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Published: December 24th 2009
Hola amigos,
This is Kara here. Megan and I have decided to alternate writing the blog entries to even out the workload, because, no one wants to be overworked on vacation! Just a disclaimer, this is very long - but after reading it, you will get a real sense of our adventures!
We have arrived in Cusco and are currently acclimatizing at 3300m in preparation for our departure to Machu Picchu on Boxing Day. The last few days were spent in the city of Arequipa, exploring the lovely, cultural city and trekking into the 2nd largest canyon in the world! (2nd only by 136m!). We left Lima after only one day, as we felt satisfied with the good day we had there and we are a bit short on time, so needed to keep the travel pace up!
We departed for our flight to Arequipa at about 9:30am. The journey to the airport was definitely eventful - after an unsuccessful attempt to retrieve Megan's bank card (we didn't remember where the bank machine was), the taxi driver wanted to make sure we made it to the airport on time. He joked that the Velicidad Maxima was 200km/hr (the
sign clearly said 80km/hr), our laughter definitely had a concerned undertone! This comment was followed by some truly crazy driving - driving on the shoulder and cutting into rush hour traffic, tailgating, lots of honking. But we did make it there, in one piece, for the agreed price.
The flight was uneventful, and we arrived in Arequipa in mid-afternoon, where our prearranged taxi driver was waiting for us. We stayed at a hostel run by a lovely Peruvian family, called Amazing Home Hostel. It is quite new, so doesn't have a huge following yet, but we chose it because the Hostelworld reviews were good and it was in a good location, easy walking distance from the main plaza, but in a nice, quite plaza, which made for peaceful sleeps. Alex, the owner of the hostel was lovely, and was willing to whatever we needed to make our stay perfect. He told us that he worked as a tour guide, leading tours in to the Colca Canyon for 10 years, but has now taken on the 2nd job running the hostel to earn extra money for his family, including his young daughter. Alex really wanted to make sure we were
happy with the room we had booked, he seemed confused that we wanted a double room - we noticed in the computer system that the room we chose was called a "matrimonial suite" - we had a good laugh at that, and assured him it was fine.
We decided to use the rest of our afternoon to explore the centre of the city. Arequipa has quite a small city centre, but the entire city sprawls out quite far, up into the hills. The elevation is about 2000m in Arequipa, so that was helpful for us to acclimatize en route to Cusco, which is 1000m higher. There is an amazing monastery which has been well preserved in the centre. This monastery was home to nuns from about the 1500s to the mid-1900s. The Monasario Santa Catalina has only been open to the public since 1970. It is an amazingly beautiful, well preserved sight, and actually is a small village within the city. The nuns were basically never allowed to leave the monastery, so they had all the amenities they needed including a large communal kitchen, grand dining hall, chapels (of course), beautiful gardens and fountains and solitary accommodations (yikes). It
really did illustrate what life was like for these nuns living in the monastery - a bold life choice, indeed.
After our visit to the monastery, we found this charming little cafe, which made quite possibly the best fallafel I have ever had. Megan also had a delicious looking crepe, it was a welcomed meal after a tiring day. Following our lunch, we headed to the Plaza de Armas (all the main squares in the cities are given this name). We happened to be just in time for a Christmas celebration, which included a Peruvian band and a group of school children singing and dancing in traditional Andean dress. It seemed like the happening place to be on Saturday Dec 19, 2009.
That evening, we utilized Alex's expert advice to book a trek into the Colca Canyon. Treks can vary from 2-5 days, the main difference being the pace of the trekking. We chose a 2 day trek, which included a challenging first day of 7 hours of trekking and a second day with 3.5 hours of trekking and a trip to the hot springs in Chivay on the way back. We also decided that we were going
to take a night bus to Cusco upon returning from the trek, which Alex kindly arranged for us as well.
The next day we headed to a museum to see Juanita, a preserved body of an Inca girl, who was sacrificed by the Incas on the top of volcanic Mount Ampatu as an offering to the mountain gods. The tour was really well done, and was a good background for the Inca ruins we will be seeing on the Inca Trail.
The rest of the day was spent wandering and exploring, we went for a nice traditional dinner, I tried a Picso sour, Peru's signature national drink including egg whites! Actually quite tasty. We got to bed fairly early, as we needed to be up at 2:30am to leave on the trek the next day.
Day one in Colca Canyon included departing the hostel at 2:30am, meeting our tour guide Patricia and the rest of our group - a Colombian guy named Matteo, who had just finished his university degree and a middle-aged, somewhat pushy, aggressive Austrian woman named Lucia, who was also staying at our hostel. The bus ride to the canyon was about 3.5 hours. First
stop was a spot called Cruz del Condors, where Condor birds often perch. Condors are some of the largest birds in the world, second to the Albatross. Unfortunately, we didn't have too much luck sighting any - we did see one from a distance. We hopped back on the bus and drove about 1.5hours further to start the descent into the Canyon. The day's itinerary included hiking down into the canyon for 3.5 hours, crossing a bridge at the bottom, heading uphill for a short while, then trekking along flat ground to the first village where we would stop for lunch. It was midday and it was hot, prob at least 30 C. The scenery was absolutely amazing and we had chats with Matteo about everything from religion, politics, drug policy, to soccer and our favourite foods. At the bottom of the canyon, extreme fatigue and heat exhaustion started to set in. The situation has not helped by the 5-6kg bags we were carrying, the underestimation of the water we needed and the gastrointestinal distress I had been feeling for about an hour. The short, steep 10min uphill climb proved to be too much and I honesty thought it would be impossible. We did manage to make it up the steep pitch and after "leaving my mark on the Andes", I felt ready to continue the last leg before lunch. Food and about 1.5litres of water proved to be an amazing remedy, and we felt able to attempt the 3.5 hours of trekking we needed to do to make it to our base for the night. We could see if from high up in the canyon - it was a true oasis, lush green trees, sparkling blue pools. It was a good motivator to continue.
We did eventually make it to the Oasis, right on time, had a refreshing dip in the pool, and enjoyed a dinner prepared for us by our guide and settled into bed at about 8:30pm, to get enough rest for our 5am wake-up call to embark on the 3 hour uphill trek up the side of the canyon.
The next morning, we were ready to go at sunrise. Climbing without the heat factor made it infinitely easier, but don't get me wrong, it was still a huge challenge. Picture the Grouse Grind x3. Luckily, there was an option available to rent a donkey to carry our bags, Megan and I totally took this option to lighten the load by 5kg. After trekking halfway up the canyon, Megan was saved by a donkey, and rode in style up to the top! It was definitely a feeling of intense elation and accomplishment finally making in to the top. I couldn't wait for that trip to the hot springs on the way back! We had a hearty breakfast in Cabanacondor before heading back on a mini-bus. We made a stop on the way back at 4900m, the highest, drivable point in the canyon, which had an amazing view of several volcanos in the area.
Upon returning to Arequipa that evening, we had the pleasure of boarding a bus to Cusco. We almost didn't make it, as the bus station was an absolute madhouse and we were directed to the wrong terminal. Our limited Spanish made it difficult to be redirected to the correct spot, but we made it there and here we are! Most of our day today was spent sleeping, but we did manage to explore the main square in Cusco today and sort out the details of our trek to Machu Picchu. Tomorrow there will be a Christmas Eve celebration in the city, including a special market, with all kinds of treasures to buy. Should be fun! Hope you all have a wonderful holiday. Look for our next update including Cusco and Machu Picchu!
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Lian
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I want to hike!
Wow - you guys realy are doing detailed logs. I am not sure if I like the fact that I can really imagine being there - or if it just makes me more frustrated that I am not there. Haha. At least my calves and feet aren't burning from days of walking :) Well done on trying the local flavours Kara - thats the only way to travel! Whats the final story on Meg's bank card? silly girl. Keep living life to its fullest - warm wishes and have a great New Year. Can't wait to hear the next stories :)