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Published: August 10th 2012
Our bus from Cusco was pretty uneventful and we arrived in Arequipa at sparrow farts in the morning and got dropped off at the main Plaza, to grab some much needed breakfast before finding our hostel. We didn’t think they would appreciate a 6:30 check in!
Arequipa wasn’t in our original plans but, after a few recommendations from fellow travelers, we were keen to check out the popular Colca Canyon and see the beautiful Condor birds from the canyon walls.
Before setting out on the trek we pottered around town for 2 days, regaining our energy and taking in the awesome scenery! The city is surrounded by a group of volcanoes, some dormant and some quite active. El Misti dominates the skyline with its symmetrical cone and little white snowcap. I was truly in awe, as these were the first volcanoes I had ever seen!
Arequipa is a beautiful town, built with white volcanic rock (sillar) that gives the town a distinctive look. It is also very Spanish in its architecture, with cobbled streets, beautiful arches and massive wooden doors. We enjoyed wondering around the streets and found an awesome little lunch spot, which we frequented everyday!
We visited a popular museum (I finally convinced James to visit a museum with me -our first one of the trip!) which tells the story of Juanita – the Ice Maiden, a young teenager who was sacrificed on Mount Ampato (a volcano), to the Inca gods during the mid 1400’s. She was only discovered in 1995, and what makes it remarkable is that the body was still completely frozen and well preserved. However, the poor girl came to violent end as she had a concoction of corn beer and coca in her stomach (a typical drug brew of the 1400’s) and radiologists concluded that she was killed by blunt force trauma to the head. The guide led us through various exhibits of her garments and ornaments that were found with her, and finally ushered us through to the last room. In it was a display unit, and inside was Juanita – still meticulously frozen. Wow, another first, we’ve seen a frozen body!
The next day we ventured out rafting! Just 20 minutes outside of town, the Chili River is much smaller and shorter than the Zambezi we had rafted a few years ago! It was still a fun morning
out and we enjoyed the smaller grade 3 & 4 rapids. The water was also a whole lot colder, even with wetsuits, so I was very grateful that I didn’t get flipped out the raft!
We had contemplated doing just a 2 day trip to the canyon but had heard that with a 3am morning pickup and a very jam-packed trip, it was a bit intense and very superficial. So we booked a 3 day, 2 night tour, with the highly recommended Colca Trek.
The first day saw us; our travel companions and our guide ascend to our personal highest point to date - 4900m, where we got spectacular views of the surrounding volcanoes and the distant snowy Andes. We were fortunate enough to spot wild Vicunas – the cousin to the domesticated Alpaca and Llama. From afar, they look like Springboks! Too cute. Our guide was super informative and it was interesting finally learning the differences between the 3 camelids and their history with the Andean people.
We drove through the Colca Valley, which has some of the oldest pre-Inca terracing and after a view more stops for site-seeing and visits to unusual pre-Inca tombs in
the side of the mountain, we ended the day in Cobanaconde town, just above the canyon. We stayed in a terrific hotel, which for us was a complete treat and had a delicious meal, accompanied by some pisco sours!
The second day we trekked into the canyon, with countless zigzagging steps we descended 1000m, in 3km! The serious motivating factor was the lush green natural Oasis at the bottom of the valley, and its sparkling cold rock pools! By the time we had finished the slog in, our knees were shaking and our stomachs grumbling. The swim was fantastically refreshing and lunch, prepared by our guide, was first-class! The rest of the afternoon was spent chilling by the poolside and by night time we were very ready to climb into our tents!
The last day was a very early start. At 4:30am we were treated to dulce de leche and banana pancakes (!!YUMMY!!), once again prepared by our guide. This meant we could start the ascent before sunrise and be finished in the cool of the morning. We slowly made our way up the gazillion stairs and watched a beautiful sun rise over the valley. We arrived at
the top, took a moment to catch our breath, and gazed down into the valley and oasis, baffled at how far we had come!
We stopped at the popular Condor cross, to see the massive Condors catching the morning thermals. We nudged our way through the hundreds of other people and found a spot on the edge to catch a glimpse of 2 pairs glide right past us. These birds are part of the vulture family and are the biggest flying birds, with a wingspan of about 3m! Afterwards we visited the local hot springs (nice blue water!) and wolfed down a scrumptious buffet lunch.
The rest of the day was pretty much spent in the kombi, on our way to Puno on Lake Titicaca (our last stop in Peru). The drive was spectacular as it wound its way through the highlands with rolling grassland hills, dotted with the occasional Alpaca and rural village.
We got into Puno after dark and were dropped off on the corner of what we thought was our hostel road. Turns out, our guide book was a tad out of date! After walking around a bit and finally heading into a tourist
kiosk, who phoned the local directory, we learnt that the hostel had moved a few blocks up the hill! After a little slog up the hill, we staggered into the hostel, which was more like a hotel and were glad to finally call it a day!
We stayed in Puno an extra day to give us time to sort out our visa at the Bolivian embassy. We should have probably sorted this out in SA before we left, but after doing the research we were convinced that it would be easy enough to obtain at the border. However, there is so much conflicting information on the internet and the Bolivian website doesn’t give us much information on what is needed for the visa, we decided we'd play it safe and get it before!
Next stop, Bolivia!
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TJ
non-member comment
WOW
Every time i read your blog, your trip gets more and more intriguing and beautiful. I can't wait to read more!! <3