Arequipa, Colca Canyon
Trip Start
Jun 15, 2008
1
13
102
Trip End
Jun 14, 2009
Arequipa,
Peru
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Well the funny things that happen to us continue!!!
We got our bus from Nazca to Arequipa and the bus ticket didnīt give an arrival time so we kinda went with the lonely planet for guide times to Arequipa so we figured we would be arriving at around 6am or so but actually we arrived at 12.30am so we had no accomodation. We took a taxi to the place we should have bee staying the following day but the woman at the hostel was so rude and said there was no room for us so that put us in a bit of pickle! Thank God for a really nice taxi driver who brought us around to 8 different hotels and hostals until eventually found one at 1.30am that had a room.
27/07/08
Got up early and went for breakfast in a lovely Creperie restaurant called Zig Zag. After we booked a 2 day tour to the Colca Canyon for tomorrow and then we walked back to the Plaza de Armas and onto the MuseoSantury to see the exhibit "Juanita, the ice princess" - the frozen Inca maiden sacraficed on the summit ofAmpato (6288m) over 500 years ago. Visited the Dominican convent museum also and had to convince Sarah not to join and afterward had dinner in a restaurant overlooking the laza de Armas and watched the sunset behind the volcanic mountains.
28/07/08
We got picked up early from our hostel to start our Colca tour
Sarah at ZigZag cafe
. Stoppedoff at a shop somewhere to stock up on Cocoa leaves, cocoa sweets and cocoa mineral water to help with the "soroche"- altitude sickness as we were going by the highest highway in all peru at 4900m above sealevel. We stopped in the national park to see Alpacaīs, Llamas and Vicuņas (kinda like deer) then continued to to Chivay where we checked into our hostel had lunch and then went to thermal hot springs for the afternoon on the side of a volcano. The teperature at the altitude was freezing cold ut the springs were lovely and warm. See photos coming soon.Anyway that night all the group on the tour went for dinner in a restaurant in Chivay where they had entertainment lined up during the meal. Dermot and i were sitting with another Irish girl Clodagh and a New Zealand girl Danny. During themeal the inhouse entertainment native dancers wer pulling people out of the audience to take part in the show. Clodagh got called out first. Later in another dance/show the Peruvian girl pulled Dermot out on the floor! He had to dance for a few seconds then bite on an orange, lie down on the floor and shake in convultions while the Pervian girl whiped and spanked him with her rope!! Then she crouched over him, put his head under her dress and waved her peticoat over him so as to bring him back ot life. See photos attached. (She died minutes later!) - but really it was very funny.
After Dinner the four of us went to McElroys Irish pub reported to be the highest Irish pub in the world at 3650m. There was a dub jersey on the wall with "Fuck Dubs Dirty Fags" written on it
29/07/08
Got up early again and were collected at half 6 to go to the Colca Canyon. We stopped off in two towns on the way and got to the Mirador de Condor at 8.50am. The Condors were all over the place and they are huge. We got some good and some crap footage of these birds with 3m wingspan.
Got back to Arequipa in the evening and had dinner in a class Pizza restaurant that was in the Lonely Planet caled Los Lenos and tried the Pisco Sour which was nice.
