Memories of Arequipa
Trip Start
Jan 20, 2004
1
94
165
Trip End
Ongoing
Arequipa,
Peru
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Twenty five years ago Arequipa presented a decidedly quiet and genteel demeanour, but today this reserve has been superseded by the nervous energy and activity of a city of 700,000 inhabitants
01 Plaza pollution
. Early on Christmas Eve the streets were packed with last-minute shoppers patronizing the street-side vendors, but later everyone would attend mass before heading home to sit down to a full-scale family Christmas dinner at midnight. Our celebration was more reflective, and we spent the better part of Christmas Day re-reading the e-mail greetings from our family of friends throughout the world. We toasted everybody's health before heading out for a passable rendition of a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. The next couple of days we wandered the city in search of memories of our bygone era, and managed to revisit many of our favourite haunts: the Plaza de Armas with its impressive Cathedral covering a whole block on one side, and the extensive colonnaded walkways along the other three sides; the intricately carved La Compaņia Jesuit Church; the earthquake-damaged Church of San Francisco; and, of course, the famous but still tranquil Santa Catalina Monastery, which despite its name has actually served as a convent since 1580. Finally, we summed up our courage and headed for the Arequipa Clinic where Mike was born - certainly not a conventional birth, but that is a story for another time! We found the clinic still thriving, with several additions and renovations, and it was a unexpected treat to revisit and chat with the nurses.
Although not on the tourist map until fairly recently, the Caņķn de Colca is now an almost obligatory stopover on every travellers agenda in the Arequipa area
02 Late night splendour
. It is promoted as one of the deepest canyons in the world, and certain sections reportedly plunge to more than 11,000 ft. Where we camped overnight right on the canyon edge it was a mere 4,000 ft down to the river below, but that was certainly impressive enough, and it is a good job that neither of us is prone to sleep-walking! At dawn the next day cloud filled the valley below us, but soon came swirling upwards as the sun rose, reducing visibility to a matter of twenty feet or so. Even though it cleared later in the morning, we were disappointed in our quest for close-up sightings of the famed Andean Condors. Nevertheless, the rough trip into the canyon was well worth it for the extensive spectacle of Inca terracing and the proud display of Colca culture in the form of the intricately embroidered hats and waistcoats of women from the local villages.Our return trip to Puno over the desolate high Andean passes of 16,000 ft (yes, the air gets pretty thin up there!) was accompanied by stunning displays of lightning in the gathering storm clouds, followed by lashings of heavy rain, mixed with hail and sleet. However, the rough weather conditions were definitely mitigated by the drastically improved road conditions - a journey that used to take twelve hours over a horrendous track of mud traps and rocky outcrops, can now be accomplished in just over four hours on tarmac as smooth as silk!
