Advertisement
Published: August 25th 2011
Edit Blog Post
Misti Volcano and Chili River
Arequipa...the mountain wasn't misty but the river was chilly We left Huacachina an hour late on a Cruz del Sur bus...what luxury! Seats recline way back and there are leg rests. We were upstairs in economy, second from front and on the ocean side so I had a very good view of the edge of the road literally at the edge of the cliff 100m above the crashing waves....must be why we travel at night....can´t see the dangers. We were served dinner and breakfast, a la airlines and in flight entertainment included music, DVD on destination and surrounds and movie (with English subtitles)
Our speed was displayed above the big front window and beeped if it went over 90kph (that happened about 6 times, lasting a couple of minutes, maximum, on the 10 hour journey) Generally we averaged 40-50kph, dropping to 25 and sometimes staying around 75-80, as the road continually wound through the desert, along the cliff tops or zig-zagged around the deep gorges. Occasionally we overtook other busses and trucks at 40kph.
As morning broke we were heading east and climbing up to over 2000m, still in desert. Ahead, snow capped volcanoes released their melt water into tumbling streams. Crops flourished in the irrigated fields beside
the road and new fields were being laid out in the sand.
At around 2300m, Areguipa is a city of churches and monasteries. Our hotel apparently, was the residence of one of the bishops. It is old and rambling, rooms are large with thick stone walls and curved brick ceilings and a modern bathroom broken through the end wall. The walk to our room is about 100m from the front entrance, past court yards, gardens and through arched hallways. Streets are narrow and paved in stone. You almost need to look into doorways to see if it´s a shop and what type it is.
We´ve tried the local food and drink. Pisco Sour, alpaca and cuy, aka guinea pig. Eating them won´t take on in Aus....these not much meat on them, though it was more tender than the alpaca.
Breakfasts, as always, consist of fresh juices, usually pawpaw, pineaple and orange, a variety of cereals and yogharts, the dry flat Peruvian buns, rock hard butter (because it's cold), jams, ham and cheese, usually scrambled eggs, coffee and a range of teas and a bowl of coca leaves. We usually ate so much for breakfast, we only needed
a small snack for lunch, if any.
The town is dominated by Misti Volcano, one of three that overlook it. It has also been destroyed several times by large earthquakes, some damage being still evident. They have up to 10 tremors/day, not that I or anyone else noticed. An old arched stone bridge crosses the Chili River that divides the town, which is a mixture of old colonial from the wealthy past, new red brick boxes of the poor on the steep hills and a large variety of crops on the Inca terraces.
We toured on foot and by double decker bus and got to see a wide variety of stuff. Even avoided being spat at by the guanaca, a type of llama, when visiting the Llama Zoo.
One of the main attractions here is the 400yo Santa Catalina Convent, which was restored after the 2001 earthquake and open to the public in 2007. About 40 nuns still live there but in more modern accommodation. The nuns of old lived in small apartments, often with servants and never came outside. After seeing their "cells", we recognised our hotel room.
Another very interesting museum is the one
about Juanita, a child sacrificed by the Inca to their volcano gods, in a vain attempt to pacify them. She was one of many children sacrificed on the mountains all over South America. These often noble children started in Cusco and walked on a 3-8 month journey, climbed the volcano in sandals, had their skulls smashed in and were buried in a pit near the summit.
From Arequipa we joined a small tour to Colca Canyon to see the famous condors. We had to live out of a day pack for this overnight trip.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.077s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 7; qc: 47; dbt: 0.0438s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb