Colca Canyon Part 1

I reluctantly left the beautiful city of Arequipa, but was excited to be going on a tour of the Colca Canyon. I prepared myself the evening before by going to a yoga class and having a massage, as I haven’t been doing much in the way of exercise except for walking around town and occasionally heaving a heavy backpack.

The yoga class was run by a French woman and her two little miniature poodles (one had only 3 legs) watched the class from their little cushions, and occasionally tried to join in. I am really missing my little dog so was very happy to pet them before the class started. However, I nearly started a major ruckus as they were each jealous of the other one getting stroked. The teacher spoke a mixture of Spanish, French and English, so I mostly figured out what was going on. It was a bit surreal, but nice, to have a multilingual yoga class in the company of 2 tiny poodles!

A striking feature of Peru is the number of dogs everywhere. They roam about the streets on their own and most of them don’t look like strays.  There is a little Peruvian corgi type dog which all the villages have and they are very placid and follow people about or just wander about with other dogs.  Some dogs look a bit shabby but none seem vicious. It is ironic that I didn’t get a rabies shot as I thought I wouldn’t have much to do with dogs, but I can’t avoid them.  On the other hand you don’t need to get the vaccination unless you are actually working with animals. 

I set off on the Colca Trek in a small bus with a Swiss couple, a German couple, a Spanish/Mexican couple and 2 French girls. Consequently I spoke a lot of French and German but not much Spanish. Our tour leader was a very personable Peruvian who grew up in a village in the Colca valley, so he was very knowledgeable.

The tour was for 3 days and the first day we stopped off to see flora and fauna on the way to the valley.  We saw the vicuna, which is a very shy animal, a camelid, with hair that is more highly prized than alpaca because it is very soft and the animal is wild and protected, so it is not easily available.  We could only watch them from a distance, but it was good to see them all the same. We also spotted a couple of viscachas hopping about some rocks. They are like Andean rabbits and related to chinchillas.  We saw some birds in a wetlands area, such as Andean geese and ducks. There was a very unusual tree which looks like moss on a rock. The area it grows in is bare and windy, and it seemed to me like a miniature tea tree. Similar to the tea tree it has a strong-smelling medicinal resin that is good for muscular aches. As we ventured further in this rocky and arid landscape, at very high altitude, we came across a stone forest. It is actually a large outcrop of stones that have been weathered into strange sculptural shapes.  Apparently at one time the area was covered by the sea, which is extraordinary given that it is over 4,000 metres above sea level.

Vicunas

Stone forest

Of course miles from anywhere there is a toilet stop for all the buses that pass through and there is an instant market for tourists and attractive alpacas and llamas to photograph.

Tourism is booming in Peru and you can hardly blame them for making the most of it. When you see the poverty and very basic lifestyles that people live, you can understand why they seize the opportunity to improve their lot, even if it is at the expense of the traditional lifestyle. As we drove into the Colca valley, which eventually becomes the Colca Canyon (which we were assured is the deepest canyon in the world), we were amazed by the ancient terraces that cover every inch of the valley. Not all of these terraces are still used, mainly because there isn’t the labour to work them due to migration to the cities. The terraces are still worked by beast and plough, and donkeys are the main form of transport of people and goods. The housing was truly medieval in the villages dotted along the road. Although there is electricity, sanitation is basic and most of the houses are made of mud and stone. I found it really hard to comprehend the lives that these people endured.  There was no pride in the housing, nothing to adorn or even finish the buildings properly.  In fact throughout Peru the housing of the poor is in a permanently unfinished state.  A Brazilian lady I met compared it to the favelas in Rio. However, progress is coming, and possibly due to tourism. We were driving on a road that didn’t exist a while back.  Many of these mud brick hovels have solar panels and satellite dishes. Although you see plenty of people walking or using mules and donkeys, there are quite a few farmers getting around by motorbike and motor vehicles on the new road.

The terraces in the Colca are not as beautifully structured as those near Cusco in the Sacred Valley, as their purpose was simply for farming.  Still, they are pretty amazing and as they yield so much extra land on the mountain slopes I could only wonder at how much work there was for so few people with such basic tools.  We spent the night in a beautiful lodge at the edge of the Canyon. The sun seems to set about 6pm everywhere in Peru and we went for a walk to see the sun setting over the Canyon. Unfortunately the altitude was getting to me and I had to go to bed early with a migraine, which also kept me awake for a couple of hours in the night.  I decided against taking my altitude sickness tablets after reading the list of possible side effects. I preferred putting up with a migraine in such a remote location.  There is no air lifting anyone out of anywhere in Peru.

Colca Valley

Arequipa, Alpaca Heaven

Yesterday I arrived in Arequipa after a 16 hour overnight bus journey along the coast. I awoke in the morning to see the early morning sun shining on the coastal desert mountains and the first blue sky I have seen since landing in Peru.  Arequipa is a huge contrast to Lima. Everything looks sunny, clean and bright. The climate is sunny, warm and dry year round. The main buildings in the city centre are made of Sillar stone, which is the local white stone and looks beautiful against the sunshine and bright blue sky. To add to the beauty of the city, it is surrounded by volcano mountains, the most prominent of which is El Misti. Wherever you go in the city you can see the mountains capped with snow glinting in the sun. The people of Arequipa consider themselves to be different from the rest of Peru. It seems to me that the place is like the California of Peru! The climate, the outdoor focus (with lots of trips to local canyons, mountains, Nazca lines), the Spanish colonial style buildings and the holiday atmosphere (it is full of tourists) all give it a laid back and fun atmosphere.

Yesterday I walked around the Santa Catalina Convent which is like a city within a city. The nuns came from wealthy families and had there own quarters and even servants during one period. They were and still are renowned for their baking and each nun had her own kitchen with huge stone oven and large pebble on a stone that they must have used for milling flour.  There are still nuns there today but they don’t live it up like in colonial times. The Convent is vast and has streets and courtyards. The Sillar stone is painted in bright blue and orange and there are geraniums everywhere. In one courtyard a family of swifts was flying under the  colonnade and I took a photo of one of them resting on a lantern.

Most exciting of all is that I booked a tour to trek the Colca Canyon. The tour is 3 days and 2 nights and we will see the volcanoes, wildlife on the pampas (llamas, alpacas, vicunas, viscachas which are related to chinchillas, and birds) villages in the canyon and the condors for which it is famous.  We will be doing some trekking, mountain bike riding and swimming in thermal springs, as well as crossing a couple of rope bridges (I can beg out of the rope bridges if my vertigo kicks in).  We will also be staying a night in a beautiful lodge on the mountainside that has panoramic views of the canyon from every bedroom.

So I will be staying another 2 days in Arequipa before going to the Colca Canyon on Thursday and then off to Cusco via Lake Titicaca.

Today I found Starbucks for my morning coffee and Wifi. I was sitting outside reading my Lonely Planet guide when some German travellers asked if they could join me on the only free sofas around. After a while I asked them in German about their travels. It was quite amusing to see their astonishment as they had obviously presumed they were having a private conversation.  We had a chat about their travels as they have been to Cusco and Machu Picchu, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much German I could remember. Unlike my Spanish! So far I have mastered ‘can I book an extra night’ and ‘can I leave my backpack at reception’.

Arequipa has an altitude of 2,500 metres and I am feeling the effects of altitude, such as headache, dizziness and shortness of breath. So I am following my travel guide instructions and slowing down, resting and eating light meals and no Pisco sours. We will be at much higher altitudes trekking the Colca so hopefully this will acclimatize me in preparation.

One of the nicest things about Arequipa is that everywhere you look there are beautiful alpaca shops. I bought myself a very nice beanie and gloves of baby alpaca to keep warm on the treks. Just 5 minutes walk from my hostel is an alpaca shop where they also give you a tour of how they make the finished product. I saw some alpacas, both types including the suri which is long-haired and two types of llama. Apparently baby alpaca is what they call the hair that they take from the neck and back, as it is the finest. I got to feel some fleeces, including that of the wild vicuna that is even softer than baby alpaca. Vicunas were sacred to the Incas and are still protected. They are not domesticated and their hair is gathered during special hunt festivals when the Andean villagers round them up and let them go once they have taken some fleece. Only Inca nobles could wear vicuna cloth and nowadays it is extremely expensive. They had the most incredible designs of knitted clothes and accessories in their shop, but I just settled on some baby alpaca yarn to crochet with on my travels.  Plenty of time to buy alpaca in Peru!

Monasterio de Santa Catalina

Monasterio de Santa Catalina

Little swift in Monasterio de Santa Catalina

Rooftop of Monasterio de Santa Catalina

View from restaurant balcony of Plaza De Armas

Outside Starbucks looking towards Plaza De Armas

Cathedral in the Plaza

Culture Vulture

San Francisco Convent

A warning for guests at the hostel reception

Lima has grown on me somewhat. It is probably much better in the Summer, but the Winter grey sky and early morning drizzle does not make it look good. Part of the problem is that I have been getting out early in the morning when all the buildings are shuttered, it is drizzling, and everything looks shabby. Later on in the day the streets are unrecognizable as the buildings open up their huge shutters and wooden doors to reveal shops, cafes, business, banks, colleges and beautiful old colonial courtyards. The evening is even better as everyone is out on the streets and everything is open late. It gets dark at 6pm so the lighting of the streets and buildings gives everything a warm glow.

I visited some wonderful museums and the San Francisco Convent next door to my hostel. The Convent was full of dark carved wood, murals, paintings and it had the most beautiful library that is over 400 years old. It was such a thrill to see not only Inca treasures in the museums, but also examples of traditional crafts that are still practiced. One museum also had artefacts from the colonial era, which were equally beautifully made.

It was very fortunate that as I am came out of a museum there was a parade in the street. The costumes, dancing and music were wonderful.

San Francisco Convent Library

Traditional gourd carving

Inca ear plugs

18th century silverware

Parade

Museum in old mansion

Plaza Des Armas

My hostel

My hostel

Exploring Lima

Woke up very early and walked the streets in a grey drizzle in search of a cafe and Internet.  Not much open at 6.00am! I seemed to find all the worst streets in town and after an hour or so I spied a beacon of hope in the sky scape. I headed towards the neon Sheraton sign on the top of the high rise hotel in the sure knowledge that there would be a Starbucks in the vicinity and free Wifi.

Later on I walked through some more dirty and decrepit streets until I gave up and took a taxi to the Museo Larco. This houses an amazing archeological collection of Pre-Columbian artefacts all discovered by Senor Larco from the tender age of 25, when his father set him up as an archeologist. He devoted the rest of his life to discovering masses of these treasures, which are housed in this beautiful museum. There are treasures dating from 1200bc and a few even before then. Most are from Chavin, Moche and Inca periods. There are ceramics, textiles, statues and finery of gold and silver worn by Inca nobility. All of these items are symbolic and often tell a story or depict ceremonial and important events.

It’s easy to forget the grizzly and tragic ceremonies when looking at beautiful silver swords and cups that were used for human sacrifice. Likewise there are many ceramics depicting sacrificial ceremonies and treatment of defeated warriors (such as being thrown off mountaintops).

I particularly loved the textiles and was really interested to see a small display of sling braids, as I have made these myself during my phase of making Peruvian and Japanese braids (which I really must get back into). The weaving were superb and some of them are made of feathers. I am really looking forward to taking some beginner weaving classes when I stay with my volunteer family in Huancayo.

There was also a collection of erotic ceramics that was actually very funny. Unusually the museum store was also open for viewing and there were a few rooms stacked from floor to ceiling with numerous cases of ceramics, rather like a library.

The museum itself is housed in a beautiful colonial style building and grounds with masses of bougainvillea everywhere. I had lunch at the cafe in the grounds under a pergola of bougainvillea that was just stunning. It was a very smart cafe served by very sweet and polite young waitstaff and the menu was obviously the cuisine that Peru is famous for. I had a kind of passion fruit drink with my steak escalope, beans and rice, fried banana and chutney. Delicious and only set me back about $20. It is possible to enjoy high quality accommodation and eating out quite reasonably in Peru. If I was staying for a couple of weeks I would live it up very nicely, but as I am here for a long time I have to budget more carefully.

I was going to try to walk to Miraflores to find the South American Explorers Club, but was easily persuaded by a waiting taxi driver.  Although the museum is in a quiet back street, it is obvious that people are getting to and from there by taxi as it is a bit out of the way. I find when walking about that I am either approached in the street by taxi drivers or they hoot and slow down to see if I want a lift. The museum is in the very nice San Isidro district so driving through there and Miraflores I saw a  completely different side of Peru to the historic centre and downtown.  Smart townhouses and apartments all with 10 foot walls or railings with spikes on top. Larger residences hidden behind massive walls. Spikes everywhere. Security guards are all over Lima and standing outside of every large building, business, bank and residence. So although I heed the warnings about being careful of muggers, you can’t go 50 metres without seeing a policeman,  traffic cop or security guard.

I couldn’t find the Clubhouse as they had moved, so went in search of another Starbucks.  I was a bit sick of their coffee so had a chamomile tea instead (they don’t have proper tea). However, the place was heaving with travellers and students so the internet was so slow it kept shutting down. In the end I chanced the free Wifi in the park opposite to look up the new address.

It was a tiny little park in the middle of the shopping area with an art exhibition and a population of dozens of cats. They were of every different colour and pattern, all slim but healthy looking, and completely at home sleeping on the grass and amongst the flowerbeds. Occasionally people would go and stroke and cuddle the cats and I saw one old man relaxing on a park bench talking to his friend with a cat on his lap. Far from being neglected, the cats seemed to be appreciated and enjoyed by the locals. Tourists like me looked on in pleasant surprise at such an unfamiliar site.

I found the clubhouse and a very helpful young woman in there.  She recommended a good bus company to travel to the southern city of Arequipa and advised me to travel overnight (it takes about 14 hours and scenery nothing special). I hope to go on Sunday as I really don’t want to stay in Lima much longer. Arequipa is a pretty city, but she advised that I would probably like Cusco the best. I agree. I really don’t want to stay in cities and around Cusco I can travel to and stay in lots of small towns and villages.  Cusco itself, according to this young lady, is such a special place and is a really fascinating city to stay in.

After blowing out the taxi budget I determined to walk back from Miraflores to the historic centre where my hostel is. It took two and a half hours and I had a sore throat afterwards from breathing in all the traffic fumes in the rush hour. However, it was a great way to get my bearings and see the different districts. It was also interesting to see how the city wakes up in the evening. Shops and restaurants all open late and the museums and art galleries are also open at night. It gets dark about 6pm year round in Lima but it seems everyone is out and about. I walked past a couple of universities that were still full of students at 7pm. After all, I decided, Lima is not such a bad place. Even the prospect of my hostel room seemed inviting and I found I had adjusted to it after all when I returned. It is fusty but interesting.

Murder weapon!

One man and his alpaca

Tomb dwellers

Cat park

Inca finery

Cafe at Museo Larco

In South America!

Flying over the Atlantic I kept checking the view out of the plane and eventually saw the coastline of the South American continent as we flew over it. That was lucky and very exciting. According to the plane’s flight map we flew into Guyana.  As our journey continued I saw the Amazon very clearly and endless jungle (as well as lots of cleared jungle). Equally spectacular were the clouds. So many different types of clouds everywhere in a beautiful blue sky. Every so often I saw little rainbows come and go in seconds in the clouds, where it looked as if there was a rain shower. As rainbows have traditionally been a sign, I wondered what they were telling me. Many times when I looked out of the window I would see another little rainbow as it gently disappeared. I think it was telling me that I am going to have a magical time in South America!

As we flew over Peru the clouds thickened and I kept an eye on the scene so that I didn’t miss the Andes. They took a while to appear as they are quite close to the coast. The first glimpse did not disappoint as they were stunning. They became quite mysterious as the clouds kept shifting to hide and reveal them and I kept thinking what a wonderful time I am going to have hiking in those mountains.  As we came in from the north we didn’t see Machu Picchu, but I did see some Inca terracing on the mountains.

As we arrived in Lima there was a thick low cloud covering the entire city. This is the grey cloud that covers Lima all winter. The view of the poor part of the city near the airport revealed houses that looked like lots of square match boxes stacked together, higgledy piggledy. The view of these houses from the ground confirms their abject poverty. At the airport it seems that everyone is being picked up by a hotel taxi or tour group and it was quite a job scanning all the signs to find my name.  Eventually my taxi driver arrived and I saw him right away. I was very tired after being up since 5.15 am in Paris and it was now 2am Paris time, although 7pm in Lima. No one expects a nice drive from the airport but this one was the worst I have ever seen. The poverty of the buildings, the thick grey dirt covering everything, the grey dark sky and the traffic fumes was truly awful. The traffic was chaotic and painfully slow. At every traffic light women and young men and mothers with babies would walk amongst the cars selling popcorn or snacks or windscreen cleaning,  or simply beg. There were people all over the place catching bases,  risking their lives crossing roads, eating at street vendors and hurrying home. The roads were full of the most beaten up old cars I have ever seen. Minibusses full of more people than you could imagine,  dilapidated and hellish looking, were everywhere, as well as beaten up taxis and vehicles that are clearly not roadworthy.  Every so often the cause of the latest bottleneck would be apparent as we passed another broken down vehicle. At one traffic junction the lights were broken so we could not cross onto the main road and drivers just jammed their horns on until the police came to direct the traffic with red and green luminous batons.

All I could think of was my bed as I wondered if we were ever going to get to the hostel. My head was throbbing and I was beginning to despair. Finally we reached the hostel to be greeted very meanly by a funny old woman.  As I waited at the front desk in this very old, historic building next to the San Francisco Convent I spied a glass case full of Incan artifacts and a creepy arrangement of 3 human skulls at the bottom of the cabinet. The hostel is every bit as beautiful as the pictures promised and I met the peacock and pea hen sitting in the roof garden across from my room. I have a private room with ensuite, although not of a standard that I would expect in Australia.  Still, not much different from what I experienced in the Paris hostel,  so this may well be what I have to expect. I can manage, if I don’t think too much about the cleanliness and the possibility of bedbugs!

there’s a new world: somewhere?