Arequipa and the Colca Canyon
Trip Start
Nov 18, 2008
1
13
55
Trip End
Nov 17, 2009
Arequipa,
Peru
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Arrived in Arequipa early in the morning and found a hostal called the Bothy Hostal which had as it`s logo a haggis carrying a Scottish flag! I don`t really know why tho because there were no other Scottish things of people in the place! Arequipa is really nice and most of the buildings are built from volcanic rock called Sillar. It`s white and seems strong and earthquake proof. We took in a bit of culture today by visiting the Ice Mummy Museum. It was really interesting - the Incas sacrificed young boys or girls to appease the mountain gods who they thought were unhappy if there were earthquakes, volcanic eruptions or other natural disasters. In about 1440 they sent a delegation from Cuzco of hundreds of people and walked for months to get to Ampato Volcano near to Arequipa. And they ascended the snowy mountain in order to reach as high as they could to the world of the mountain gods. Then they starved the 15 year old Inca girl for a couple of days so that the alcohol would take effect quickly, and they could dress her in her finery, and the priest hit her over the head fracturing the skull to kill her quickly. She was then wrapped up in foetal position and buried in a grave with offerings in order to be reborn into the world of the gods. The mummy was only discovered in 1995 when a neighbouring volcano erupted melting the ice to reveal the perfectly preserved body. The main mummy Juanita is on display for 6 months of the year and another child sacrifice Sarita for the other 6 months. It was really interesting and after all that culture we were ready for an ice cream sitting in the plaza by the Christmas tree!
Next day we went to the Monastery of Santa Catalina a convent which was founded in 1580 after the Spaniards arrived and was closed to the public until 1970 when it was opened as a museum. It was really picturesque with it`s courtyards, streets, laundry and orchards all enclosed within thick walls from the city. It`s built of the same Sillar rock and really nicely painted in reds, oranges, blues and white. Because of the earthquakes the architecture has changed a bit but it still retains some of the original stonework. We spent a few hours wandering and taking plenty photos! It was good and quite informative. Apparently each nun used to have their own apartment and had several servants living with them too. The nuns were called Mistress by their servants and they lived under strict rules and were only allowed to wash and cut their hair 7 times a year and some of them wore barbed underwear in order to demonstrate the suffering the human body could endure. Then a priest changed a few things and they had to be called Sister, not Mistress and were allowed to wash more often!
Next day we headed off on a 3 day trek in Colca Canyon, said to be the worlds deepest canyon. We stopped an the Cruz Del Condor in the morning and watched "el condor passa" We did see 2 or 3 condors floating on the thermals. They`re massive -3.5meter wingspan and can live till age 55 apparently! It was an impressive sight.
We enjoyed the trek down about 1000m into the canyon with our guide Pepe who was a bit of a rock n roll fan with a mullet! He was really good though and told us all about the canyon, the local people and the plants and trees around us. We walked for about 5 hours and it was really hot and dusty. There are a few villages in the canyon but they`re small and have no road access and only got electricity last year. There were lush trees and vegetation down in the bottom of the canyon though and we were walking amongst pear trees, avocado trees, figs, bananas, corn, and lots of fruit trees we`d never seen including cactus fruit which is really multicoloured and juicy, and another fruit which is like a cross between an banana and candyfloss!
We spent the night with a local family, eating in their kitchen with a woodfire inside and guinea pigs running about under the cooking pots. It was really nice and our group was small, just Pete and I and a girl called Violetta from Austria. Next day we walked a few hours to get to the Oasis! We stopped in at the local health centre on the way. It was really interesting, one doctor covers 8 villages which are only accessible on foot or on horseback and some of them take a day to get to. They have very few facilities and the people practice herbal medicine so don`t often seek help. They couldn`t even get a helicopter into the canyon either because of the overhead power lines, that`s if there even was a helicopter! Not a good place to break a leg- or anything else for that matter.
A few hours of walking and we arrived at the Oasis and were rewarded with cool crystal clear pools and hammocks under the palm trees. Even a cold beer by the poolside, how relaxing.
A few hours later it was time for the trek back up hill about 1000m of steep cliff side. Pete decided to walk up with an American guy and I offered to take all the bags, and opted for a mule ride! I was feeling brave as I`m not too sure about horses but these ones looked fairly docile in the heat and it seemed a good option. It was a steep path up the hillside but the mule seemed to know the way. I got up onto him and he started heading up the path! Then the guy caught up a few mins later on horseback and it you`ve ever wondered how to make a Peruvian horse go faster I`ll tell you - "Hoola hoola!"
Pete walked really fast and we arrived to Cabanaconde to spend the evening with another group in the pub. There was an Irish couple, a Belgian girl, a French guy and us in the pub with the guides and a cat who spent the evening fighting with Pete! It eventually ran off after it had been teased and rummaged enough! Then we took some funny photos of a big stuffed llama wearing Pete`s hat! Why not eh?!
Next day it was back on the bumpy road to Arequipa via the hot springs at Chivay. It was relaxing but for a kid bawling his eyes out for about 40 mins! Back in Arequipa we just had time to grab a pizza and munch it whilst packing our bags and getting the the bus station with 2 mins to spare for the night bus to Cuzco. We weren`t last to the bus though! There was a man trying th chase the bus across the terminal as it was leaving, only to be caught by 2 security guys and the bus drove off and left him!!
Next stop Cuzco....
