PERU: Arequipa>Colca Canon>Puerto Maldonado>Cuzco

  Cusco, Peru
Friday, June 30, 2006

Thu 8th: off we zoomed for AREQUIPA... 7 hours southwards...... we stopped on the way to see some yougurt factory to sample and that.... saw the devastating effects of a tsunami a few years back, and how flat one stretch of land as in comparison to the re-settled upper plains.... such fertile area too. shame....We arrived in Arequipa late afternoon and had to wait to enter than parking lot due to 2 other Tucan tour trucks blocking our way! rude.... hotel was full due to all of us arrivng at once, even budget travellers tents pitched beside the hotel itself......we had a short orientation tour of the city....

1,000,000 inhabitants in this city at some 2,000 feet above sea level. The locals here consider themselves the posh and better folk of the country....one can see why..... the city is incredibly civilised and cosmo for such a secluded area..... top class international cuisine restaurants spread along the streets, with trendy boutiques, tour agency offices, nice buildings.... colonial looking university blocks.... many diff churches and a huge cathedral, spanning across a whole side of the stunning Main Square. (Plaza De Armas)..Tis deemed the nicest in the country.... literally has 2 floor restaurants encompassing the whole square with inviting terraces and balconies....etc etc....

Evening dinner was definiteyl another higlight...some of us decided to break off from the main party and got hot his recommended Maroccan restaurant instead of sampling either ostrich or alparca (local delicacies but for rediculous prices)..was proud of myself for resisting... anyhow, so we had mouth-watering and cheap priced arabic food with wine and followed by Shisha (flavoured fruit tobacco smoked through this huge bong consisting of water and burning charcoal wiht the flavour mixed in...) had alread tried this back oin Granada, Spain, so the novely of it for me wasnt as great as was for others..... nice bonding opportunity with fewer bodies filling the table... even so, we mmet up with those eager night hawks at this retro bar nearby.... drink list was ample and atmosphere just like a trendy london bar expect for much cheaper with locals and not gringos.. nice.... went on till midnight wich was a record so far on this tour haha! Got to bond with 3 new additions to our modular tour: a kiwi couple and a mid 20yr old english dude. Back at the hotel were resting a few altiitude sickness casualties coz we had arrived at our first destination with a real taste for altitude....coca leaves are the way forth apparently.

Fri 9th: free day for us! yay! what a treat. So we revelled in the fact we could get up at normal time. Several of us indulged in brekkie at this fancy creperie place before heading to the tourist sites. Firstly I roamed the Santa Catalina Convent, similar in nature to the Francisan one in Lima.. So won't bore youz with that one too much...... some random guinea pigs were being fattened in the courtyard though in prep for feasting. eugh. Had morning coffee with the kiwi peeps on terrace bar whilst watching the first half of the first world cup game. saw a goal or two i think so was satisifed with that....

Afterwards, I headed to the Juanita Museum in the Casa De Culture. This museum entailed a background video, tour of museum then an actual encounter with the infamous century-old preserved ice mummy Juanita. During half they year, this allegedly teenaged sacrificed indigenous girl gets to travel the world on exhibition, and for the other half, she remains on show here..... So... the locals of Arequipa region believe she was a beautiful girl chosen from childhood to be sacrificed for the mercy of the Sun/Rain/Wind/Moon Gods high up on a mountain like.... Funnily enough, the other Peruvians eg Lima and Cuzco folk don't share the belief in this story..instead they claim she was just a nice girl who was stumbled across by foreign expeditioners in the 1920 whislt climbing the mountains. Obviously, Jauanita and a few other mummies would have drifteds in sink with the natural phenomena eg snow drifts....Arequipenos, however, believe she was raised and treated royally to prepare for and understand the sacrifical prupose before being marched up a long and taxing trail to the summit before being drugged and hit over the head.... the salvaged artifacts along with the mummy herself were so incredibly well preserved..colours, features, skin, bones......so much that apparently she ate veggies before dying according to tests on her internal organs...she looks so real in her conditioned cabinet, still upright in foetal position!

Enough on that. you had to be there....had a quick fast food lunch before marching round the easily navigable streets in pursuit of souvenirs and clothing eg poncho and hat for inca trail. came away with 100% natural alpaca poncho.... looked at churches and nothing much more to be honest. nice. dinner was chilled with a select few in a turquish place but some were still feeling nauseos and headachy from altitude.

Sat 10th: a lovely 8 hr drive higher up in the wilderness to the Colca Canyon. Enr oute we stopped off at the freezing natural reserve on a high snow capped ridge.... donkeys, llamas, alpacas etc all roam free....

sipped some coca tea to remedy or prevent altitude effects. By lunch tiem we ahd arrived at the canyon deemed the 2nd largest in the world and arugable the deepest. very unlike the gran canyon in US.... volcanic and plate tectonic movements account for the shape and form of this canyon, mainly continuing down from the interlocking mountainsides. very tranquil and fresh area with spectacular views.....strem running through.... condors flying over us..... Waled for an hour along paths to properly appreciate the extent of the canyon.

In the pm, we drove onward to our hotel for the night in a small town called Yanque. Those interested including myself went further on to the neighbouring town to bathe in the hot springs set around mountains and valley of Chavay. so hot and blissful.. some guys had a beer in the pool too!
Another commendable buffet was served in the evening at our cold hotel. I tried alpaca soup. v good. most were feeling dopey or faint due to altitude. so we all retired pretty early to our rooms where lit fires awaited us for the night whilst they got nursed with alcoholic based oxygen tank thingys....

Sun 11th: a mammouth 12 hour ride to Cusco so brekkie at 4:30 am. We stopped at this reservoir type place for another traditional Tucan packed lunch...some local kidos flocked our bus so we gave them our remains and some pens and pencils which they were delighted with. no money or sweeties as bad in long-term! The second half of the trip was great fun. on board entertainment in the form of charades, chinese whispers and guess the soundtrack....most participated. Also, we got informed that we would need to devise a suitable song to sing to our porters on the Inca Trail......as an example, a previous one done by another group was "She'll be coming round the mountain" lol... this triggered off the thought process all round, but we eventually agreed on Scottish "500 miles" to be modified according to the Inca Trail walk (lyrics). Those peeps going to the rainforest the following day including me, got briefed on this as well....Time flew by and before we knew it, we had arrived in Cusco, cultural captial of Peru. Got a smaller transfer shuttle bus in due to traffic restrictions. All were loving the city at first site. cobbled streets, pretty plazas and buildings. looked safeish......
So, on arrival we had a mini orientation tour and a bite to eat before packing bags once again in prep for early rise for rainforst trip. Half the group would stay behind in Cusco for fee days and optional excurions eg white-water rafting and horse-riding or city-tours etc whereas us lucky mugs had no chance for recuperation.

Mon 12th: a nice 6am transfer to Cusco airport for a dozen or so or us. Flight was wicked as we saw the sauring snow-capped mountains, valley and town.....got to Puerto Maldonado where i bumpe into 2 univeristy course acquiantances...... knew they were in the continent, but what a coincidence. they were joining our tour for part of the second trip with another guide so that was cool. We then had a small pointless town tour of Puerto M whislt we waited for our bus and boat trip along the river to our lodging in the Amazon Basin. This combined ride was 3 hours and we arived at the checkpoint station by mid pm and then our Travellers' Inn Lodge shortly after. Were pleasantly surpised by the accommodation. Though no electricity and hot shower facilities, the wooden cabin rooms with nettings and ensuite bathroom were more than adequate. Shared with my new roomie henceforth, the mid 20yr old English dude, who I shared more in common with.

That night, we were treated to a walking tour through the rainforest in antipation of seeing nocturnal wildlife though remote chance. First we had a presentation of the species and explanation of the ecosystem setup etc by resident naturists, then we headed off in small groups....What my group did get to see was basically crickets, grasshoppers, glow worms, spiders, ants, frogs and this crazy erotic palm tree (multiple penis shapes the bottom?)... one group got to hold a snake....nevermind... we had fun ambushing another group as well! Dinner followed on from this in the form of a 3 course substantial feast with ample soft drinks....nothing better to do than bed early with candles to guide. Fine.

Tues 13th: up at crazy time for brekkie at 5:30. our proper excursion departed at 6am so off we went fully kitted in welly boots and dripping with mozzie repellent. Our tour consisted of a 5k walk along paths with stops to explain flora, fauna and animals on the way along with far-fetched stories relating to trances and hallucinations resulting from plants and saps...tasted some natural medicinal remedies though which was cool. En route we saw caimans, tucans, cow birds, monkeys.... At the lake we got in a paddle boat and continued upstream to spot a few more species. The return journey was laborious but lunch was fab. we fed monkeys with banana s and entertained a rsident maccaw parrot who was intent on stealing peoples room keys and pecking at the gauze window panels to try to break in lol. Some guys played footie and lsot againstthe local guides but I went the other side of the murky river to a local farm for a while. Before boaridng our boat, we got real close up to a spectacle-eyed caiman on the shore who was stone cold still. wow! the guide taunted it with water so it would dart off into the river.... Ashore, we tasted wild lemons, lime and oranges right from the trees. Also, we sampled the raw produce of the chocolate-derived fruit thing...tasted like sweet syrop. We collected leaves with allegedly hallucinagenic and drwosy properties...also bark whose sap is like blood so good as natural lipstick.... all interesting.....
By the evening all were shattered. Our final excurion was a night sailing along the river to sptop caimans and gian otters. no otters but plenty of lingering caimans with shiny eye reflections. Afterwards, we were presented with a fantastic buffet spread before thanking the guides and that. Some stayed up to drink but I resisted, knowing I wanted to make most of 1.5 days back in Cusco before the Inca Trail.

Wed 14th June: morning was simply spent trailing our rainforest route back to Puero Maldonado then catching domestic flight back to wonderful Cusco. Though shattered, I was pleased to have the best part of a free day! It was wicked since the Corpus Cristi festival was on for 2 days meaning the city was packed and full of music, dancers in costume, food stalls and floats with religious figures on...similar to my Spain experiences around Easter time 2003. Atmosphere was cool so a few of my tucan pals strolled around to take it all in...
some of us went to the Inca Museum in ther afternoon which we couldnt really fully appreciate due to zombification. Pitty as our guide beautifully narrated Peru's history form pre incan civilisations to colonical times.. artifiacts, sculptures, clothing etc were all on view and modles of the city at various chronological times.

A siesta was desperately needed before the dreaded Inca Trail lecture type briefing session with all passnegers reunited ie those who didnt come to rainforest included. ....
Bogged down by our seriously hardcore daily itinerary, we all decided to treat ourselves to a flash meal at this ever so funky restuarant called Fallen Angel... differnt music and coloured theme rooms with lighitng and seating designed accordingly... Was nice to catch up with those travellers who had optional excursions around Cusco instead of jungle... a fiar few of us continued on to Paddy O'Flaherty's Irish Pub in the cvity before getting bombarded with free flyers for drinks in just about every bar or club around the main square...... evening turned into lots of drining and dancing and intermingling with the locals shall we say.. some were worse for wear but was all sound. even T.G (Tour Guide) got rather uncharacterstically rowdy and pushy so that was cool. ended up a very late one by our early rise - early to bed acclimatised body-clock standards....3am ish.

15th: Sore, a couple of us pondered massages in favour or visiting some of the many touristy-historical sites but in the end couldnt justify this move... So a couple of us headed up to Sacsayhuaman (henceforth Sexywoman) ruins on a mountain side overlookinghte whole city... these ruins were the first semi impressive ones we came across in peru....excellent eg of arhitecture and engineering of the inca period....had good guide and toke great bird's eye view photos fo the city from above... even the dots of people crowding the city centre and noises of partying could be discerned. pretty as........ the remainder of the aftee was spent strolling around taking random photos since many religious/administrative buildings were closed on public holiday. I did purchase a thick wollen alpaca hat with tassels to go with my poncho lol....and many whole cooked guinea pigs were on display and being scoffed by locals at the markets.....eugh.. Dinner was had at another nice place...3 courses for 6 dollars.... just the job before Inca Trail began.......bags to be carried throughout the 3 day trail by PORTERS had to be packed to the weight of 5 kilos including sleeping bag gear.... weigh-ins veriefied this so strict policy. anything else had to be packed in personal day backpacks to be carried by ourselves including refreshments, clothing for al weather types due to unforseeable weather fluctuations...annoying...so yes, selectivity was intense!!!!! Managed it slightly under the limit so very proud.