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Blogs from Arequipa, Peru, South America - page 9
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January 22nd 2012
As it's understood we did not have access to the Internet or even phone because we were up in a canyon. The Colca canyon, which is even bigger than the Grand Canyon in the States. It's a really long way to reach it, imagine that we started at 8 in the morning and we reached the main town at 2 . Arequipa Arequipa andthe surrounding towns are build from volcanic ash, and it's needless to say that theyexploit it as. Est they can, the have their volcanic springs and even more they have a cementfactory that uses the white volcanic ash to produce their cement. This Factory is in Yura. Another interesting fact about Arequipa is that it was divided into 3 sub cities Arequipa and 2 others that were divided by Stradivari , namesakes are ... read more
January 22nd 2012
Well, just like that Christmas eve had snuck up on us and Arequipa was the place we decided to spend the holidays. We had trawled Hostelworld.com to find us a cool place to stay for the festive period and were highly recommended a place near the centre of Arequipa…perfect. We arrived at this Hostel early Christmas eve morning and were excited to see where we were to spend Christmas. We were shown to our room, and our cheery mood instantly changed to one of disappointment! The room we were due to spend Christmas in was literally in the entrance hall of the hostel and on top of this, it was dark, sparse, and had no windows what-so-ever! Certainly not the most Christmassy room we had ever seen! Straight away we knew we had to change Hostels. ... read more
Arequipa: It feels weird to breathe normally.
Published: January 22nd 2012South America » Peru » Arequipa » Arequipa
January 21st 2012
We have probably spent close to a week in Arequipa, with a short three day jaunt into Colca Canyon, one of the deepest canyons in the world. It has been an extremely interesting time in Arequipa. It took us about 7 hours on a bus to get from Puno to Arequipa. Warning, though the front of the second floor of the bus is awesome when it comes to views, it is burning hot with the sun. However, we arrived easily enough to Wild Rovers, the hostel chain that we stayed at in Cusco and now in Arequipa, though the taxi ride from the bus station to the hostel was terrifying. Signs, speed limits and lines on the road are just guidelines. The atmosphere here is always a great one! With a pool, bar, Irish themed restaurant ... read more
January 20th 2012
So off we go to the airport again but this time not in a limo, or at least a not expensive limo. It was a nice black car again not so shiny but for a third of the price we got when we had arrived in Lima. Beeing in the airport a little hungry and looking for a place to seat, we went to our good friend starbucks... Some yummy frapuccinos featured on the board and me trying to be spontaneous decided to have a frapuccino algarrobina.. Algarrobina does the name sound familiar??? Guessing not!! Well at that time it didn t ring any bell to me either untill I took the first sip and then I knew and made the association algarrobina=carob. Ew yiak, stef was making fun of me and asked me how I ... read more
Arequipa - the white washed city in the midst of volcanos!
Published: January 6th 2012South America » Peru » Arequipa
December 23rd 2011
After a short stay in Lake Titicaca, we boarded our bus to Arequipa. After reading about unsafe roads and sketchy bus rides (due to fluctations in altitude and windy roads), we decided to take a more expensive bus company - Cruz Del Sur. This company did not hold back on security measures. We were lined up, padded down, metal detected, bag searched, and video taped before, during and after boarding the bus. We thought to ourselves: hmm, this has to be the safest bus ride ever or the most dangerous situation we have ever put ourselves through. Although, we felt our personal belongings were safe, we were not sure how all the security measures would make the bumpy roads more safe... but on to more interestings things. We arrived safely in Arequipa. The climate was warmer ... read more
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December 21st 2011
Pick up from the hostel at 3am, the earliest start yet. We travelled for 3 hours through snow and thick fog that covered the mountain range surrounding Arequipa. Arriving at the entry point of the national park for another breakfast of bread and jam. You know what, I am so sick of bread and jam. Literally every breakfast since I left England has been bread and jam. Sometimes I am lucky and I get bread, jam AND butter. What also makes the breakfast hard to stomach is how sweet the bread is. In England I don´t really eat much bread NEVER white bread and here I have eaten my entire body weight plus in rank white bread. Anyway I have digressed slightly from the point here. Back in the minibus heading to the deepest part of ... read more
December 20th 2011
We arrived at Cusco bus terminal with 20 minutes to find a bus company with affordable seats available. We had already made the decision to go with a more expensive carrier as firstly the journey was another long over night one and secondly the road between Cusco and Arequipa is notoriously dangerous, especially when wet. A lot of buses have gone over the edge of the road with fatal outcomes. The bus companies were advertising how many buses had gone over the edge in the previous 12 months. Obviously the more expensive carriers have a lower number of buses lost. Another demon along this road is hijackers. The buses often get hijacked by men carrying guns and they rob everyone’s property onboard. There was one bus at the station that had gunshots through the front window ... read more
Descending into the World's Deepest Canyon; The Colca Canyon, Peru.
Published: December 8th 2011South America » Peru » Arequipa
December 8th 2011
So continuing on our theme of checking out the world’s highest this, or longest that; we decided to head to the word’s deepest canyon. The Colca Canyon is located in Peru, about three hours from Arequipa in the south. One of the main reasons that we went in that direction was to meet up with an old college mate of mine, Emma who lives there in the ‘White City’. This canyon is reportedly the deepest in the world, thought to be twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. The Canyon itself is quite different to the Grand Canyon both in geography and topography. Portions of the Colca Canyon are habitable, with pre-Colombian terraced fields still supporting agriculture and human life. It’s quite green, versus the drier, sandier Grand Canyon. Setting off early in the morning, Sarah ... read more
November 26th 2011
Hoi iedereen, het is even stil geweest rond ons maar dat heeft een goede reden :) We hebben een trekking gedaan van 3d/2n naar de Colca Cañon. Dit is de, op een na, diepste canyon ter wereld. En jaja dat heb ik gevoeld haha! Vooral ik had het moeilijk :) Na de eerste dag (de afdaling van de canyon) had ik al veel pijn. Mijn voeten vol blaren en veel last van mijn knieen door de stijle afdaling. Maar ik heb het gered, vooral dankzij onze geweldige gids!! We zijn ook naar de 'Cruz del Condor' geweest om condors (een van de grootste vogels te wereld) te spotten. Jammer genoeg hebben we bijna een uur gewacht voor niks.. Maar de volgende dagen hebben we wel (van ver) enkele van deze immense dieren kunnen bewonderen! Aan de ... read more
Colca Canyon to see the Condors
Published: December 1st 2011South America » Peru » Arequipa » Colca Canyon
November 23rd 2011
23.11.2011 Colca Canyon Up early, again, to try and see some condors. We went to Colca Canyon (apparently one of the deepest canyons) where we waited and waited for the condors. The condors are the second biggest flying bird (wingspan of about 3.2 meters) and up to the age of 100. As we got to the viewing point, our guide then informed us that it was nesting season so we might not see any!! Great. Pretty much a 2 day drive to not see anything! So we waited, and after an hour or so (baring in mind we only had about 2 hours until we had to go again) we eventually saw our first one. It started off at the bottom of the canyon, they followed the contours of the mountain, and slowly got higher and ... read more
