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Published: September 22nd 2012
One for the road at Gatwick
Nice to be seen off at the airport - but don't worry I am planning to come back!I've been in Peru for a week now and there is so much to tell, be warned this going to a long one. If you just want a summary:
Lima is a bit Croydon-like,
Arequipa is sunny and much nicer, I've seen some cool wildlife and the people are lovely 😊
The loooong version… Took my massive bags to Gatwick on the 14
th - 18kg and 8kg hand luggage – I really couldn’t carry any more. Dad and Ann saw me off at the airport which was nice and they gave me a travel companion Heamor the bear and some local currency - neuvo soles – also good travel companions 😊 Other very welcome presents that I have taken with me are socks (some with bananas on for the English eccentric look – thanks mum and Helen), water bottle, guide book and camera loan (thanks the Allens), health book (thanks Steve) diary (thanks Phyl) Cusco guide book (thanks Isabel) and binoculars etc (thanks to BioRegional whip round vouchers). So packed and ready to go!
So I took my budget Air Europa flight to Lima via Madrid – cramped with lame-o in-flight entertainment. Everyone on the plane was
Sexy statue
The statue in Lima's garden of love - it certainly inspired the locals: there was a bride and groom having a photo sesh and an amorous couple getting it on chilled though and just went to sleep; no holiday louts like in the UK. I attempted a first conversation in Spanish with the Spanish guy in the seat next to me with some success! At immigration in Lima I also managed to convince the officer to give me a 6 month tourist visa, so I’m feeling like those Spanish lessons are paying off.
I have read so much on the web about tourist horror stories that when I walked out alone into the Lima airport reception with all the taxi drivers and co. I felt like I had a big sign over my head saying ‘please rob/kidnap me etc.’ After hiding in an airport cafe until I felt it was safe to venture out I found a trustworthy looking taxi driver. He was by a company stand and was wearing an ID lanyard and turned out to be a nice guy. He played Mexican music as we went through the infamous Lima traffic. There are so many taxis, many of them beaten up from the daily bumper car style of driving. It was hairy and noisy as they just love their horns. Beep if you don’t like someone’s driving,
Delores on parade
Saint Delores takes a ride through the town square beep to say hi, honk if you see a girl, honk just because… I saw two road accidents in just two days, they weren’t that bad though as the congested traffic can’t move faster than 20mph.
The weather in Lima is not that great, well it’s warm but for most of the year there’s 100%!c(MISSING)loud - not what you come to South America for. My hostel was fine (
Pariwana) with lots of well-travelled folk sharing good advice. I went out to experience the night life in the miraflores area with some of them which was pretty lively. But for sleep, forget it. The hostel is next to a roundabout – a major honking area. I went to the
MALI art gallery to see an exhibition by
Carlos Baca Flor – as far as I can tell he is Peru’s answer to Michael Angelo and his paintings are pretty amazing. Also had my first Inca Cola, a very popular though possibly radioactive drink. On the Sunday Lima was much more chilled as Peruvians are pretty big on Catholicism. I went to the main square – Plaza de Armas (every town has one), where there was a Catholic procession taking place. Maybe this happens
Inca Cola
Looks like toxic waste, tastes like tizer in most Catholic countries on a Sunday but it’s the first I’ve seen. It’s a solemn affair, and lots of Limeňas turn out to watch. The saint (this time Saint Delores – the lady of our sorrows) was taken from the church and carried on a platform, a band plays behind and women wearing lace and carrying incense lead the procession. People bring their babies to hold up in front of the saint to bless them, and others cross themselves as the saint is carried by.
There doesn’t seem to be many tourists in Lima and I felt like I stood out, especially since I am a bit blonde right now – yeah, yeah in more ways than one 😊 Random people would say hi to me, which was nice but a bit strange. Also a little boy who was begging basically stopped me from walking down the street until I’d buy a sweet from him. He was really cute and would make a good rugby player as I literally couldn’t get past until a tourist police guy came along. The advice is not to give the kids money as it disincentives them from going to school. Also people
Plaza de Armas Arequipa
It's Trafalgar Square with palm trees. You are still allowed to feed the pigeons here though. are very helpful. I asked one lady for directions, she looked on her iPhone, called a friend and then directory enquiries and then apologised that she couldn’t locate the place for me! Londoners, are you this helpful to tourists?! Also when I wanted to take a local bus somewhere the guy at the hostel gave me his oyster card equivalent so that I could use it and then bring it back when I’d finished. If you ever go to Lima you have to take a little local bus just for the experience, they are chaotic and a bit stinky but the most fun way to travel. So that was Lima.
Then I took a night bus south to Arequipa (18 hours). I went VIP baby! A VIP seat on a
Cruz del Sur bus. It was way better than my flight. There are hostesses dressed smartly and there’s in-journey films and info. I was served breakfast and dinner and was woken with baby wipes to freshen up. The seats were big and comfy with a blanket and pillow, the air conditioning is pretty intense though – like being on a flight. Bus travel is more popular than flying and going by
Carlos tour guide extraordinaire!
He's a legend, you can google him and find out more. In the background you can see the stone forest. train here. Arequipa is Peru's second biggest city and sits within the province of Arequipa (in The Andes mountains). The city centre is a UNESCO heritage site because it has beautiful white buildings made from local silica stone. It’s a bit less crazy on the traffic side than Lima, but still there are hoards of taxis, so again more horns. It’s pretty warm here, and you’re up quite high – about 2,500 metres – so you have to wear plenty of sun cream.
I’m staying at the
Flying Dog hostel. It’s very chilled here, not like the hostel in Lima which was for the partyers. And there’s a dog here – Misty, and a cat – Chani, so it feels homely. Like most people who come to Arequipa I did a trek of the
Colca Canyon – the deepest in the world (4,160 metres). I went with
Colca Trek as they were highly recommended. The 3 day tour was called The Real Colca Canyon. My main group was comprised of Canadian, Dutch, German and Flemish folk and then on the third day some others joined us from Brazil, Switzerland and Bulgaria – but happily for me everyone spoke English. Our guide was Carlos
El condor pasa
The first one that we saw. It flew close over our heads looking for the sacrificed donkey that the locals had left a local guy and an award-winning tour guide – he's pretty amazing as he knows everything about the area and really cares about keeping the heritage and protecting the nature there, and he has lots of funny stories to boot.
Carlos told us about the province, explaining that mining was becoming big business and bringing wealth. Unsuprisingly it’s a mixed blessing as the mining companies have bought up villages. The villagers then move to the cities and can’t get work because of racism against indigenous people and the fact they are mainly farmers and don’t have useful skills for a city. The local people are
Quechua and
Aymara (pre-Inca) and still keep many of their traditional ways of living, even though the Spanish and Inca invaders made their mark in the area too. The locals farm the terraces, growing mainly maize and potatoes and keeping cows, lamas and alpacas. On a beautiful day life seems idyllic in the mountains, but it’s actually hard. In Arequipa the minimum wage is about £175 per month which doesn't go far. Children don’t always go to school because they are needed to help with the farming and each year people die as there’s
High altitude guapos
The tourists dress their prettiest lamas and alpacas up to meet the tourists - say cheese! no heating. We saw some old women coming home from a day of labouring in the fields, they look good while they do it though wearing their traditional brightly embroidered dresses and hats. Tourism is also a big business for the locals and they sacrifice their animals as condor food - condor spotting and trekking are the main tourist attractions.
So day one. We drove to the canyon stopping at points of interest for walks and photos. We saw a rock forest created by a volcanic eruption and the erosion that followed. By the way there a few volcanos around here and the Arequipa region is currently on medium alert for an eruption sometime soon – eek. As we went through the nature reserve and the canyon we saw wild vicunas and domesticated lamas and alpacas, on the feathered front – andean goose, giant coot, american golden plover, yellow grosbeak, black crested buzzard eagle (endangered) and… a condor. Pretty cool! We went up to 4,910 metres (not far off Everest basecamp 5,150) and the effects of altitude kicked in, it affects people in different ways but I felt dizzy, and had a headache, sore nose and felt knackered. I
Midday at the oasis
You can take your camel to bed, and have a nice dip in the pool tried a little bit of running to see what would happen and felt faint – not recommended. Met some rather attractive locals here too - pictured. That night we stayed at a community called Cobanaconde, we were shattered from the altitude. I slept like a log.
Day two. The downhill canyon trek. We trekked for about three and a half hours down wobbly rocks. It was hot and much harder than I thought. My legs were shaking about half way down. Most of our stuff was carried down by mules which was lucky, but when the mules came down you had to stand against the canyon side as the mules weren’t going to get out of your way. As we got closer to the bottom we caught sight of where we would be camping – Sangalle natural oasis - all palm trees and greenness, a pretty good motivation to keep going. At the oasis we had a welcome dip in the pool and then lunch and dinner cooked by the multi-talented Carlos. Early night as we’d be up early for the ascent.
Day three (are you still with me? 😊. Got up at 4.30 in the dark with
The United Nations
Whoo! we all made it back up the canyon without having to catch a mule. sore legs, breakfasted by candlelight and then started back up the canyon. We started early to avoid the sun. This time there was much less talking; it was tiring but easier going up than down we agreed as it was less slippy. Most of us made it in 2.5 hours, some others a bit longer but we all felt good when it was done and we had a treat of more condors flying overhead! I know that these walks don’t sound that long, but combined with altitude, loose rocks, steepness and heat they were challenging - so there!
So then we wound our way back to Arequipa, stopping off at the main condor viewing point again where we saw a few more condors, and to Maka community to see the pretty church which had been recently rebuilt after an earthquake. There was a guy here with a black crested buzzard eagle that he had caught for photo opportunities with tourists. We were told not to have pictures with it for obvious reasons but other tourists were less informed and happily had photos taken with the bird perched on their head and a bedecked alpaca by their side (fair game
One for Tom and Laura
Heamor the bear made it back up the canyon too as it’s domesticated). Then on to some natural hot springs for a dip then a touristy but tasty lunch in Chivay (accompanied by live pan pipes playingSimon and Garfunkel's El condor pasa – has to be done) and back to Arequipa. It was a brilliant tour and I really recommend
Colca Trek. You might not believe it, as I have rambled on some, but I have left out loads of info.
Just been chilling out in Arequipa since then with wobbly legs. Also today I went to the
Monasterio de Santa Catalina which was amazing - a beautiful labyrinthine convent where nuns lived for centuries. It’s a contradiction though as on the one hand there are whips and spikey metal underwear used by the nuns for self-chastisement and on the other hand they were living in a freaking palace with the best furnishings that money could buy. The religious pictures and effigies were disturbing but beautiful and the massive cherry on the cake for me was that I saw a hummingbird in one of the gardens! I’ve decided to stay a bit longer in Arequipa than originally planned rather than rushing off to Cusco as the weather’s nice here but raining there. I
Pre-Inca terraces
An amazing site, though some terraces are collapsing as more locals leave for the cities am still pinching myself that I am in South America and The Andes!
Hope you didn’t fall asleep during what’s turned out be an essay and that you’re all good. Until next time - hasta luego chicos! xxx
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Vicky H
non-member comment
Happy days
Great blog Jen and really really interesting. Keep the updates coming. And more photos with you in please :) Take care xx