It seems to me that so much time has passed since I last wrote a blog. In all Lima was ok, but it was good to finally leave after I got my Brazil visa. I was actually really excited when I got it...I've never had a visa before and it looks really cool in my passport; it´s just like getting stamps...every one is really cool! We ended up leaving Lima on Thursday night and took another night bed bus to Arequipa, which took about 14 hours. It is safe to say that it was the worst bus rides of my life and I hope that I never have to endure that again. You see the day we left Lima I decided to try some local Peruvian food...as a result of my cultural inquisity I got food poisoning. So you can probably imagine food poisoning and bus is not a good mix...I was throwing up all night; not fun. As always the bus terminal is not in the best part of town so the first impressions were that it looked like a hole...but that soon changed. Amy thinks the plaza is one of the nicest she has ever seen and that's including all of Europe!!! That's a big call if you ask me. And the setting is absolutely beautiful; there are so many colonial churches and behind the main one in the plaza is a mountain called Chichani (sorry the spelling is probably wrong). It has snow on the top and is so pretty. Perfect for photographs! That first day we arrived we ckecked into our hostal...its the same chain as the one we stayed at in Lima because the guy there gave us a cheaper deal. It turned out even better than we expected because we booked a room with a shared bathroom, but when we got there the guy told us that they didnt have any shared bathrooms only private ones. So he said that we could have that one for the same price...so not only did we get a bathroom to ourselves we also got the room for heaps cheaper than normal!!!Sweet.
We had a little wonder around the town after that and went to the local craft market...bad idea. I ended up buying so much stuff that I don't really have space to carry, but I had to; I cant get this stuff anywhere else in the world. Then as we were walking back up the street who do run into but April. She was sitting in a cafe and saw us walk by and called us over. We didn't even know that she was in Arequipa because we haven't been in contact much since she left, so it was a real surprise. We had a little catch up and she told us all about Machu Picchu and we told her about the beach and everything we'd been doing. Then as Amy and I had booked a tour of Colca Canyon for the next day, April decided that she would come along too.
The tour was a 2 day 1 night thing and left at 7am the following morning, so we just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon and got an early night for the big tour the next day.
The bus picked us up at our hostal and we left for the tour in the morning. We had a really good group of people...a few from Holland, a guy from Germany, some Spanish, a couple from the Czech Republic, and the rest were Peruvians. The first place we stopped was a national park where we could see Vicuñas, which are like small deer animals. They are wild animals and are now endangered because in the past people used to catch them for their wool and they would die because of the shock to their system about being caught and all. Today they are protected but once a year the local people collect the wool and they are only allowed to hold the vicuñas for 3 minutes max otherwise they could die. Honestly all this effort for money, I don't understand why they don't just leave them alone and in peace!! The guide said that 1kg of wool fetches around $1000 and that's before any processing, so you could imagine how much it would cost when its actually made into something. Still, considering they are endangered I'd rather leave them be, but that's me for you. Anyways getting back on track, the next place we stopped at was just a little halfway point, but there was this little boy who had a baby llama or alpaca it was so cute, I think I want a llama!! We left again and drove up and up and up...it was so high and the terrain was so strange; like nothing I've ever seen before. It kind of reminded me of what space would look like, with rocks everywhere and no trees. But occasionally you would find these lush, green patches of ground where the locals take the alpacas and llamas to graze; it was like an oasis in the middle of a desert. I don't know whether it was the food poisoning or the altitude but I started to feel really sick when we reached the highest point...well I think its a given when you are at 4900m above sea level! I was out of breath just walking to the plaque, I don't know how people live here! We could only stay at the peak for 5 minutes otherwise the sickness just gets worse so we left and went to a town called Chivay just down the mountain. Not much of a town to say the most, but what can one expect in such a remote place. Some of the people who didn't want to do a small hike got dropped off at their hotels and then the guide took us to see some colcas...at the time I had no idea what they were, but I soon found out that they are ancient storage places that the Incas used to store everything from grain to clothes. They are located right at the bottom of the canyon, just above the waterline and it was an ancient system of refrigeration, because the wind would constantly rush down the canyon cooling everything and keeping it preserved. Unfortunately the colcas we saw were looted before archaeologists could get in there and find anything.
Next we all checked into our hotels then went off to some hot springs; they were so much nicer than the hot springs we went to in baños, looked like some kind of resort and the water was so hot. We got to spend about 2 hours relaxing in the water and it was not fun coming out because the temperature was freezing, especially when you are wet! That night we saw some traditional dancers; they wore such elaborate costumes and the dancers all had meanings. There was also a band playing traditional music, it sounded really good and they are so talented; there was one guy who was playing the pan pipe and the guitar at the same time! The next morning we had to get up at 5am and leave to see the condors flying across the canyon. It took about 2 hours to reach the place where they were at and there were so many people there already and more kept coming. We were lucky to see the condors...the guide said the weather conditions weren't really suitable, but I ended up seeing 3 by the time we left; I don't know if my photos worked though, it was pretty hard to get a good shot. On the way back to Chivay we visited a small town and there was a guy there who had a falcon that was tamed. People had photos with it standing on their arm and on their head...and if you want to know why it didn't fly away its because it was tied to a post with a leg strap. The poor thing! It was such a beautiful, majestic bird and it was tied down like a slave. Its safe to say that I did not get my photo with it; I cannot support that in any possible way....I'd have loved to let it go though!Hehe. So after that we went back to Chivay for lunch then headed back to Arequipa in the afternoon. I was so tired and could have slept until the morning, but we agreed to have dinner with the people from Holland that we met on the trip.
We stayed at the same hostal again that night and then the next day we went and booked bus tickets to Cusco that left that night. The guide told us the day before about a museum that has a frozen mummy of a young girl who was sacrificed by the Incas 500 years ago, so we went to see that. It was honestly the best exhibit I have seen on this trip. First of all it was only 15 soles, which is about $5, we got to see a video about the discovery of the mummy, then got a guided tour around the museum. And we actually got to see the real mummy, we were lucky because she is only on display for 3 months of the year to help preservation. It was really really good! After that we were looking at a map for something else to do that afternoon and 2 guys asked us if we wanted a drink, so we went with them. It was only meant to be one drink but we ended up sharing 5 jugs of pisco and time got away from us and we almost missed our bus. Again, drinking before getting on a bus for 9 hours is not a good idea....another bad bus ride! When we arrived in Cusco it was 6 in the morning and freezing. It was lucky we knew what hostal we were staying at and they were able to book us in right there and then. First impressions of Cusco is that it is a really touristy town...I've seen more white people than Peruvians here and I've only been here a few hours.
Well this has turned into quite a long entry, including a few rants about animal cruelty, but on the whole the last few days have been amazing! We are really starting to get on the tourist route now so there will be so much to do and much to write about. It's Amy's birthday today and we'll probably spend it doing a tour of the Sacred Valley here in Cuzco and tomorrow Chris and Nadine (2 of Amy's friends from Scotland) are coming to Cuzco to meet up with us so that should be lots of fun; we'll probably do Machu Picchu together! Can't wait!!!
