Churches, Canyons and Condors

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Any worries we had about bus travel soon dissapated as we made the 15hr journey to Arequipa in comfort and style aboard a very luxurious new bus. As the railway service is non existant for public travel in Peru and air travel is pretty pricey the buses are the main long distance transport and therefore much better than you would imagine. For about $50 USD each we got cushioned leather seats that reclined 160 degrees, 2 meals, films and bingo. Fantastic.
We arrived in Arequipa in the morning and the hotel pickup was waiting for us just outside, it can get a bit hectic with taxi drivers competing for business and it was great not to have to deal with it. The hotel was very nice and modern, on the outskirts of town it was quiet as well which, for the light sleepers amongst us (Iain), was excellent. After our experience in Lima the first thing we did was get a plan together so we could make the most of our time in the city.
Arequipa is a lovely city surrounded by green countryside in the valley, high desert and 3 volcanoes El Misti being the most iconic as it is a classic volcanoe shape and towers over the city, not dead only dormant so one day Arequipa may dissapear under a blanket of lava and ash. The main plaza is really beautiful with a massive white cathedral dominating one side. It´s nickname is the white city because alot of the buildings are made from sillar which is a white volcanic rock. The weather is also sunny and warm I think they average over 300 days of sun a year, and because it´s over 2000 metres above sea level, it is without the humidity of Lima which was great.
The first day we walked up into the city centre which took about 20 mins, it was hot and busy but we found a nice place to eat in the square and take in the view. We tried a very tasty local dish of peppers stuffed with spiced minced meat accompanied by potatoes and cheese. The potato is a staple food up in the higher elevations as it is one of the only crops to grow over 4000 metres, some form of potato with cheese seems to be popular on traditional menus. After lunch we went to see one of the most famous exhibits in Arequipa, Juanita the frozen mummy. Juanita is an Inca ´mummy´ who was scarificed on top of a volcanoe about 400 years ago by priests hoping to appease the mountain spirit. She was discovered by accident when a neighbouring volcanoe became active and melted the ice cap in which she had been preserved for so long.
-Sorry folks I had written alot more and have just lost it all so you´re on the shortened version now. The exhibits and tour guide were good. The state of preservation was impressivly almost perfect down to the pin holes in her cloak. Juanita herself is a tiny curled up figure complete with skin hair teeth nails etc. Technically she isn´t a mummy but a frozen body and it was amazing and spooky to see her in the sub zero glass chamber where she now resides.
We took a bus tour of the city and surrounding area as well which was a great way to see everything, although I think we have both been suffering from church fatigue since. There are alot of very beautiful churches here but you do get a bit blase after a while. We also visited a restored water mill in a very nice bit of countryside which was interesting.
So on to the main event, our 3 day trip to the Colca Canyon, it is the second deepest in the world. We went with a tour group and were really lucky as everyone was lovely and got along great. Our guide Elias was a trooper and did all the arranging and cooking, excellent food for 8 plus himself, in addition to the actual guiding while we did the 2 days of trekking. The first day was more of a sightseeing day travelling form Arequipa to the canyon which is roughly a 4 hour trip. The road sometimes paved sometimes awful lead us up to an altitude of 4850 metres above sea level. Luckily no one got sick from the altitude, a very real danger as you can´t predict who will be affected, and we enjoyed seeing Vicunas and Alpacas in the wild, amazing rock formations of volcanic ash, a funny ancient high altitude plant which is related to coral and of course epic amazing landscapes including a live volacnoe - far away in the distance luckily!
We arrived at the canyon in the afternoon and it was still a drive to the village where we would begin our trek the next day. On the way we stopped at a place called the Cruz Del Condor which is a popular tourist spot for viewing the Condors come sailing out of the canyon on thermals. We arrived just before sunset and it was deserted because morning is the busy time. However we were able to see 4 or 5 Codors come lazily gliding up out of the Canyon in the evening light and it was really magical to be the only ones there apart from some disinterested cows grazing. We stayed overnight in a small village called Cabanaconde over 3000mt above sea level, and were hugely impressed with our lodgings which were no where near as basic as expected. We set out early the next morning having to walk from the hostal to the canyon as the van had a flat tyre, not a big surprise due to the state of the roads, apparently the driver has to get a full set of new tyres every two months. The walk was great through a rural landsacpe of terraced fields, and donkeys, cows and sheep grazing in the fields and by the side of the road. There were no other tourists and it really felt like we were miles away from the bustle of modern life. We did about 6 hours of walking on the first day down into the canyon as the group had voted to take the long route to see more of the area, this proved to be an excellent idea. It was a hot sunny day and we were all roasted by the time we arrived at the bottom of the canyon, this was about 3 hours of walking. At the bottom flows the Colca River and it is a green micro climate of fruit tree orchards and small fields with small villages strung along the bottom. We had a two hour break for lunch at a small place which had a lovely garden full of flowers and insects with a small lawn. Iain and another guy Stan even found time to have a kick about with some of the local kids. When we set out again the clouds were rolling in on top of the mountains and there was a rumble of thunder in the air. We walked perhaps for another 3 hours, along the side of the canyon passing through another village and then it started to rain a little but not much and it was quite refreshing in the humidity and warmth of the canyon.
We finally arrived at the campsite which had a pool, empty of water much to our dismay as we´d all been looking forward to a dip after our exertions. However the complex had more than one pool so we weren´t out of luck. The water was freezing but no one really cared. We ate had a couple of drinks and had an early night because we had to start the descent at 5am the next morning. Woken at 4am we dragged ourselves out to a tasty breakfast of pancakes and after doing a bit of star gazing so us northener hempispher-ites could get a look at the Southern Cross constellation and Jupiter we packed up to get going. We started in the dark with torches which was a bit hairy along the narrow dirt path but the dawn soon started to break. All I am going to say is that it was hard work walking up but we all managed it in under 3 hours and the feeling of achievement was fantastic when we reached the top. The group had mixed fitness but Elias stayed at the back to ensure we all made it up. On the way back to civilisation we stopped at the Cruz del Condor again, a very different place in the morning with hordes of tourists but plenty of Condors as well. At the town of Chivay the group split as some people were carring on to Puno and Lake Titicaca. We arrived back in Arequipa late afternoon and were happy to get a hot shower. On our last day we visited the Santa Catalina Convent bang in the centre of Arequipa which is a big complex complete with streets and houses as well as chapels and cloisters it was amazing but we didn´t quite make it all the way round as it was truly vast. The bus for Cusco left in the evening, sadly not quite as luxurious as the first bus but it was only a 10 hour journey so no problem........

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Photos

Arequipa Plaza
Cathedral and palm tress made for a very nice spot

El Misti
El Misti volcano and river valley

Water Mill
Mill stones powered by water

Water Mill 2
Exterior of mill

Vicuna and El Misti
Up in the high desert on our Colca trip

Volcanic Ash formations
They have a name but I don´t know it

High Altitude Greenery
This plant is one of the oldest on the planet and is related to Coral

At the top of the canyon
Before we started down

We made it!
Our group at the top of the Canyon after walking up