Advertisement
Published: December 4th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Arequipa, Peru
Plaza de Armas. We arrived in Arequipa at 7am on Nov. 30th and checked into the ´Hostal Su Majestad´. It is a really nice hostel and we couldn´t believe we got our room for half the normal price - must be because it is low season. The city was appealing to us however we were unable to see anything other than the Plaza de Armas because Braeden was sick in bed the whole first day and me the second day - we figure it was the change in altitude that did us in. Fortunately we had booked our trip to the Colca Canyon for our 3rd day so were feeling much better by the time we had to board the bus.
*Correction from last blog: The Colca Canyon is not the largest canyon in the world. According to the Lonely Planet, ¨One of the world´s deepest canyons at 3191m, Colca ranks second only to neighboring Canon del Cotahuasi, which is all of 163m deeper.¨
The bus to the Canyon picked us up at 8am and we drove for 5 hours to the small town of Chivay where we had lunch and spent the night. On our way there, we made several stops
to check out old towns, churches, landscapes, Alpacas, etc. In the afternoon we were taken to the hot springs but instead of going in the water (which reeked of raw sewage), Braeden and I decided to climb up the side of a small mountain and explore - a much better decision as we got some amazing pictures. While there, Braeden decided to climb up on a large rock which backed onto a massive cliff so we could get a picture. It turned out good but he got a cactus needle in his foot and wasn´t able to get it out so he is currently in a little bit of pain. Hopefully it will work itself out. Following the hot springs we were taken to a restaurant where we ate dinner and were entertained with traditional Peruvian music and dance (quite pricey and disappointing - definitely a tourist trap).
The next morning we woke up at 5:30am and boarded the bus at 6am. The drive through the Colca Valley was beautiful but a little rough and dusty. We stopped in the tiny town of Maca as well as a few other small destinations along the way to take pictures. Once
Colca Canyon Tour
A church in Chivay. we arrived at the Colca Canyon, most of us got off the bus and hiked for 30 minutes to get the best views possible. (I don´t understand people who pay to go on a tour but never want to leave the bus). The Canyon was beautiful and extremely deep. Braeden and I decided to break away from the group so he could climb another dangerous rock/cliff. We took some really good pictures but got in trouble from the security guard who wasn´t pleased with his actions at all. For once being a foreigner and claiming not to know any Spanish payed off. All we kept saying was ¨Lo siento, no hablo español. No entiendo. No mas.¨ He wanted to know who our guide was but we pretended we didn´t understand so finally he just let us go. (I have posted 2 pics of Braeden but you have to look hard to find him - he´s the tiny white dot in the middle. I couldn´t zoom in too far as it took away from the depth of the Canyon and where he was standing).
On our way back to Arequipa we stopped again to have lunch in Chivay then drove
the remaining 3.5 hours to the city. Everyone was pretty tired and silent which was a nice change but the nasty combination of bad breath, body odour and flatulence on that small, 19-passenger bus was overwhelming. We were very happy to be back in Arequipa - that was until we realized that the entire city had run out of water so no one could shower or flush toilets. Feeling gross we managed a spot-wash with bottled water in the hostel´s public washroom then headed to the bus station to catch the 8pm overnight bus to Cuzco.
We will be in Cuzco from the 4th until sometime after the 19th as we hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu Dec. 14-19.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.085s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 8; qc: 54; dbt: 0.0487s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Christie Carr
non-member comment
Where is Waldo! "Braeden"
Um is he on the ladies butt?