Arequipa/Colca Canyon/Lake Titicaca

This past weekend I went on a huge trip with some of my best friends!

It started by taking a 16-hour bus from Lima to Arequipa, this big beautiful city in the south. Arequipa is called the White City because so much of it is made of this white volcanic rock from the nearby volcano, Misti. The city has a completely different feeling than any of the other cities I’ve been to in Peru. It is way more European with colonial-style buildings. The main plaza was absolutely spectacular. One of my friends we went with knew someone there (it was her mother’s best friend’s brother’s family or something equally confusing). They met up with us and gave us a free meal at their Chifa (Chinese-Peruvian food) restaurant, which was delicious. We somehow managed to find a perfect 6-person room at a hostel in Arequipa, which worked out so perfectly for us. While in Arequipa, we saw this mummy from the Incan times that had been frozen in the snow on a mountaintop and almost entirely preserved. They call her Juanita. It was cool to see, but a little creepy. I kept thinking she was going to turn her head and ask what the hell I was looking at. We also visited this really intense convent from the colonial times that is actually still in existence. We toured the old rooms and saw how it used to be run. The girls had to pay to enter at age 12 and they never saw their families ever again! We saw the bed of one nun who is a possibility to be a saint. She slept on spikes in order to more intensely feel pain and, thus, more intensely praise God. While that’s impressive, I think I’ll stick with my mattress. Arequipa is famous for its food, which is fine by me! My favorite is this dish called Rocotto Relleno, which is a spicy pepper stuffed with meat served with cream sauce. It was sooo good. I had a bit of my friend’s cuy frito, or pounded and fried guinea pig. While we love our guinea pigs as pets, in Peru they are considered delicacies for chowing down. Bon appetite, fluffy!

After our time in Arequipa, we went to Colca Canyon, one of the deepest canyons in the world, twice as deep at the Grand Canyon! We had to wake up super early (we had to be ready to be picked up at 2:30. Of course, they were running on Peruvian time and picked us up an hour later.) We had a bus that drove us the 3 hours to the canyon with a guide giving us information along the way. She would speak first in Spanish, then in English. I can tell my Spanish has improved because I would listen to her, and then hear her speaking in English. It seemed weird that she was repeating herself exactly, then I realized that the first time was Spanish and I had understood without even realizing, which was a great moment. While on our Colca tour, we saw Condors, a bird that used to be worshipped by the Peruvians. They are black with a white back and absolutely huge! We got to see a bunch of little villages along the way and got some great views of the canyon. At the end, we went to the top of a mountain to view the volcano, Misti. We learned about how you make a little tower on the mountain out of little rocks as an offering, then you make a wish. My tower wasn’t very tall, but it was sturdy! My wish is so coming true! After that, it was a very sleepy bus ride back to Arequipa.

At this point, two of my friends who are going to Lake Titicaca other times in the semester left. And then there were four. The remaining members of the group took a very cheap and very very sketchy and uncomfortable bus to Puno, the city next to Titicaca. I was so happy when we arrived. Puno is not nearly as nice as Arequipa. It kind of reminded me of Gotham City from Batman. We found our hostel late at night and crashed. The next day, we had planned to go to Lake Titicaca and spend the night on one of the islands there. Our guidebook (Lonely Planet, or “Lonely” as we so lovingly refer to it. We use it for everything. Put this thing in my grave with my someday) told us that to go privately we had to be at the port at 7:30am, but that tours run every hour all day. We went downstairs at our hostel to ask about the best tours, when we were told that it was too late and we couldn’t even go out on the lake. Curse you, Lonely! We ended up booking a tour to visit the floating reed islands and another island the next day, but we had all day to kill in Puno, a very boring city. The woman recommended Sillustani, these old ruins of burial towers from the pre-Incans and Incans that were about 45 minutes away. It was actually really interesting, but there was a storm coming and it was absolutely freezing! After that, they took us to a Quechua household where we learned how many operate, which was good to see.

The next day was amazing. We got up early and went on our tour of Lake Titicaca, which is the highest lake in the world. It’s huge and incredibly beautiful. We started by going to Urros, or the Floating Reed Islands. These islands are man-made. The people living on them use reeds from the lake that they tie together to form islands that float in the middle of the lake. It’s so cool! The sad part was the people, though. You could tell that they were completely exploited by the tourism. Our guide would call out a language and the women would sing in that language, not knowing what they were saying. The little girls were trained to ask your name, take your hand, and lead you around the island, ending right in front of where you can buy their crafts. It was heartbreaking seeing the little kids growing up that way. While the islands were awesome, that put a damper on our mood. After trying to stay positive at Urros, we went to another island called Taquile. The view of the lake from there was so so beautiful. I don’t know if I will ever see scenery so beautiful again. We went to the top and learned about their culture. If someone is married, they wear a solid red hat. If they are single, they wear a red and white hat. The girls wear pom poms around their skirts starting around dating age. If the pom poms are brightly colored, they are single. If a man wants to marry a woman, he has to first tightly weave a hat. The girl’s father then pours water in. If the hat holds water, then they can marry. If not, the boy will not make a good husband and has to make it again. Incidentally, divorce is illegal. On Taquile, there are 3 rules: No lying, stealing, or being lazy. Not bad, huh? We saw a traditional dance done by the people in their traditional clothes (women wearing 15 skirts!!). It was so cool to see, but I couldn’t help but wonder if they actually wanted to do it, or if it was all for the tourism money. Regardless, I learned a lot. On our way back, we got caught in another awful storm in the middle of Lake Titicaca! It was really intense, but kind of fun as well (we were indoors in the boat). We finally made it back to Puno, took a combi to Juliaca, and flew home!

This weekend was incredibly packed and exhausting, but worth every second!

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