Arequipa – Day 15, and final thoughts

Our last day in Peru, and a totaly chill day – a great way to end the trip.  The weather was awesome and we just wandered about eating & shopping all day long.  Eventually then it was time to head the airport and begin the long journey home.

It was a great vacation – we did so much that Machu Picchu seems so long ago.  I can’t believe all that we saw and accomplished, and am especially glad that this random grop of friends traveled so well together. 

Colca Canyon – Day 14

Everything we read about Arequipa spoke about heading to the Colca Canyon, 3-4 hours away, so we set ourselves up a day trip.   Sadly for us, day trip to the canyon means a 3:30am pick-up in order to get there in the morning to see the condors. 

Mariluz & Dante picked us up in the dark of night and we squeezed into our minivan, attempting to sleep for the drive up but of course I didn’t catch many zzz’s.  It was also freezing in the van which didn’t help.  Around 6:00am we arrived in Yanque to look around, but at that hour nothing was open, not even anywhere to get coffee or breakfast, so we continued on towards the condor viewing spot.  We stopped by a couple lookout points along the way and then arrived at one of the deeper points of the canyon around 8:00am.  First thing in the morning and again around noon is the best time to spot the condors, so we along with many other folks perched ourselves along the canyon walls and waited.

Soon we spotted our first condor fly by and saw many others swooping around the canyon over the next hour.  Despite the early start to tehday it was worth it – the birds are huge and it was cool to see the contrast of them against the steep canyon walls.  After an hour we wandered back to our van and headed back through the canyon towards Chivay.  The amazing thing about the canyon is the vast array of terraced farmlands lining every inch of space.  Many of the farms have been abandoned since the Spanish invasion in the 1500’s, but you can see all the outlines and plots.

In Chivay we spent an hour at the hot springs which was great.  The water could have been a little warmer, but we were outside on a sunny day in a beautiful setting, so it was nice relaxing time.  From there we finally got some food for the day, stopping for lunch at a nearby restaurant, and then began the long drive back home to Arequipa.  Along the way we stopped at one of the highest points on the drive, around 14,000 feet and again were hit slightly by the altitude – even though we weren’t walking anywhere, it was definitely harder to breathe.  So weird.

Got home around 4:30pm and then had naptime to recuperate a bit from the 3:00am wake-up time.  Dinner later at a swiss place called Zig Zag – I had Quinoa gnocchi. 

Arequipa – Day 13

Left on our own with no schedule, we slept in and met for breakfast in thegarden at 9:00am.  The eggs here are really good.  And coca tea again since we are back up high again.  After breakfast we spent the morning wandering around the Monasterio Santa Catalina (http://www.santacatalina.org.pe/arquitectura_i.htm ) which was ana amazing spot – a very interestinghistory and great architecture.  Our tour guide Claudia was very cute and full of information, useful to have in a place this huge.  Short version:  In it’s hey day, all the rich families sent their second daughters here to become nuns.  The “novice” nuns essentially lived solo in heir rooms for 4 years before becoming a full-fledged and have slightly more freedom.  Reform came in the 1800’s allowing even more freedom, and there are still 24 nuns that live and work here today.

For lunch we headed out from the city center to Tradition Arequipena, a big restaurant with lots of outdoor seating which was great since it was a beautiful day.  Kevin finally got his cuy (aka guinea pig).  I took a bite – it really wasn’t very flavorful, same texture as chicken (which is what I had, with an asparagus sauce)

In the afternoon we wandered through the neighborhoods of Yanahuara and Cayma, as well as around the Plaza de Armasand the side streets.  Then dinner and into bed early for the final 3:30am pick-up of our trip.  I’ve never been up during the 3:00am hour so consistently in my life, whew…

 

Lima to Arequipa – Day 12

Arriving back in Lima yesterday had been a rude awakening after 7 days in the great outdoors: cloudy, smelly, noisy.  Therefore, we were happy   to be escaping to Arequipa for the end of our journey.  Arequipa is the second biggest city in Peru, but still under 1 million.  The lady next to me on the plane keptcrowding into my personal space to look out the window which was super annoying, but luckily the flight was only an hour (and there was a good snack box because we were on LAN.  We only got peanuts on Aero Condor).

We love Arequipa – landing here it was clear skies and sunny, warm, yet surrounded by 4 big volcanic peaks.  Just a much better vibe than Lima.  Kelli had arranged car service with the hotel, so our drivers were waiting and took us straight to Casa de Melgar, our super cute hotel in the middle of town.  It{s an old stone building that used to be a bishops house, decorated fabulously with a nice garden.  This is going to be a great way to end our journey.

We ate a late lunch nearby in the sun on a rooftop deck, then wandered around the main square fopr the rest of the afternoon.  Erin, Jason, Anjie & I then enjoyed the sunset from an even higher rooftop deck overlooking the city.  It was a really nice welcome to the city and it{s so nice to have a couple days without being on a schedule.

We enjoyed a late dinner at a nearby restaurant where a local band was playing: pan flutes, guitars, a drum, a ukulele – they were great. Our food took forever to come out though, so we tired pretty quickly and came home to crash as soon as we were done eating. I{m sure only getting 4 hours sleep tehnight before didn{t help either…

Jungle to Lima – Day 11

This keyboard sucks, so please forgive any weird punctuation.  This was a big travel day and then end of our official tour.  We slept {til 7:00, and after breakfast boarded the big motorized canoe for a two hour journey upstream to Puerto Maldonado.  It was a beautiful morning so the ride was nice, even though it was long and the life preservers smelled of mold.

From there we picked our big luggage back up and hit the airport for Aero Condor flights 3 & 4, flying to Lima via Cusco.  Maritza was with us on the first leg, but then we had to say goodbye from the plane as she left us in Cusco. She was such a fantastic guide – I don{t know what we{ll do on our own in Arequipa, fending for ourselves.  We haven{t had to think about anything for days, just followed Maritza aimlessly.

Maricel met us in Lima and got us back to the Hotel Buena Vista where it was muscial rooms – Jason & Anjie were in our previous room, Kelli & Kevin were in Jason & Anjie{s old room, Paschal & Sarah were in K & K{s old room and Erin & I got bumped up to teh master suite – our room was huge.

We all needed a snack so we headed to a cafe on Avenue Larco where I got hot chocolate and churros – mmmm, good especially when dipping the churros in the chocolate.  Then we wandered and did some shopping,  the most interesting spot being Vivanda, apparently the Whole Foods of Lima. It was super fancy.  At the check out, Erin{s PLA status (Peruvian Looking American) was reconfirmed as the cashier asked her for her grocery card.

Back at the hotel we dressed for dinner and enjoyed happy hour on the little landing outside our rooms before our big night out.  All the hot spots are at LarcoMar, a hillside mall down the road from us.  It was weird to be going out in a mall but when in Lima….

We had dinner at a sushi restaurant then hit a nearby club called bartini.  It was a fun night – lots of drinks, lots of dancing, good times

Amazon Jungle – Day 10

Back to the early morning wake up calls, as Victor came knocking at 5:00am.  Breakfast at 5:30 and into the canoes at 6:00am.  We went downstream about 10 minutes and then spent about six hours in the jungle.  We hiked in a kilometer, then got into a smaller canoe that we paddled up a small river for about an hour, hiked a bit more, canoed to the lost lagoon and floated about, then hiked 5km back to the shore where we began.  Throughout the day we saw lots of different birds, turtles, ants, caymens, tarantulas and a small green snake.  oh, one of the birds was a vulture.  The whole hike was filled with apprehension – for example we saw jaguar tracks.  cool!  but then you realize that there{s a jaguar nearby.  We looked everywhere for anacondas, but did we really want one to swim up alongside our boat?  I{m not so sure I did.

It was really hot and humid as you would expect, so we were all exhausted through the last couple kms we had to hike even though it was flat.  On the boat ride back to the lodge we saw more turtles out sunbathing on the shoreline which was neat.  Even though it was hot, we lucked out with the weather since we avoided rain.  We had actually worn rubber boots from the lodge for the hike because the trail was pretty muddy from earlier rains that week.  Of course arriving back at the lodge we had to wash off all the mud which was kind of annoying, but it was better than having mucked up my own hiking boots.

We had 30 minutes before lunch during which I rinsed off in the super cold shower.  At lunch the fried yucca was especially tasty, but I was still so hot I didn{t eat much.  For the afternoon we had a couple free hours during which most of us napped.  I had big intentions of catching up in my journal, but once I hit that hammock and turned on the Michael Buble I was totally out.  It was pretty decadent though, just laying there with my tunes cranked in the middle of the amazon. 

It was tough to leave the hammock and my swim attire to cover back-up for the afternoon jaunt through the botanical garden, but I really wanted to go.  Erin & Anjie stayed behind.  Our guide, Victor, is adorable.  His English is sometimes kind of halting, but he knows his stuff and loves his job.  For example, going through the garden, he knows the local name, English name and latin name for every plant.  Same was true for all the animals we saw in the jungle – pretty amazing.  The botanical garden is mostly random trees planted behind the main buildings of the lodge but its interesting to hear about all of their uses – my question though, is how do they figure out what to use for each ailment?  There were plants for kidneys, ulcers, prostates, diarrhea, scars, and even impotency and a love potion.And then there{s Ayahuasca, which is like peyote. You can pay big bucks to do an Ayahuasca ceremony at the lodge – a shaman comes and mixes it all up.  You have to meditate first and eat a special diet.  If it works for you though, you will see your past, present & future.  Maritza did it once and just vomited the whole time.

The tour lasted an hour and then we had a couple more hours to kill before dinner.  Kevin & I had each brought a bottle of wine with us though, so we met up in the bar for happy hour, before the last supper with our whole group.  

ooo, side note:  the previous night in the bar Kelli & I crushed Anjie & Kevin at foosball.  They may try to tell you it was because they had a couple broken players on their side but I{m pretty sure it was our sheer skill.

Anyway, no games tonight – just drinks and chatting.  Dinner was plated and served, no buffet: spinach mashed potatoes, veggies, chicken.  I still wasn{t starving, but the potatoes were good.  And I really like the rolls here, sweet like hawaiian bread.  and soup of course.  After dinner we went back into the bar with high hopes of partying until the lights went out at 10:00pm, but we were all wiped out by 9:00pm – pathetic.

Amazon Jungle – Day 9

Maritza met us at 8:30am for our flight into the jungle, the jumping off point being a town called Puerto Maldonado.  The flight was only 30 minutes from Cusco, so I thought it might be a small plane, but it was in fact a 737 (and I have now survived my second Aero Condor flight, despite the advice of my security team to stick with LAN.  But I didn’t book these flights so it was out of my control). 

Arriving in the jungle was hot, sticky and wet as you might imagine.  We gathered up our luggage and boarded a big, open air bus to the local office of our lodge, the Eco Amazonia Lodge (http://www.ecoamazonia.com.pe/english/eco_amazonia_lodge.htm).  We stored most of our luggage there, and then Victor took us on a short tour of the local market where I bought some yummy sugar-coated brazil nuts.  (Brazil is only 4 hours away by bus from here).  It was a huge market and amazing to see all the stuff for sale like tons of flip flops and two whole rows of electronics.  Nearby was also a giant mattress store.

After our tour and purchasing opportunities, we re-boarded our bus and drove down to the docks to board our big wooden canoe with a motor off the back-end.  The ride to the lodge took about 90 minutes since we were heading downstream.  We were not on the Amazon river, but one that feeds into it – equally impressive though.  I mean seriously, we were in a big wooden canoe skimming along through the Amazon Jungle!  Holy cow!

The Eco Amazonia Lodge is very similar to the place Sara & I stayed on Magnetic Island: 2 man netted cabins/huts that are open air but save you from bugs, a pool, a bar, a dining hall.  It’s pretty cool and the staff is very gracious and helpful.  Upon arrival we were immediately served lunch and then shortly thereafter headed downstream a bit more to Monkey Island.  We saw five different types of monkeys as we hiked around and even a few babies.  Many of these are monkeys the resort owners have rescued so they are fairly domesticated, but still fun to see.

We canoed back to the lodge and had some time to kill before dinner, so we decided to hit the pool.  It was freezing (like being at Mar’s pool), but felt good since we were so hot & sticky.  The first plunge was hard, but then it was refreshing, especially before dinner.

After dinner we took a nighttime canoe ride to look for caymens (baby crocodiles).  We spotted a few along the shoreline, but the most amazing thing was actually the stars.  It’s pitch black out here in the middle of the Amazon, so you can see every star imaginable, including the southern cross and milky way.  It was so cool to be sitting in a big wooden boat surrounded by nothing but the stars and the sounds of the jungle from the nearby shorelines.  We drifted downstream in silence for about ten minutes just taking it all in.  Then, as we neared teh lodge, our captain revved the motor back up and took us into shore to crash for the night (5:00am wake-up call teh next day!).

Cusco – Day 8

After coming off the trail we had a free day in Cusco and even got to sleep in.  Maritza came over for an 8:30am on the jungle, and then we were on our own.  We had two goals for the day:  visit the ruins of Sexy Woman (not it’s actual spelling but that’s how it sounds) and shopping at the artisans market.  We decided to tackle the ruins first – they sit high atop Cusco and you can hike there in about 45 minutes.  We however were lazy, and split into two cabs to ride up.  These ruins were good, but after having just finished the Inca Trail it’s hard to compare.  We wandered for awhile, then popped over to the next hill to see the giant Blanco Christo statue.  From the tops of the hills we could see rain moving our direction, so instead of walking back down as planned, we grabbed taxis again and headed to lunch.

Refreshed with food, we strolled down the main drag, Avenue El Sol to the Artisans Handicraft market recommended by Maritza and spent a good two hours shopping (yay presents! and stuff for me!).  Loaded down with loot, we did a quick drive-by at a museum before it closed, then collapsed back home for awhile.For dinner we finally made it to a tapas bar we had tried to go to twice previously, al Cicciolina.  It was good – I had french onion soup, and some local trout with fried sweet potato gnocchi.  Then we met up with some other trail buddies at a nearby Irish pub before stumbling home exhausted.

Machu Picchu – Day 7, part 2

Back in Lima, time to catch up.  Being back in the city is quite the rude awakening after a week in the great outdoors – noisy, smoggy, cloudy, smelly.  The hot water and flushing toilets are good though.

Anyway, our story continues:  Descending into Machu Picchu was amazing.  You are standing on a mountain top, at a giant city built of big rocks.  It’s totally nutty.  Lucky for us as the morning progressed the clouds slowly burned off and the sun emerged.  It was actually cool to get both the cloudy and sunny versions, even though we missed the view from the sun gate.  The rain sucked, but it also added to the whole experience.  Being at Machu Picchu is totally surreal – there is no way to comprehend how they built this city and how it still survives today.  Maritza gave us a guided tour of the hot spots, and then we had time to wander on our own as well.  The pictures won’t do it all justice, but they will serve as better descriptor than anything I write here so you just have to wait for those when I return next week

Eventually we made our way to the nearby town of Agua Calientes, via a scary switchback bus ride.  We grabbed a quick lunch, and then the train back to Ollantaytambo.  There we hopped off onto another a bus to get to Cusco.  Arriving back in Cusco we all enjoyed super hot showers to wash away 4 days of hiking filth.  This however is where I discovered my twelve bug bites – my legs are not pretty.

We enjoyed dinner out with our hiking buddies Carrie & Nathan at InCanto.  After 4 days of Peruvian food, it was a nice switch to Italian (even though the trail food was awesome.)  Then it was home to bed since it had been a LONNNGGG day.

 

Machu Picchu – Day 7, part 1

In the middle of the night it started raining.  The tent was hot that night, but the sound of rain was ominous as we had a 4:00am wake-up call to hike to Machu Picchu.  When the porters woke us, it was dark and rainy despite my prayers to Pachamama to make it stop.  We rushed to get dressed and packed up, and the rain stopped briefly as we finished breakfast (pancakes with caramel!) and began our trek to the final checkpoint, just 5 minutes away.  I´ve never hiked in the dark, but luckily Sallie & Fede had loaned Kelli & I their headlamps.  At the checkpoint we were the second group in line and had to wait about 30 minutes for thestaff to arrive, as other groups lined up behind us.  At 5:30am, tickets were checked and we were on our way to Machu Picchu, about 90 minutes away, past the Sun Gate.

As usual, I was much slower than the rest of my group, especially in the cold, dark rain.  I had also decided to trek in my glasses since bringing contacts seemed like it would be a hassle.  Given the lovely weather we had had for three days, it was fine.  But on this super humid morning my glasses kept fogging up which only added to my slowness.  A huge downpour also came our way so it was finally time to put on the sexy rain ponchos we had been packing around just in case.

Eventually I made it up to the Sun Gate with the rest of my group, but the clouds kept us from seeing anything but a layer of fluffy white.  We had another 45 minutes to go, mostly downhill on now slippery steep steps – good times.  The rain and clouds persisted for the final leg of our trek, so as we arrived at Machu Picchu it was still shrouded in clouds.

Off to the jungle – more when we return!