Cusco, Arequipa & Colca Canyon

Before we carry on where we left off, we thought we'd throw in a couple pictures from Cusco... since we spent 4 days there and forgot to upload any pictures. It's bizarre that we didn't blog about it, because we actually really enjoyed the city. The main square (Plaza de Armas) has two huge cathedrals in it. We didn't venture into them though because we thought the price was a bit steep (~$12).

We spent the majority of one afternoon wandering through mazes of stairs trying to find our hostel.  We were fairly acclimatized by this point, but you could still feel the altitude if you climbed enough stairs (or were sick, as our poor friend Trine was).

This is not the first time we've seen this, but it's the first time Lisa managed to snag a picture. Here is one of those adorable, traditional women, peeing in the street gutter. No big deal in Peru, apparently.

We spent quite a bit of time just wandering the streets; the city has been around since pre-Inca time and Inca relics are everywhere. A lot of the walls and parts of buildings are still original Inca stone. Here is a view of the city from another Cathedral; you can see the Plaza de Armas in the middle. The very first time you see a traditionally dressed 6 year old carrying a lamb, you immediately grab your camera, because it is truly irresistibly cute. The parent will then magically appear and demand payment for the cute photo you just took. For that exact reason, you won't see any cute kid-lamb pictures here.

We spent an extra day in Cusco recouperating, then hopped on another night bus (not one of the better ones, unfortunately). We arrived early in the morning to Arequipa. The landscapes as seen from the night buses are often pretty spectacular, especially at sunrise and sunset.

Arequipa is a charming, clean and safe city. We were here for Peru national elections, which was a huge deal; way more so than elections in Canada. The celebrations were comparable to those following hockey games in Canada. For two days prior to elections (Friday, and Saturday) it is illegal to sell or consume alcohol in Peru (but no rules about celebrating the day of, or after...). Here is a shot in the Plaza de Armas in Arequipa.

We wandered around Arequipa and arranged a tour to the Colca Canyon for the following day. Wake-up call was at 2:45a.m. and we hopped on a bus at 3:30. Despite being pretty bundled, this was the coldest either of us have ever been on this whole trip. Apparently it's freezing at 4:00am at 4900 meters above sea level (the high of the pass on the way to the canyon). The cold, and the typical Peruvian driving manners prevented us from sleeping much, but we were suprisingly ready to go by the time we reached the canyons. We are getting used to the 3:00am wake-up thing. On the way to the Canyon we stopped to watch Andean Condors soaring above the Canyon on thermals. They are majestic birds with wingspans over 3 meters. They almost looked small in relation to the size of the Canyon, however.

We started our 4-hour descent down into the Canyon, followed by another hour back up the other side to our lunch spot. The trail was very dissimilar to the Inka Trail; scorching hot, dusty, steep and narrow. The lunch was fantastic considering the circumstances; it's amazing what you can do with a few fresh ingredients. Lisa got stung a few times by a nasty Andean wasp which got between her and her backback. It was definitely a wasp, despite the locals who told us (from looking at the bite) that it was certainly a scorpion sting.

We have been spoiled by good guides so far on this trip, so it was a sharp contrast between those guides and the one we got on this trip. We basically did our own thing, because our guide couldn't have been bothered to tell us about anything, or even lead the way for that matter. Not that the trail was particularly hard to find; there is only one trail into and out of the Canyon which serves as the only road for the 900 residents on the Canyon (spread out among numerous small villages). All food and supplies into and out of the Canyon go by mule or donkey.

We passed through 2 of the villages on our way. The main village boasts an elementary school and an abandonned church (for lack of a pastor). A lot of the homes are deserted because families are forced to leave the Canyon if their children want to continue their (non-mandatory) education beyond grade 6. There was also a lonely looking health clinic; the locals prefer to use traditional medicine (Shamans).

After lunch we descended back down into the bottom of the Canyon to the Oasis where we would spend the night.

We were tired and sweaty and jumped into the pool without a second thought. Unfortunately, our guide abandoned us (once again) and we spent a long, cold while treading water waiting for him to bring us keys for our huts. We eventually gave up and changed back into our dirty clothes in the outhouse washrooms.

The post-hike evening social atmosphere was not nearly as fun as it was on the Machu Picchu hike, but that was fine because we needed a good sleep anyways; we'd been up since 2:45am and had a 4:45am wake-up call to look forward to. The stars in the Canyon were unbelievable; probably the most stars we've ever seen. Our guide told us to meet at 4:50am, so naturally everyone in the group was on time, but we left at 5:1am when the guide (whose name we never knew) finally showed up. The sun rose as we hiked, but we were [thankfully] shaded most of the way. Here is a shot of us; in the background you can see the Oasis where we slept. This is about 1/3 of the way back up out of the canyon.

At the top we enjoyed a well-deserved breakfast. In general breakfasts here are pretty weak; mostly white bread and jam... not a great way to start a day of hiking. Even worse, there was NO breakfast before the 3-hour trek up, so we were so glad we had some goodies stashed in our packs to sustain us, because even with them were were starving when we reached the top. A lady at the top was selling bananas; best 1 sole (about 33cents) ever spent on a banana. Our guide dissapeared again at breakfast, so we wandered around Cobanaconda for awhile before catching the bus back. A small, quiet city, with lots of traditionally dressed women.

We stopped briefly on the way back to check out the extensive agricultural terracing in the valley. We also changed into cooler outfits, and noticed we were wearing exactly the same thing!

We also stopped at 4900 meters (16 100 feet - for reference, Calgary (one of the highest cities in Canada) is at 3440 feet) to view the many volcanoes in the area, including the famous El Misti. For miles, thousands of rock "scultpures" littered the tundra-esque landscape. They were originally made by locals as offerings, but now tourists have continued the "trend". If you look closely, you can see them in the backgroud below.

The landscapes in the National Park on the way back to Arequipa were surreal. Something between tundra and muskeg and desert. Llamas, alpacas and vicunas (the smaller, rarer relative of the former two, and the national animal of Peru) were plentiful.

Llamas



Vicunas

We carefully captured a shot of this classic sign out the back window of the bus; a true display of team effort if you could have been there to see it (our guide clearly was not going to stop to let us get the shot).

Safely back in Arequipa, at our sweet hostel (Wayna River Backpackers Hostel), we did our laundry. We are getting really resourceful with the laundry thing. Our clothes even had time to sun-dry before we hopped on another bus to Puno, on Lake Titicaca (where we are now). But more on that later... keep posted!