arequipa a delightful city of about 1 million. we arrived on a sunday that was filled with many people enjoying sunday afternoon on a beautiful sunny fall day.MAH & I ventured out into the madness of horns honking smells of diesel fuel and crowds of people walking on the street to the plaza de armas. It´s been a challenge to use spanish again but I am pleased to meet up with so many patient peruvians who are anxious to communicate. The <plaza was bathed in afternoon sunlight casting shadows and illuminating the stone walls made from volcanic rock. we toured a church and were accosted by beggars in the street who were working the tourists. The Plaza was full of families and others enjoying a leisurely sunday afternoon. From there we went on to book a budget trip to the colca canyon that involved 4 hours each way on a bus. The trip promised a tour of many colonial villages a stop over in CHAVEY and a hope of viewing condors. Out guide Cecil, worked hard to translate both english and spanish and was a wealth of information. He shared info about the quechen way of life, agriculture in the area the spaniard colonization of the region and quite abit about the alpacas and vinques and llamas. We stayed over in chavey at the colca inn. elevation right at 12,000. I thought I could withstand the elevation but I became quite ill that night and skipped folkloric dancing and dinner. I was am to visit the natural thermal pools on the edge of town and treated myself to the healing mineral waters of the andes. <THe travel by bus was rough at first in that much of the scenery was what you might think the moon would look like but with lots of human litter. the people living there are very very poor and eeking out a living out of the desert and stone. amazing. As we climbed higher the air became thinner but the mountains and views and terraces astounding. THe terraces are actually a hold over from the incans. seeing the terraces helps one appreciate the fact that before the colonization of this country by the spanish the civilization here was not only thriving but doing so in a manner that was in harmony with nature.
The sights and sounds of peru are many. the people are gentle and genteel,simple yet proud and eager to please. THere seems to be a large gap between those who have and those who do not have. TO me those who are farming and working to produce meet and the fur products of the country are more connected with the earlier civilazations than those others that i have experienced. Given I have only been here two day s <I know my exposure to be extremely limited. I look forward to learning more from these people about what is important to them. ALL FOR NOW, OFF TO PUNO TOMORROW TO MEET UP WITH THE REST OF THE CREWW AND SING HAPPY bd TO ME.! TAKE CARE ONE AND ALL.tREE
