Our next stop from Lima was Arequipa but as the journey was a reported 16 hours (which normally means 20) we decided to stop on route in a little dusty town called Nasca. Nasca is famous for the mysterious lines drawn in to the surrounding desert, the landscape in Peru has been a stark contrast to that of Ecuador with miles and miles of desert:
The Nazca Lines (we didn't go, but this apparently what they look like)
As we had a full day before our night bus to Arequipa we splashed out US$7 to spend it in the local luxury hotel, with its lovely big swimming pool. Then it was time for the next night bus. Not quite the luxury we were looking for, this bus seemed to be showing its age and the seats didn’t quite perform the 180 degree magic we’d come to expect.
Arequipa
Arequipa's main plaza, Plaza de Armas
Church facade in Arequpa's main plaza
Arequipa is the 3rd largest city in Peru and has a beautiful setting next to three volcanoes. Thankfully only one of them is active so you always knew which direction to run in should you hear rumblings! The buildings are made of a white volcanic stone called sillar and are all the more beautiful for it.
One other thing that we liked very much about this city was the abundance of ice cream, cake and chocolate shops! Surprised?
Cakes called "Lengua de Suegra"; translate as "Tongue of my mother in law".
Easter weekend saw big processions of people carrying various huge statues of Mary and many many candles which looked beautiful. For us of course easter weekend was more about chocolate:
Lesa modelling the latest line in Peruvian Easter chocolate.
Bunny's gonna get it!
Whilst in Arequipa we visited a huge convent, almost a town within the city, which was filled with beautiful maze like alleys and tiny living quarters with huge ovens (looked remarkably like pizza ovens to Gio and I):
Santa Catalina Convent in Arequipa and one of it's...ahemm...pizza ovens.
Another reason that Arequipa is on traveller’s itineraries is that you can access the Colca Canyon from there. The canyon is deeper than the Grand Canyon and famous for both the amazing landscape and the giant condors that fly through. As we discovered when we were picked up at 2AM for our ‘day trip’, the canyon isn’t quite as close to the city as we thought! Not normally ones for signing up for group tours and day trips we decided we would just on this occasion – mainly as we were feeling too lazy to try and get there ourselves! Despite the horrible early start it turned out to be a great decision. We learnt a lot more than we might have from our guide books and saw a lot of the amazing Peruvian countryside and it’s inhabitants. Oh, and an awful lot of Llamas, Alpacas and various relations of theirs....
A condor over Colca Canyon
Colca Canyon
We also went to a all you can eat Peruvian buffet and finally tasted Cuy (guinea pig). Well I say tasted, Gio spent a great deal of time picking through the pile of meat to find something that didn’t have claws or anything that resembled it’s owner and I must have eaten a square mm of it! Strange tasting was the only conclusion. We also ate alpaca kebabs but couldn’t finish them due to this guy outside:
A baby Alpaca...only 2 or 3 weeks old
The churches were beautiful and interesting –with a mix of catholic and Inca religions. If you look closely here you will see mermaids in the carving on the front of the church. Apparently when the Catholics arrived with their crosses the local people thought they represented the southern cross (star constellation) and hence the two religions seemed to be combined easily.
Colca's churches
We were also taken to the highest point in the valley – where I realised I really was under dressed for the trip:
To prepare us for the altitude we were given Coca leaves to chew, the process involved putting ten leaves and an ‘enabler’ (white stuff here) in our mouths, chewing for a bit but only on one side of our mouths and then sitting with it in our mouths for 20 minutes. After about ten my mouth was numb and I was ready to spit – it was gross!
Coco leaves
Here people make piles with stones and make wishes – Gio’s pile was rather small due to his keenness to get back on the bus:
Gio and his unimpressive pile.
Eventually we got back to the city at about 6pm, the longest day trip ever but worth it. The bed in our rather cheap and uncomfortable hostal had never looked so good.
A Hawk maybe....? Someone?......someone?.......anyone.....?
A Condor..... definitely a Condor.
Lunch! (sorry veggies!)
Cactus fruit juice....a bit like kiwi fruit.
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