (There is one right at the top, the main larger face in the middle, then another 3 smaller faces under the large one appearing to be female faces) Considering we were entering this beautiful canyon and valley, I wonder if it was a natural formation or in fact man made during the Inca times as a sign overlooking the Canyon. Judge for yourself in the pic below zooming in on the rock at the top……!!!
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| Zoom in to Spot the Faces |
We arrived in Chivay (population about 7000) in time for lunch and it was nice to get out of the bus and stretch. Just as we were about to finish, our group was invited by some locals to the Labour Day Bullfight, a just coincidently a traditional wedding. We were told that all the local people are invited to the wedding, the bride’s parents and godparents pay for everything, but guests bring food, wine and of course beer as offering and for everyone to enjoy. So as we made our way through the crowd, guests had set up BBQs, decorations, a brass band playing and the Bullfight was underway.
Because we were guests we were offered more food, corn, potatoes, beans and alchohol. The atmosphere was incredible, people everywhere, drinking, dancing and even the brass band sang something about welcoming us “Amigos” to their celebrations.
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| The Chivay "Wedding Singer" |
I have to make comment at this point about the Chivay people. They are very, very generous and friendly, and this is not criticism but factual, they are very small people in stature – Yep OK – Small. I’m not the tallest but 90% of the Chivay people would only be around 1.4mtrs tall. Even members of the band we standing on boxes and chairs. Meanwhile when the people were all scrabbling amongst themselves trying to get a view of the Bullfight, one of our travel companions, Glen from Belgium, stands behind them. Glen is 1.96 mtrs tall - around 6ft 4/5 tall. Just picture this – Glen has the best view in the house and once these little people noticed how tall Glen was, they all ignored the bullfight turned around and focussed on him. Glen said later that they all looked at him like he was some sort of Freak – his words. Once the yahooing of the bullfight started they turned back around to watch.
That night we stayed just a block away from the central Plaza and Market, but that wasn’t without incident and probably an after effect of the bullfight and all the crates of Cerveza. There was a bit of a “Situation” where I was awoken by noise in what I thought was a small boy climbing on a roof – turned out he was actually a small MAN. He copped a bit of a hiding from the Policia with batons, and they hauled about 6 people out of the house that he was climbing over. [ Houses in most of Peru have flat roofs and look like they haven’t been finished. There is reinforcement sticking up in the air, pipes set in for plumbing and even stairwells that just finish at the roof line. We were told this was a Peruvian custom whereby the house is left in this state until the oldest son gets married, he then finishes the second story of the house for him, his wife and family. ]  |
| Lookout at Cruz del Condor |
The next morning we started out early for a trip up the Cruz del Condor lookout, to see Condors in their only nesting/breeding grounds in the world. We had to endure another of those bus trips from hell whereby we would be looking down into canyons many thousands of mtrs below, on dirt roads, avoiding rock falls and land slips which the bus had to veer around to avoid. Good drivers those Peruvians.
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| Looking down from the bus into Colca Canyon |
Absolutely beautiful to see the terraces carved out by the Incas thousands of years ago. We were fortunate to see Condors flying the skies, almost as if they were putting on a spectacle for everybody.
We were to stay in Chivay another COLD night, but not before we took some brisk walks around the town (to keep warm) check out the markets consisting of fresh fruit and veges, street food and BBQs, arts and crafts and their beautiful woven cloths. On the way we ran into Clare and Johnny from our tour so we gave them a sample of some of the local fruit we’d bought, and which we can also buy in Cairns. Cha Cha Cha, yellow skinned and similar tasting to passionfruit if properly ripened. Just delicious. I should also mention here that in this same market where they also prep alpacas/ alpaca meat for sale. Didn’t feel like dinner that night !!
The next morning we were to leave pretty early for a 170kms drive to Puno with a couple of stops along the way including a photo opportunity of us at the highest point of our trip – 4910 mtrs above sea level, a waterway teaming with birdlife (flamingos), take in our first views over Lake Titicaca, and then into Puno where we would be spending a night at the Pukara hostel before we tackle Lake Titicaca for our next adventure.
We had just heard that Johnny had been up most of the night with a runny stomach bug – I hoped it wasn’t the Cha Cha Cha. As we progressively made our way around Peru most of the others came down with the same ailment. Tony just kept gnawing on those wretched Cocoa leaves, eating cocoa lollies and drinking cocoa tea every opportunity he had. Cocoa must have saved him from the bug, or it was the Cuy!! I was lucky enough not to get anything.
We arrived in Puno with plenty of daylight and here we would be going to a local market to buy food as an offering to our Homestay family on Luquina Peninsula, Lake Titicaca. We checked into the Pukara Hostel and made our way to our room. One look and I was already having nightmares. Bloody hell I was going to share my bed with a ‘Live’ Alpaca AGAIN ie. Heavy Alpaca blankets on the bed. I could see Tony was obviously still having Altitude sickness, just the way he glanced at the blankets and I could tell !!!
The next morning we would be picked up by Puno limosines. You’re jealous – but sorry you will now have to wait for the next Blog before you get the photos of us in the limos.
Cheers, take care.
Liz and Tony
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| 4910 mtrs Above Sea Level (TJ still with his sunnies on and back to the big drop) The Sign translates to: Viewpoint of the Andes stretch of volcanic mountain range in the central Andes |
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