Nazca to Arequipa
Trip Start
Dec 29, 2008
1
10
77
Trip End
Mar 22, 2009
Arequipa,
Peru
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
We spotted the spider, monkey, condor, hummingbird... and many straight lines and geometric shapes marked out in the desert. It was a spectacular flight as the desert scenery and surrounding mountains created fantastic back drops. The pilot made sure that all of us could see all of the shapes by circling overhead in opposite directions.
Later on in the morning we visited the Chauchilla desert cemetery and saw lots of bones and mummies. The bones we saw were ones that grave robbers had previously dug up and had been left exposed on the surface. It was interesting but the extreme heat of the desert made it difficult to bear for too long.
In Nazca town we visited a place that makes pottery in the traditional Nazca way and visited aplace that works gold. The gold mining in this area is extremely labour intensive. The miners do not use any machines and carry bags full of 60kg worth of rock down the mountain. The rock is ground by people standing on a plank of wood on top of a rock and rocking backwards and forwards. They use mercury to help collect the gold particles and a piece of silk as a sieve.
Nazca is a very hot place (42C is typical in summer) and by lunch time we were ready for a swim. Our hotel had a beautiful swimming pool so we ate at the hotel restaurant and lounged by the pool for most of the afternoon. Bob, one of the Aussies in the group, had found a place to get a massage in the central square. A few of us wandered down to give it a go. The massage was pretty powerful and afterwards I started to feel sick. I kept feeling worse and started to be sick in the evening. By the time we got on the overnight bus to Arequipa I was feeling really terrible.
As I found out over the next 9 hours, an overnight bus isn't such a bad place to be sick. I had people around me looking after me, a bus hostess (like an air hostess) who brought me alcohol to sniff to stop me throwing up, and a toilet that cleaned itself during every flush. As well as that, most of the others on the bus also didn't sleep very well, so by the time we arrived in Arequipa, I wasn't the only one really wanting to sleep.
After a good sleep while everyone was at breakfast, I caught up with Chris and Anna (the English couple on our tour) and we headed to the 'must-see' attraction of the city. Unfortunately someone got confused between exhibits and we ended up seeing a small convent with more bones and stuffed animals. The courtyards were very beautiful and peaceful though.
We wandered through town, over a river that actually had water in it, to the convent we had intended to see. It started being built in the 1500's and had been added to over the years, so various architectural styles were on show. It was a very peaceful city within the city, where the daughters of the rich Spanish families had sent their daughters, and the nuns were allowed to live in the way in which they were accustomed to. There were private quarters and the nuns were allowed to have maids. There were streets and beautiful gardens all set within the walls of the convent.
Next stop was the Plaza de Armas (main square) for some lunch. There were cafes on the balconies overlooking the square, so we thought we'd try one. As we walked towards the doorways up to the restaurants we were accosted by about 5 different people trying to convince us that their restaurant was cheaper or one of the other restaurants was already full. We ended up choosing one because it had ice cream. I stomached some garlic bread before wandering back down the street to our hotel for a nice long nap.
Dinner was back in the main square at the top of one of the buildings overlooking the square. We were given ponchos to wear, as the temperature had dropped significantly and we were sitting out on a balcony. The views out over the square and the rest of the city were gorgeous.
I went back to the hotel to recuperate some more after dinner, while some of the others in the group went to find a bar. It didn't take long until their drinks were putting them to sleep and they were back at the hotel.
