Arequipa and Colca Canyon

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Mid March: Arrive in Arequipa in South West Peru mid afternoon and head to a hostal recommended by a couple of Americans we met on the tour in Puno. We´re paying what we think is around $15 for a beautiful room and the hostal is more like a resort complete with nice restaurant, swimming pool and anything else you could need. We get a bit suspicious of the price when first the room is by far the nicest we´ve been in and then we see families lying around the pool. After much deliberation as to whether these Yanks would send us to a place that was $45 instead of 45 Soles we decide to head to reception to sort out the price. As with most things it was too good to be true and it´s actually $45 per night. Seems the Yanks were on a different budget to us but they were also only holidaying for 3 weeks. $45 is around our budget for 4-5 nights accomodation.

That evening we have a quick look around Arequipa and it turns out to be the nicest city we have visited to date, with beautiful buildings constructed from a white volcanic stone found in the surrounding hills, cobble stoned streets and a spectacular central plaza. All this is overlooked by the volcano Misti and the 6000m snow capped peak of Chachani. While out looking around we drop into a few more hostals and decide on one with a nice big clean room and hot shower(what more do you need, never used that pool anyway) for around $13 including breakfast.

That night we have the best nights sleep imaginable (what a bed, worth every penny) and the next morning we attempt to eat $45 worth of buffet breakfast before heading to our new abode down the road. After check in, we head to one of the main attractions in town, the Santa Catalina Convent. Yes another convent. I think Niamh might be ready for ordination by the time we get back home. This place is basically a walled village within a city and takes up a whole block of Arequipa.

Time for a little Wikipedia to save me bullshitting on: The founder of the monastery was a rich widow, Maria de Guzman. The tradition of the time indicated that the second son or daughter of a family would enter religious service, and the convent accepted only women from high-class Spanish families. Each nun at Santa Catalina had between one and four servants or slaves, and the nuns invited musicians to perform in the convent, gave parties and generally lived a lavish lifestyle. Each family paid a dowry at their daughter's entrance to the convent, and the dowry owed to gain the highest status, indicated by wearing a black veil, was 2,400 silver coins, equivalent to US$50,000 today. The nuns were also required to bring 25 listed items, including a statue, a painting, a lamp and clothes. The wealthiest nuns brought fine English china and silk curtains and rugs. In 1871 Sister Josefa Cadena, a strict Dominican nun (boo, my edit), was sent by Pope Pius IX to reform the monastery. She sent the rich dowries back to Europe, and freed all the servants and slaves, giving them the choice of remaining as nuns or leaving. In addition to the stories of outrageous wealth, they made there own wine (for themselves not the mass wine more commonly associated with convents) and there are tales of nuns becoming pregnant.

Fun times for all and a great place to pass a few hours. After that we head to the only Irish pub, Farrens, as it´s St Patricks day. Tiny little place and it all starts a bit slowly with only a handful of people in the place, but before we know where we are, we´re in a nightclub with a tour group made up of mostly Aussies and Irish.

Next day I missed breakfast which miraculously Niamh managed to make it up in time for. You wouldn´t want to miss a free meal. I didn´t manage to surface till after 4pm. After Niamh´s superhuman effort to get up for breakfast, she was sapped of all her energy and will to live, and didn´t manage to rise again till the next morning.

Next day and we just wander around enjoying the feeling of being alive again. We head to the bus station to book ourselves on a bus for 6am the next day to go to Colca Canyon.

After 6 hours we have manged to cover the hugh distance of 130 miles (that´ll give you an idea of the roads) and arrive in Cabanaconde in the Colca Canyon. We grab a quick bite to eat and a few chocolate bars to sustain us over the next few hours hiking and head off with map in hand for a 2 day hike. No problems to start with and we find the start of the trail and then start heading down into the canyon. This place is truely spectacular and is also the second deepest canyon in the world at twice the depth of the Grand Canyon. The deepest canyon is another few hours over dirt road from here but at 3500m deep is only about 100m deeper than Colca. About 3 hours later we make it to the Colca river at the bottom of the Canyon and then start the climb up the other side to the first village of San Juan De Chuaccho. We decide to push on to the next village to make tomorrow's hike easier and this is also when our map starts to let us down. Seems the German women who wrote our directions hasn´t bothered to do an update in the last 5 years and after retracing our steps 3 times we eventually come across a local women with her daughter and donkey in tow who sets us on the right path. Another 15 minutes or so later and Niamh is again unsure if I know where I´m going even though a local lad has sent us on this path to Coshinirwa. After much deliberation we start back towards San Juan. A few minutes later we come across a New Zealand couple, Ross and Jo, that we have passed a few times during the day and they succeed where I failed and convince Niamh that we´re on the right track. Always trust the stranger over your husband seems to be the first rule of orienteering. 15 mins later and we make it to a hanging bridge over a river and then climb for the next 30 mins up a seriously step hill to the village of Coshinirwa.

We check into the first place we come to with a lovely friendly family, most of whom are only visiting for Easter. This place is truely remote with the nearest village that has road access being the village we left 5 hours ago. Everything that they don´t grow or make themselves has to come in the same way we have with the help of donkeys. Despite all that we still can get a beer for a full 30c dearer than in Arequipa. They charge us a whopping $2.50 each for a bed, and dinner with a soup starter is the same price. Ok our room is pretty basic, with mud walls, dirt floor and windows sans glass, but we wouldn´t have questioned them if they said $10.

Next morning after our pancake breakfast we hit the road. The next hour and a half is a nice easy downhill trek to the Oasis. The Oasis is an area where they have beautiful spring fed swimming pools, that are a welcome relief from the hot sun and we chill here for a couple of hours. Then the real fun starts as we have to climb back out of the Canyon. The next 3 hours are straight up and we are only saved by the 2 women selling drinks and chocolate about a half hour from the top. By the time we reach the top my shirt comes complete with salt lines that I´m sure we could harvest in times of need. Another 15 mins and we are back in Cabanaconde, checked into our hostal and showered. Shortly after and I´m back out on the street for a game of football squares with a few local kids. That night we go to the local pizzeria for pizza and beer, all served by our host, Elvis the 13 year old. Classic kid. Dads in jail, and the guy who runs this place has taken him under his wing. He´s mad keen. If you order something , he runs for it, which he must of learned from his boss who is hyper and runs the hike we just did for fun every Saturday morning. Nutter. Anyhow after spending the evening helping Elvis with his English which he´s also mad keen to learn, it´s kisses and handshakes all round.

Next morning and it´s the 9am bus back to Arequipa. Unfortunately we weren´t on the bus that Niamh saw people lifting 2 Llamas into. We must have paid too much. I´ll only be happy with our South American experience when I´ve shared a bus with a Llama.

Easter Sunday and we head down to the markets to have a look around. Seems these people don´t have time to stop for mass as they struggle for survival, so while the market is in full flow a priest says mass from the balcony overlooking the market and it all ends with the traditional Easter Sunday fire crackers that send us ducking for cover.

In our last couple of hours in Arequipa we head to a museum and the start of the tour involves watching a short film about the Inca´s. I was sitting looking at the screen thinking I hope the whole film doesn´t shake this much, when one of the guides comes in and hurries us out to the safety of the courtyard. Seems we were in the middle of a minor earthquake/tremor type thing. Happens all the time around here. In fact one of the spires of the cathedral in the photos collapsed a few years ago after a quake.

Anyhow after longer than expected in Arequipa (Paddy´s day set us back a few days) we´re now off to Cuzco and Machu Pichu.

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Photos

Start of Colca Canyon Trek
That´s the village in the centre that we hiked too and spent the night.

Colca View
On the path out. You can just make out Coshnirwa village in the background.

Paddy´s Night
Wasn´t looking so happy the next day.

Coshnirwa Rustic Bedroom
Note window sans glass.

Traditional Dress in Colcan Canyon
The traditional dress in Colcan Canyon is even more colourful and intricate than elsewhere.

Fruit Stalls - Arequipa Markets
This is during the mass.

The Weigh In
Niamh getting weighed in Arequipa markets. They have these along the streets as well. Anything to make a living. Niamh was happy with the result but I think the scales were dodgy or else I´ve lost a stone and a half since we left Ireland.