The White City - Arequipa

Melissa and I went on vacation to visit Southern Peru. We had been talking about taking this trip for a while and as time is now running out, we had to make sure we fit it in. 

We arrived in Arequipa the night of April 1st. The next morning, we got up and set out to see what there is to do in the city. We spent a good half hour trying to find the market to grab some breakfast, but it was worth it. I love me a fresh smoothie from the market. After that, we walked down to the main square (every city has one) and had time to take just a few pictures of the Cathedral of Arequipa before a lady walked up to us and started her pitch for those double-decker bus tours. While we were debating about whether the trip included things we wanted to see, she kept dropping the price, so it ended up being a win!

We headed over to the agency to pay then hopped in a taxi to catch up to the tour, because it had actually already started about 10 minutes before. Haha. Our first stop was Parque de Yanahuara and the mirador (lookout point), which is where we met our guide, Raul. For some reason people don't believe us when we say we understand Spanish, so the guides insist on giving their talk in English to us. Apparently, Raul learned that Senorita = Lady in English, and so begin the adventures of Lady Melissa and Lady Katrina...

Chachani ~ Misti ~ Pichu Pichu

After learning a little about white syllar, which is the volcanic rock used in the construction of a lot of building in Arequipa, hence "the white city", we headed over to see some volcanoes at the Mirador de Carmen Alto. From that viewpoint, we could see the very famous and active Misti Volcano and its 2 smaller companions Chachani and Pichu Pichu. 

Queso Helado

Also, we were introduced to Queso Helado. As it turns out, queso helado has no cheese in it. Phew! It is usually frozen in a cheesewheel box and then served like slices of cheese, hence its name. I'm having a hard time coming up with a comparable flavor for it, but you'll just have to take my word for it, it's delicious!

Then, we visited a store where we learned more about baby alpaca and vicuna fibers. Not cheap, but oh so soft. We also went horseback riding, where Melissa met Princesa. Unfortunately, I forgot the name of my horse, but apparently it had the talent of pooping and walking. We also visited the house of the founder of Arequipa, which is beautiful.

Rocotto Relleno

Once we got back to the city, we had to find Rocoto Relleno, which is Arequipa's famous dish. Rocoto is one of the spiciest peppers you will find in Peru. I have been advised to cut these guys with a knife and fork, do not touch the pepper directly with your hands. The filling is ground beef with some more delicious spices and there is usually one or 2 raisins thrown in for some added sweetness, and relief from the spicy. Then the whole thing is covered a creamy cheesy sauce. Yum!

After lunch, we hit up the tourist agencies where we happened upon Cevitur and planned our big trip for Arequipa to Colca Canyon.

Condor just flying by..

The van came and picked us up at 3:10am, yes, in the very early morning, and we headed out for the Canyon. We arrived in the city of Chivay around 6am and had breakfast - bread with jam and tea. Next stop was Cabanaconde and Condor Cross to watch for condors. According to our guide, the day before had been rainy and there weren't any condors, so we lucked out with beautiful bright blue skies and a good number of condors. :) 


A little way down the road in Cabanaconde, we began our trek into the canyon. The first day of the trek was an 1100 meter descent, which is about 8 km of zigzagging downhill that took about 4 hours. We were in a group of 6 - Roy (the guide), Lazarus (the 60 year-old Greek guy with a pacemaker), Nicole and Yvonne (the 25 and 23 year olds from Holland), and Melissa and me. We took it very easy, stopping frequently, especially when Roy had an important story to tell us, usually about how much better Arequipenos (people from Arequipa) are than other Peruvians. He had a lot of Arequipenan pride.

Once we got to the bottom, we headed to our rest stop at San Juan. There we had lunch, took cold showers, and hung out for the afternoon. Around dusk, we had planned to go for a walk to see the area, but we could see the rain moving in on us. As Roy predicted, it arrived quickly and was a pretty heavy rain for 20 minutes. It was an incredible storm and you could see where it snowed the next day. After the rain, we wandered around for a bit, ate a pomegranate, then had dinner, and went to bed. There wasn't any electricity in our rooms, so our light literally was a candle. 

Melissa, Lazarus, Nicole, and Yvonne

The next day, we had a delicious breakfast of chocolate and banana crepes! Waaayy better than bread with jam blah-ness. The day 2 trek was quite a bit easier. It was 6k and again took about 4 hours, but again, we stopped to chat a lot. This part of the journey had more variety of uphill parts and downhill parts. Also, Roy took time to teach us about various plants. Apparently 7 different types of mint grow in the canyon. Also, there are a few substances used for dyes - Roy used one to draw the symbol of the Pachamama on Yvonne's arm and the other he used to paint our faces. He also showed us how they use the branches from the agave cactus to make ropes that were even used to suspend their bridges. I enjoyed learning about how people live off the land in the bottom of the canyon. There are only roads for cars to the mines, so everyone else that lives there has to walk or take a mule in and out for all other errands. 

Colca Canyon Trekkers

We stayed at the Oasis that night. According to Roy, the soil where the Oasis is located is actually from the top of the canyon and it took some 600 men to carry it down into the canyon. The soil is very rich and great for plants. They had a mango tree on site with ripe mangos! Perfection. We went swimming in the pool, spent time swinging in the hammocks, took a nap, ate, and just hung out. Really, the Oasis was beautiful and it was nice to meet up with other trekkers and see how things were going for them. I don't think I would want to stay for long though, because I got bored quickly. Would have been nice to have a book or something electricity to charge my phone so I could listen to music. I guess it is good to be forced to be with your thoughts sometimes..or just go to bed early. 

For our last day of the trek, we headed out at 5am. It took us 2.5 hours to zigzag uphill for 6km, 1000 meters. Man, that was some workout! The night before, we were told that there are mules to rent to go to the top (I hear they cost S/. 60) and they leave at 6am. I was making good headway at the beginning, but then midway had to switch to carry the big backpack with Melissa (we were not prepared to leave stuff behind at the hotel, so we had to leave my backpack full of stuff in Arequipa and shove all of our stuff for the trek into Melissa's backpack, so we took turns carrying the beast). I slowed down a lot. I was about 45 minutes from the top when I started to see the mules coming and I just wanted to beat them to the top. Unfortunately, they won. :( It was still a sweet victory to arrive at the top and not have to climb uphill anymore. 

Nicole, Yvonne, Me, Melissa, and Lazarus

We then had to walk to the city to get breakfast. Haha. The trek in Colca was a lot a walking, but it was beautiful and a lot of fun. It is deeper than the Grand Canyon, so I guess I should be able to take that on some time in the future and see how it compares.

Showing off our hats :D

On our way back to Arequipa, we stopped again in Chivay, where I was able to buy a hat like the locals from there wear. They are called cabanas and are fully embroidered. The lady I bought it from makes them too and she said it takes about a day to day and a half depending on how busy you are to complete it. They used to be done all by hand, but now they do them by sowing machine, with the exception of the part where the bill meets the dome part, which has to be finished by hand. Everyone then proceeded to ask me how much it cost, which is fine, but a little awkward. Anyway, probably the best S/. 130 I ever spent. Our Colca Canyon adventure was a great hiking accomplishment and a beautiful adventure! Success! 



~Next, we spent 4 days in Puno, but I'll do a separate post for that.~

When we got back from Puno, we pretty much had the entire day to kill before we needed to catch our flight back to Lima the night of the 10th. We got up and headed over to the Monastery of Santa Catalina. There we learned about the life of a cloister nun. Also, we got to see why it is called a city within a city, with all of its streets and neighborhood feel. It was really quite neat. I can't imagine being a nun, especially not one that can NEVER leave the compound except to go to the doctor's office. Our guide said the average age of the current nuns is late 30s and there are only 20. We also took a tour of the Cathedral of Arequipa, where we got to check out its organ and even head to the roof for a beautiful view of the plaza below and an up close view of the bells.

A street in the convent..

Courtyard behind the church of the
Monastary of Santa Catalina.

      

The chocolatiest
hot chocolate.

We had contemplated going white water rafting on the Chili River, but after a fun and adventure filled previous 8 days, it was nice to just take time to roam the streets of Arequipa. We took a picture with their famous bronze bulls. And finally, wouldn't you believe, but we found the chocolate place we'd been looking for the whole time we were there! When we flew in, we sat next to a woman from the USA, but that is now living in Arequipa. She said to go check this place out, but she couldn't remember the name and she just new that is was a few blocks up from the church and was upstairs. It completely escaped us, until finally, Melissa spotted it! Turns out it is called Chaqchao and they are trying to rejuvenate the chocolate industry in Arequipa and bring some competition to the very famous La Iberica chocolate stores. We tried chocolate from both places. Both delicious. I wish we had found it sooner because they have a class where you can make your own chocolate! Shucks. 

To end our time in Arequipa, we had a very nice taxi driver that took us to the airport. He gave me his phone number and said I should call him up when I come back and he will make us the very best rocoto relleno in the world. I'll hold you to it, Fernando! Haha. 

The fighting bronze bulls of Arequipa.

~nos vemos~