70 day itch

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Kyle

It’s said that at the 7 year mark most relationships go through a phase of re-evaluating their commitment; questioning what they have got themselves into. Obviously Tahlei and I never had this problem. However, in travel terms, we started feeling these sentiments about our current trip around a week ago. We were 70 days in and starting to feel a little tired of traveling. Had we bitten off more than we could chew by committing ourselves to five and a half months of none-stop travel? It didn’t help that at this point in time we found ourselves at possibly the worst place on our trip so far - Nazca.

Everyone knows Nazca for its huge ancient geoglyphs created on the floor of the desert in the form of monkeys, hummingbirds and condors to name a few. However we will forever remember it as a scorching, overpriced dustbowl.
When we got off the bus we were immediately confronted by several touts trying to get us to stay at their hostals or book scenic flights through them. We looked at a few different hostals before finally deciding to stay at Hostal Mirador on the Plaza de Armas. This hostal was far from good, but it was the best on offer as the hotels in Nazca are either grossly over-priced for what you get, or the rooms are dark concrete cells.

Most people take a scenic flight to best view the Nazca Lines. We didn’t have the money or stomach for this (our guidebook suggests to not eat anything before the flight as it’s incredibly bumpy and people can become sick very easily). The other option to view the Lines is by going to the mirador a few kilometers out of Nazca itself. We passed the mirador on the way into town as The Pan-American Highway cuts through some of the lines; so we were able to get a quick glimpse of the view on offer. It didn’t look all that great so we decided against getting a taxi out there.

With these two options abandoned, the only other thing left to do in Nazca was go to the Maria Reiche Planetarium. The planetarium is in the grounds of the Hotel Nazca Lines and costs about $12 per person. They have lectures each night explaining the different theories as to why the Nazca Lines were created. The planetarium takes its name from a German mathematician who dedicated her life to the study and preservation of the lines. She believed the lines were a representation of certain star constellations and could be used to calculate the summer and winter solstices. We thought her theory was a bit of a stretch as if you stare at the stars for long enough you can make any form or representation you want. What’s more, there are so many lines criss-crossing the desert that at least one of them is going to point to the spot on the horizon where the sun sets on the solstice. I thought the theory of the lines indicating subterranean water channels was more likely. After the lecture they allow you to peer through a powerful telescope at our moon, Jupiter and its moons, and a few constellations. Unfortunately we had the only cloudy night they’d had in September. Overall it was very interesting and we’d highly recommend it.

From Nazca we had a ten hour bus ride to the city of Arequipa. Our spirits were quite low as we hadn’t really enjoyed Nazca and we were completely sick and tired of buses. I can’t express how fed up we were (and still are, I guess) of bus travel. We have easily spent over a week on buses so far. After South America I hope never to take a bus again.

Luckily Arequipa is a beautiful city and helped re-invigorate our spirits and return our desire to travel. The city is at the foot of El Misti volcano, with the Chachani and Pichu Pichu volcanoes also in view. The old centre is full of fine-looking colonial buildings made of sillar, which is a white volcanic rock mined in quarries around Arequipa. Also scattered around the colonial centre are many attractive baroque churches. The Plaza de Armas is one of the most stunning main plazas I’ve ever seen. It could easily be set in any European city - surrounded on three sides by two story arched walkways and the large Cathedral on the other side.

Half a block away from the plaza we found Los Andes B&B, a great budget option in the centre of town. The first couple of nights we had a room with shared bath which was comfortable, quiet and cheap. The following couple of nights we were forced to upgrade to a private bath as all the cheaper rooms were booked out. We weren't complaining though as from our bed we had a view of El Misti and the Plaza de Armas.

Unfortunately on our second day in Arequipa Tahlei came away worse for wear after having ceviche and chicha in the local market. Ceviche is raw fish in lemon juice and onion, and chicha is a local drink of varying quality (it depends on whether they use mineral water or just tap water); so it was no real surprise that she fell ill. She was in a pretty bad way and had to take it easy for a few days. This meant I had to walk around sightseeing on my own for a couple of days; something I’m not used to as I rely heavily on Tahlei for most decision-making and pretty much all the planning. But I survived.

After a day of walking around the old centre admiring the colonial architecture I decided to visit the Monasterio de Santa Catalina by night. It only opens its doors of a nighttime on Tuesdays and Thursdays - with all of the cloisters, cells, chapels and streets lit up with candles and lanterns. The Monasterio de Santa Catalina is a convent built in 1580 and is often referred to as a city within a city; this is because the high exterior walls hide behind them a labrynth of cobblestone streets, between brightly coloured buildings, opening on to quaint little plazas and tranquil cloisters. All of the streets are named after Spanish cities - Sevilla, Granada, Toldeo, Cordoba, Malaga and Burgos.

Winding through the narrow streets and trying to navigate your way through the old living quarters of the nuns was quite spooky at night. The flickering candles can create some strange silhouettes on the walls. What made it worse is that there were very few other people walking around the convent grounds at that time. They also had all of the old clay stoves lit to keep you warm, and when the the embers cracked now and then I must admit I jumped from fright.

In order for Tahlei to see Arequipa's centrepiece we returned the next day to see the convent during the day time. There was a different atmosphere in the light of day with more tourists and the feeling more of walking through a musem than stepping back in time. However there were more rooms open for viewing and it was better for taking photos. Some of my favourite parts were the cavernous kitchen and the clay pot laundry. I must have really enjoyed it as I paid the $12 entry fee twice. It truly has been one of the most remarkable sights of our trip so far.

Also on my own I visited the Monestario de La Recoleta. It's much less visited as it is out of the centre and across the Rio Chili, but definitely worth a visit. It's also a cloistered convent that has been converted into a museum. They covered all bases with their exhibitions - pre-colombian, amazonian, religious art and a library full of antique books. One of the highlights was the remarkably well-preserved mummified remains of an ancient peoples found in the area. The stuffed animals in the amazonian exhibition were also quite striking. I was the only gringo tourist present, which the local school children on an excursion found quite amusing. I think they took more photos of me than the mummies.

Our own excursion that we were really looking forward to was a couple of days camping in the Colca Canyon. The Colca is more than twice as deep as the so called Grand Canyon, at 4,160 metres deep at its deepest point. We stocked up on food and water and were delighted at the prospect of finally using the three kilogram tent that I've been lugging around for two and a half months. We took a slow six hour bus to Cabanaconde, the furthest town in the canyon that you can take a bus to. One part of the journey we were joined on the bus by two llamas - they sat up the front near the driver which can't be safe. We stayed the night in Hostel Pachamama, which is a very family run affair, with one son running the hostel while another was cheffing in the kitchen with his own son strapped to his back. This obviously didn't affect his ability to cook as he prepared me a mouth watering alpaca steak that Tahlei could only stare at enviously as she was still feeling the affects of her illness.

It became apparent that night that Tahlei wasn't up to the proposed two hour walk down to the camping spots at the bottom of the canyon, let alone the five hour trek back up. We were forced to return to Arequipa and the tent remains unused. At least we managed to walk to a mirador and gaze down into the canyon, catching a quick glimpse of a condor riding the thermals. Tahlei also appreciated the women of the canyon in their traditional dress, particularly their embroidered hats. On the bus on the way back to Arequipa we got to enjoy the view of the pre-Incan terracing that is still in use along the length of the canyon.

Back in Arequipa we stayed one final night, this time at Hostal La Reyna. It was a very cheap option - the price was not a reflection of the room, the view or the rooftop terrace overlooking the convent, but it was definitely a reflection of the state of the shared bathroom, which may not have been cleaned since pre-Incan times.

Arequipa was exactly what we needed, Tahlei's illness notwithstanding. We had six days to relax and recharge in beautiful surroundings. Now we are prepared to continue with our journey - we still have a long way to go.

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Photos

The silent patio
in the convent

One of the narrow streets
either sevilla, malaga, cordoba, granada or burgos... some spanish town.

Comments

[Patrick Stewart]

Loving the blog guys, great work. Hope you are having a great time on your travels - experience of a lifetime hey. So when will you be back in OZ - I will have to come over to Newcastle to catch up. ps