A night bus from Nazca brought us to ´the White City´, or Arequipa early in the morning on the 30th July and from the bus station we got a minibus to the hotel. We took a walking tour with Alfredo to see the main sights around the centre, and he must´ve been hungry cos while walking around the market we saw dried frogs-not a pleasant sight at nine o´clock, and dared him to eat one! He spoke to the lady who said they were for soup, so he asked for a raw one and ate it! But before eating it we had to watch the lady pull its feet and hands off, really gross!! Anyway, after that we went to the main square and were amazed by the buildings there. They are built from a special volcanic stone called Sillar, which is white and was once found all around Arequipa from eruptions from the surrounding volcanos.
It is another impressive place, and it was again a shame that we had only one day there, but we needed a rest so we were happy walking round and got a nice cheap lunch, and after that we chilled out ready for our 2 day excursion to the Colca Valley and Canyon.
We left the hotel early next morning by minibus and stopped numerous times on the journey to take pictures of volcanos, llamas, alpacas, and scenery, as well as buying warm alpaca clothes-some people really went to town!! I only bought a hat to go with my gloves bought in Arequipa, and Vendy got a jumper! I´m sure you´ll see our new garments once I put the photos on this page.
We went to a small town called Chivay for lunch and then on to our hotel. After a short hike and look at pre-inca ruins we went to the spa, where the water comes up from the ground at 80degrees, heated from the volcano. Fortunately the water is only 40 degs when it gets to the pools and its like a very hot bath!!
In the evening we went to a local families house for dinner where they prepared guinea pig for us-however, we didnt know that we would have to help catch and kill the poor little creatures which squeaked in terror when caught. The mother and owner of the house Isabel, showed us how to kill them, by breaking their neck. They asked for a volunteer to kill the second one and Toni agreed to try. that was when vendy and 3 other girls decided they´d seen enough and went home.
I felt obliged to stay although I didn't watch them skin or gut the animals. I was a little shocked but wanted to try the meat! To add to the evenings atmosphere the temperature plummeted to about -10, and there was no heating in this families small home. A little boy and our guide showed us round the house while the dinner was finished.
We ate vegetable soup, then had a little ginea pig each, and then alpaca and quinoa (a bit like porridge) which is a typical meal in the region, though guinea pig is saved for special occasions.
When we returend to the hotel we realised there was no heating there either and most people slept fully dressed!! It was freezing!!
We were woken up at 5.30 for breakfast (in hats and coats!) and then left for the highlight of the day. We were going condor watching, and at 8.00 we arrived at the condor lookout point. At about 9.00 we saw some a long way off and at 9.20 when we were preparing to leave the show really started, it was amazing. 2 condors sat on the rocks about 6m from the watching people and then they were flying round in circles completely unafraid of the people. One bird flew over my head, no more than 5m away, and it was so amazing to see the biggest bird in the world, so close and in the wild. It's something we´ll never forget.
Then we went hiking along the beautiful canyon, a competitor for the new 7 wonders of the world, with a depth twice that of the grand canyon, and over 100km long. After lunch in Chivay we left for our Arequipa hotel full and content.
