Blogs from Arequipa, Peru, South America - page 104

Arequipa and the vicinity were good to us for nearly three weeks, especially coming back from Puno, all that good oxygen in the air and a sun that actually seemed to warm things up... but it was time to be off. We needed to make it back to Lima before the Independence Holiday of the 28th of July. We´re told that during the days around the holiday prices double or triple on transportation and accomodation. Papou, who seems to be our guardian angel in Lima, has once again offered her home to us for the weekend. We arrived in Lima this morning after a 14 hour bus ride north. I can´t tell you how good it is to have a familiar, safe place to wash and relax after that. During our last days in Arequipa we ... read more

I planned one morning in Puno to visit Lake Titicaca´s top attraction, the Islas Flotantes or Floating Islands; since the time of the Incas the Uros tribe has avoided confrontation by living on thick interwoven beds of totora reeds some distance from the lakeshore, from this amazing semi-edible plant they also make their homes and their boats. During the tour we were taken to two of the islands and were given free time to wonder around, the ground was very springy and it was quite difficult to shake the suspicion of an imminent collapse. My favorite snippet of information was that when one island was having a family feud the two opposing sides would simply chop the island in half and float their separate ways, quite a neat solution I thought. The islands must be quite ... read more

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For the last three days we have been hiking around in Colca Canyon, near Arequipa. Colca is the second deepest canyon in the world, with the first deepest about 12 hours from here, apparently. After the bus ride to Colca, I think I´ll be skipping that one. The bus took 5 hours first stopping in Chivay and then continuing to Cabanaconde. Some of the road was paved. Before we left someone (Denise for those of you who know her) told us that on her honeymoon she and Alfredo went there and that she drove for half an hour on a flat tire without realizing it. I can now see how something like that can happen. By the time we reached Cabanaconde I had pretty much the worst headache ever. I couldn´t eat, and for me that´s ... read more

First off, I owe Martina an apology- I had no idea that we´d be hiking El Misti at 1:30 in the morning in -7 degree celcius weather and her toes seem to be recovering quite nicely. But here´s the entire story. We were picked up by our guide, Roy, at 8:30 in the morning and Colca Trek, the company where we booked the tour came through as promised- they brought us sleeping bags, warm pants and a tent. There was only one other person on the trek, Nicholas from Quebec. We arrived at the base of the mountain (actually, a volcano that is active- you can smell the sulfur- but it hasn´t erupted in pver 1000 years) at 3400 meters and hiked up to our base camp at 4400 meters. Martina and I had no trouble, ... read more