Blogs from Arequipa, Peru, South America - page 13

Geo: -16.39, -71.53Our trip out of the jungle involved the walk in the pouring rain, the boat ride, the minibus trip, 3 take offs and landings (Puerto Moldanado to Cuzco to Juliaca to Arequipa) and another minibus to deliver us to our hotel only a few metres from the central square - the most beautiful in Peru, surrounded by arcades, lots of palm trees, a lovely fountain, a cathedral, all reeking of spanish colonial.We ate on the upper level of one of the arcades and watched the coming and going in the square below, at one point we became aware of some very loud tinny music and when we looked over the edge we saw it was coming from a rubbish truck advertising its presence in much the same way as ice cream vans do at ... read more

I arrived in Arequipa at 6.30am via an Olturso night bus from Cusco and immediately started to feel ill with sickness and stomach pains. Unfortunately this put paid to doing too much here and certainly put the idea of treking up to Colca Canyon to see the Condors (large birds) on hold. In 36 hours all I really managed to achieve was briefly wander around town to take in some of the colonial architecture, visit the Santa Catalina Monastery and find a nice hotel room to hole up in for 24 hours of watching subtitled American TV, movies and sleeping. The Monastery was really impressive and is unsurprisingly referred to as a City within a City given its size and number of buildings. The bright red and blue walled complex features Squares, Streets, Orchards / Orange ... read more

Arequipa, Peru Arequipa Is an important industrial and commercial centre of Peru. The city was a settlement before the Spanish founded the city in the 1540 and over 3 centuries it was a faithful follower to Spain. The city is located at an attitude of 2328 metres above sea level with an almost constant summer climate with blue skies which gives its nickname of the city of "Eternal blue sky". The river Chili crosses the centre part of the city from north to south, and the valley of Arequipa is also protected to the north and east by the Andes mountain range. The snow capped volcanic mountains Misti and Pichu Pichu Chachani surround the city, the rugged ground of the city is covered with a thick layer' of volcanic lava. The city was originally built in ... read more

When you meet other backpackers coming in the opposite direction to you there are a few places that they insist that "you have to go to." Now, like all people, nothing makes me more resistant to an idea than someone telling me I must do it, but in the case of the Colca Canyon it is a good thing that I'm able to overcome my natural instincts. The canyon is the second deepest in the world (the Grand Canyon has got nothing on it, sorry America) and is only surpassed by it's neighbour, the Cotahuasi Canyon. You can do organised tours through the canyon, but why do that when you can just as easily do it yourself? There is little of interest in Cabanaconde, although we did climb a 700m peak which was more of an ... read more

Colca canyon Die bussie moet ons tussen 7:30 en 8:00 kom optel. 8:05 wil ons die toer mense bel om te hoor of hulle miskien van ons vergeet het. Toe ons die booking vir die ou by ontvangs wys en vra dat hy hulle moet bel , was sy reaksie in gebroke engels: "No, not late, that is normal" 8:10 het hulle ons toe kom optel in 'n heel verbasende ordentelke bussie (Mercedes bussie) Die toergids het sommer dadelik oor altitude sickness begin verduidelik, en hoekom coca leaves kan help daarvoor...iets met alkoliedes uit te waai. Ons stop toe by 'n kleinwinkeltjie, en stock op met coca leaves, coca sweeties en mineraal water, reg vir die aksie!So teen 3500m het ons die coca leaves begin kou, jy moet 25blare op 'n slag kou, anders he... read more