Arequipa

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We've got a bit behind in this blog so here is some catching up.

We caught an overnight bus from Nasca to Arequipa, a bit of back tracking. We booked into a Hostel called Home Sweet Home, it was in a nice quiet part of town. Arequipa is the 2nd largest city in Peru and is called the White City because most of the big buildings are made of volcanic stone that is whitish. The main plaza in town is surrounded by
large arched walkways on 3 sides and a large church on the other.

We visited the Museo Santuarios Andinos, a Museum holding artifacts and Juanita, the Ice Princess - a frozen Inca maiden who was sacrificed over 500 years ago on the top of Mt Ampato (6288 metres). Children were sacrificed to appease the Gods. It would have been hard enough walking there without knowing you going to be killed at the end. She had all her ceremonial clothes and artifacts on display as well.

Paul booked a trip for the next day to the Colca Canyon. This is the deepest canyon in the world. He got up early to catch the bus. What a bus trip - 5 and a half hours of bumpy winding roads through ancient villages, picking up people until the bus was bursting at the seams. Still more people kept getting on board. The bus had no springs or suspension of any type. Getting off was difficult because by this time, the bum had gone numb. Pack on and away down this huge canyon. People lived down the bottom of the canyon and you could see the houses from the top. Everything was transported down a very narrow winding path by donkey.It took three hours to walk to the bottom and on the way down we passed donkeys and people walking up. One lady had three donkeys loaded up, one with a child on and a child on her back and she was wearing sandals. We all had boots, packs, and sweating going downhill. This was about 5 pm in the afternoon. The group stayed the night at a very basic lodge and had llama for tea. Tasted like wild boar who had been chased a few kilometers.
The next morning, up early to walk to the next village, three hours away. The villages are very indigenous, on the way, called into a home made working museum, it showed us how hard life is down there. They showed us grinding wheat into flour, all the different fruit and vegetable they grow, plus dried meat for the winter. You could buy anything down there at 10 times the price in town. We stopped off at an oasis and had lunch and a break for 2 hours then the big climb out. While we were waiting at the oasis, we could hear and see them blowing some of the corners off the track. The uphill climb was steep at hell and nearly did Paul in. 2 and a half hours up and still left a few younger people in his wake. He was absolutely stuffed and could hardly eat tea.
Next morning up early to catch a bus to see the condors. Paul saw condors up close, soaring a round and spent about two hours there. Caught the next bus back to town. Another ass numbing trip.

Josie did very interesting things while Paul was out sweating. I visited convents and monastaries. Monasterio de Santa Catalina takes a very large city block, fully walled off and still has a few nuns living in a secluded part of the complex. The part that is open to the public is like a mini town with streets and small houses, church and lovely pathways. Some of the cloisters had fruit trees and water fountains and was very beautiful. This was a place for the rich and they had personal slaves or maids. I enjoyed walking around town and visiting other similar places.

We bused onto Cuzco.

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