Travel from Arequipa to Colca Valley

South America Day 7

Travel to Colca Valley

After breakfast we were on another bus and off to Colca Canyon. I was pretty excited about the possibility of seeing some wildlife including Vicuñas (wild variety of Llamas) and condors.
On the way out of Arequipa we stopped at a store to buy some supplies including cocoa leaves (yes the ones that cocaine is made from). I was more interested in snacks.
Just on the outskirts of Arequipa we stopped for some uninterrupted views of the surrounding volcanoes. The one in the shot above is Chachani, the one that looks more like a mountain range than a volcano. The one below is El Misti.

That's about it for Arequipa. We returned the following evening only to leave early the next morning so there's nothing to tell. For more photos from Arequipa, click on this link.

Leaving Arequipa, the bus soon climbed into the surrounding ranges. Pictured above is typical of the Altiplano (High Plain). It's not quite what I pictured the Andes Mountains to look like.
We were pushing 3000m by this point but it didn't look much like the revered Andes mountain range. It was incredibly dry as well with cactus scattered across the landscape surrounded by dry desert grasses. The only patches of green are the valleys where a small amount of water (mainly from condensation at high altitude than anything else) gathers, and allows for small farms (above).

Eventually the twisty climb gave way to open desert plains and straighter roads. Around the same time we pushed through the 3500m mark, the driver spotted some vicuñas.

There were once many different types of Camelids (camel like animals) in South America. Man domesticated most of them or wiped them out all together. Now there are two domesticated (Llamas & Alpacas) and 3 wild varieties, vicuñas being the most famous one.
Vicuñas are protected in Peru now, but the locals still round them up occasionally & shear their coats for them. Vicuña wool is apparently the softest animal fibre in the world (so they say) and clothing made from it fetches a tidy sum. Baby alpaca clothing is highly sort after in Peru but vicuña gear is right at the top of the heap and multiple times (10ish) more expensive.
They're skittish little creatures, about the same size as a small deer. Their round skulls & flattened back ears distinguish them from their relatives

This strange collection of sandstone pinnacles is known as the rock forest. It kind of looks like little black Xmas trees, don't you think. It's one of a number of attractions from the same spot.

This is the other natural sight from the same spot. We were pretty much on the opposite side of El Misti from Arequipa by that point.

The downside of the natural wonders is that it's a perfect spot for the locals to set up a tourist trap. It probably started up as a couple of local ladies with some rugs & necklaces to sell, but is now a number of stalls & a restaurant/coffee shop/trinket shop. The tourist buses were lined up 10 deep. I guess it was the only civilisation for a hundred kms each way. Where else was there to stop for weak bladders.
Our group did the obligatory wander around, some were more interested than others. Polly (left with light blue singlet) doesn't seem overly impressed. Mike (centre with white sunglasses) was busily taking photos like a good tourist.
The side story to this was the coca leaves. Most of us had tried them & hated the taste. It didn't seem to alleviate the effects of the altitude either. The tourist stop had all manner of coca cookies & different sweets loaded with the stimulant. I bought a pack of each for the trip. I found the sweets worked better than the leaves.....

This is what I like to call a Peruvian Come in Spinner. Looks all very innocent, but this is a classic shot for a tourist to take & the pie eater pictured had her hand out for a "donation" every time the camera clicked. Kerri took this one & escaped the toll by using the long lens.

No. Not sheep. These are alpacas. They are the high altitude version of sheep though. Most people have heard of alpacas. They're the smaller of the two domestic camelids. Their close cousins, the Llamas, have a head much more like a camel. Alpacas are used for wool, meat & I'm guessing milk, but can't confirm that. I can confirm that alpaca stew is delicious.
After the stop at the tourist trap, the scenery changed from dry plains & vicunas to wetlands & alpacas.

The best fleece from alpacas come from the young ones. They have softer fur until they're a couple of years old.

Llamas are the bigger cousins of the alpacas. They don't uses them so much for wool, but more as pack animals. They're quite tough & strong animals & are more sure footed than horses, particularly on the steep high mountain trails

The Peruvians are resourceful people. This guy has some how ocky strapped his alpaca to the back of his motorbike.

Toward the end of the long journey from Arequipa, we started to descend the final valley toward Chivay, the main settlement in Colca Canyon. The bus stopped at yet another local roadside stall. The view of Chivay (pictured) can't be knocked. The brown baby alpaca was a useful money spinner for the locals who wanted money every time you took a picture of it.

The Peruvians are known for their colourful clothing. This little girl certainly had the colours going on.

Plaza de Armas, Chivay. Yes, even the small townships have a Plaza de Armas. The escarpments that surround Chivay are really quite daunting. Chivay sits nearly at the bottom of Colca Canyon (3800m) & considering we'd just descended from 4910m, you're looking at the best part of a kilometre to the plateau above.

We had a nice buffet lunch in Chivay where we tried alpaca stew (very nice) and Mike cleared out the guinea pig stew so I didn't get a chance to try it. I imagine it's quite like rabbit (haven't had that either ).
After lunch, we piled back into the bus & travelled the 20 odd minutes along a bumpy dirt track to the small village of Coporaque. It's a funny little place with the only sign of tourism being the hotel we stayed in (the yellow buildings amongst the blue roofs). Unfortunately the water was off due to town water issues. This made the urgent ablutions after the long day a bit tricky. We were off for a short hike almost straight away anyhow & they had promised the water would be back on by the time we returned.

The tour always does this short hike or similar to get the travellers accustomed to hiking at altitude before the 3 day hike coming up a few days later. It also gives the tour guides a chance to see if there are any amongst the group that are clearly going to be a problem. A couple of the stragglers started to become apparent even early in this first hike.
Having spent a lot of time hiking in the Rockies during the northern summer, I was feeling pretty good. The couple of days in Arequipa had let my body adjust to the altitude & was ready for the next level. Kerri had her trusty hiking poles & was powering along as well.

This was the hike destination. More dead people. The local Incan people had been burying their dead relatives up in the cliffs for many centuries until the practise was outlawed by the Catholic Spaniards a few centuries ago.The Incans liked to bury their people high in the cliffs out of harms way overlooking the countryside. Not such a bad concept & hardly unique.

We descended back down to the hotel in fading light. We showered & jumped back on the bus. Dinner was in Chivay followed by a trip to the hot springs. I'm not normally a fan, but I was feeling a bit beaten up after the multiple changes in altitude & hiking so it was really quite relaxing.

I should mention that both Karishma (Special K as we came to know her) and Emma were both quite ill with altitude sickness during the day when we were above 4500m on the plateau. Needless to say, those two struggled during the afternoon hike as well. It's funny how some people can handle altitude better than others.

Arequipa

South America Day 6

Arequipa

We arrived in Arequipa mid morning. We dropped our gear in the hotel and went out to explore the "White City". The call it the White city because of the volcanic material they use in the render giving the buildings the bright white appearance.

The main square "Plaza de Armas" is the cultural centre of the city. It was becoming apparent that every city in Peru had a Plaza de Armas and a San Francisco church.

Arequipa is a fairly wealthy city that's well looked after and quite clean. I never felt under threat like I did in Lima to the point that I was fairly relaxed. The only problem (as is the case for all Peruvian cities) is the incessant beeping of the taxis trying to get your business. It's very annoying.
Of all the cities we visited west of the continental divide, Arequipa is my favourite city.

Monasterio de Santa Catalina

We were a little tired from the bus trip but we figured we would go exploring anyway. Our trusty Lonely Planet guide had a number of suggestions. The one that sparked the most interest was the Monasterio de Santa Catalina.
It's an active convent with around 20 nuns still living there. Their area is closed off to the public but the rest is open. It's a very colourful place and very pleasant. It's like a city within the city of Arequipa. High walls protect it from the outside world making it a peaceful place (well it would be without all of us annoying tourists.

 

The Monasterio de Santa Catalina is made up of a number of features including many beautiful cloisters (or court yards). The one above is called the Orange Tree Cloister.

 

There is also Novices Cloister (above).

The Great Cloister (above).

This is the Silent Patio.

The convent even has streets & squares like those in the surrounding city. This one is called Zocodober Square. It has a nice little fountain with fish in it.

 

 

Here's one of the many streets in the convent. You can see one of the inactive volcanoes that surround the city of Arequipa. The volcano is called Chachani.

The convent wasn't all pretty coloured buildings, there were also some almost disturbing exhibits like this one of the last supper.

Throughout the convent there were rooms like this that are/were nun's living quarters. They're very basic accommodations and don't even electricity or gas.

The Nun's even today use these clay ovens to cook. Interesting egg shape.

 

The nuns have abandoned this now, but this old clay jar laundry was in use when there was no modern pressure water pipes. The centre channel feeds each of the individual tubs. I can't recall what fed the channel.

 

This orchard was out of bounds, I assume because it's still part of the active section. It's yet another peaceful corner. I can't tell you what the significance of the clay jars is. To me it's just a place for snakes & mosquitoes to hang out.

 

I can't even remember where in the convent we were, but the room was dark except for a skylight. Great opportunity to take a bit of a silly shot. Anyone recall the video for a Queen song? Boheimian Rapsity?

  

Kerri couldn't help but get up on her soap box.

 

Kerri was in the confession box for ages! Can't imagine why. We left the convent and headed back to the Plaza de Armas for lunch.

Plaza de Armas

 

We must have spent a good 2-3 hours in the convent & by the time we surfaced it was lunch o'clock. The Plaza de Armas has a few different functions. The centre square is a garden/park area with nice plants, fountains and park benches. Around the outside are a collection of shops and restaurants around 3 sides and a great Cathedral along the 4th.

The lower level of the shop buildings (above) range from dodgy little trinket shops selling everything from fridge magnets to t-shirts, to jewelry shops and high end clothing shops specializing in baby alpaca clothing.

 

The top level is reserved pretty much exclusively for restaurants. Each restaurant has an aggressive hustler at street level to entice you upstairs. Somehow we picked one and had a nice lunch. As you can see from this picture, the individual restaurants aren't segregated. There are no less than 6 different restaurants in shot and another 3 or 4 behind the camera. If it wasn't for the tourist dollar there's no doubt that they wouldn't exist. By the same token, they do try very hard to make sure that the tourists don't get sick and take care to wash fresh produce in filters water instead of the bacteria laden tap water in Peru.

We had a nice view of the Plaza de Armas from our lunch table. The gardens are very well laid out and well looked after. The centre of attention is the fountain in the middle. Such a pleasant place to just chill out.

So much focus of the South Americans is directed toward religion. Something like 80-90% of them are devout Catholics so every place we went seemed to have a Cathedral of some description. Arequipa's Cathedral is pretty impressive.

 

The city of Arequipa is shadowed by three volcanoes. This one is El Misti. It looks to be the most recently active one of the 3. They are all supposedly inactive, but there are daily tremors (apparently but not while we were there). There are a couple of active volcanoes near by so seismic activity isn't particularly surprising.

 

Not long after I took the previous shot from the balcony of our hotel I took an afternoon nap to partially make up for the lack of sleep on the night bus. The change in altitude was hard work and even walking up stairs ended in heavy gasping. I thought after living at 1200m for the previous 18 months we would have coped a little better, but it was quite noticeable.
After my hour nap, I looked out at El Misti again and this is what I saw! It was such a bizarre band of cloud. I'll let the photo talk now.

Ice Princess

 

During the afternoon we ticked off another mark on our "To Do in Arequipa" list. We visited the museum of the Ice Princess, Juanita. She was found only a few years ago in the crater of a near by inactive volcano, Ampato.
The story of the discovery goes along the lines of the neighboring active volcano (Sabancaya) blew it's top and showered Ampato with hot ash, melting it's ice bound top. Juanita was dislodged & rolled down into the crater. She was discovered a couple of days later still mostly frozen.
The story of the reason she was there, in short, is that she was a sacrifice to the angry gods to stop the volcanic activity. She was a daughter of the royalty of the time so it must have been serious. She was given heavy sedatives and clubbed on the side of the head killing her instantly. She would have been sacrificed willingly believing she would be moving on to a greater place.
She and three other mummies, found subsequently on Ampato, are kept in glass freezers, like Juanita in shot, to preserve them. Remember that they haven't been embalmed or prepared in any way, they've just been sitting buried in ice and snow for hundreds of years at the top of a mountain. They rotate the one on display so we were lucky to see the most important of the four.
The museum doesn't allow photography inside so I had to pinch these ones from the net. They had a stack of other cool artifacts in the museum other than the body of Juanita. There were some tiny silver vicuna statues that had holes in them. Apparently they were at the very top of the volcano and got zapped by lightning on more than one occasion.