The White City
Arequipa is a pretty little town. When I say little, I mean it has 1 million inhabitants, although you wouldn't guess it from the size of the town centre - all the touristy stuff is located within close proximity. The day we arrived, Monday, there was some sort of strike going on - all the minibus drivers had parked their cars behind one another, forming very long lines and making it impossible for any traffic to pass through the centre. From what I gathered it was a strike against the council - Arequipenans are still unhappy about being controlled by central government in Lima. At one point (don't know how long ago it was) Arequipa actually designed its own flag and passports as a sign of their supposed independence, with minimal success. Unlucky! The city definitely has a unique, non-Peruvian feel to it though. The name 'White City' is derived from the fact that most of the (colonial) buildings were built from sillar, or white volcanic rock. It makes for quite an impressive sight, especially around the plaza. There are still several active volcanoes in the surrounding area. No major eruptions, however. Earthquakes have posed a bit more of a problem - a recent quake (2001) destroyed one of the bell towers of the Cathedral. In the Colca Canyon, a few hours drive from Arequipa, a major quake in 1991 turned many of the little villages along the canyon to piles of rubble. It's amazing to think that the whole region is still so active geologically... I guess it's a phenomenon we're not familiar with in Europe.
Anywho, enough facts, on to the more exciting stuff. In Arequipa we met up with Shelley and Dave, two people we met through the trek, so it was cool organising things with them. It's bizarre how often you bump into people you recognize when you go travelling. On our second to last day in Arequipa, we bumped into two more people we met on the trek! It's a small world. Actually, it happened again today. We went on tour of some of the islands around Lake Titicaca, and saw some Israelis on the trip we recognised from Cusco. We don't even know them that well - they just came up to us in Cusco to ask if we could recommend a hostel. Certain faces just stand out I suppose. Six degrees of separation my arse. More like three or four.
The first day in Arequipa we explored the city and booked a few tours, one to the Colca Canyon (to watch condors) and one to go white-water rafting. Both were well worth it, especially rafting - some of the rapids were quite intense and like the sandboarding, it was an incredible adrenaline rush. One of the trainee-coaches in the back of the raft managed to get us stuck on a rock, and we nearly sank the damn thing trying to get it to come unstuck! Hilarious. The Colca Canyon trip ended up being more of an adventure, in the sense that there's more of a story to tell. Riduclously early start to day - pick up from the hostel was at 1.30 A.M. Now, normally we were supposed to get off at a place called Chivay to have some 'complementary' breakfast, but we slept through the stop. Instead we carried on for another 1 1/2 hours, past the Condor viewpoint (which was the next stop on the tour), before we realised the gravity of our mistake. We got off the bus in the middle of nowhere and walked back to the Condor viewpoint, which fortunately only took 30 minutes. Mind you, this was at 7 a.m. and it was bloody freezing! Eventually we managed to find out guide, but she was none too pleased... Anywho, we saw the condors, so all worked out well in the end! There were about 6 or 7 of them, gliding on the morning thermals. It's impossible to explain how enormous these birds actually are: adults have a wing-span of up to 3 metres! A spectacular sight, particularly because they flew overhead several times. Immense. Afterwards we had a few photo-stops to admire the scenery, also fairly impressive. Got a glimpse of vicunas driving through a reserve on the way back to Arequipa. They're a close relative of the llama and alpaca, but are a wild species, not domestic. Good daytrip, but exhausting.
On our last day in Arequipa we went to a mummy museum which was really interesting. In the last 2 decades quite a few Inca mummies have been discovered on the peaks of mountains in the surrounding area - apparently young girls and boys (chosen at birth) were sacrificed to the gods when they became angry (i.e. when a volcano was about to erupt). Juanita is the most important of these mummies, because she's actually a frozen body instead of a mummy - it was that well preserved. In the afternoon we caught a bus to Puno, which is where we are now. As I mentioned before we saw Lake Titicaca today, which is beautiful once Puno dissapears from view. The tour gave an interesting overview of the lifestyle of the natives on the islands (Los Uros, or the floating islands, and Taquile island), but I struggle to see how these people can cling on to their cultural norms and values - especially when 'exploitation' from the tourist industry is so strong and they're all too happy to accept the income. It doesn't even provide that much of financial boon - people still rely on their traditional ways to get by with some degree of comfort. Taking photos of locals felt like being at a zoo snapping pics of the animals. Sometimes I hate being a tourist.
Right, that about sums it up for now. Tomorrow's our last day in Peru before crossing the border to Copacabana. Bolivia, here we come...
Anywho, enough facts, on to the more exciting stuff. In Arequipa we met up with Shelley and Dave, two people we met through the trek, so it was cool organising things with them. It's bizarre how often you bump into people you recognize when you go travelling. On our second to last day in Arequipa, we bumped into two more people we met on the trek! It's a small world. Actually, it happened again today. We went on tour of some of the islands around Lake Titicaca, and saw some Israelis on the trip we recognised from Cusco. We don't even know them that well - they just came up to us in Cusco to ask if we could recommend a hostel. Certain faces just stand out I suppose. Six degrees of separation my arse. More like three or four.
The first day in Arequipa we explored the city and booked a few tours, one to the Colca Canyon (to watch condors) and one to go white-water rafting. Both were well worth it, especially rafting - some of the rapids were quite intense and like the sandboarding, it was an incredible adrenaline rush. One of the trainee-coaches in the back of the raft managed to get us stuck on a rock, and we nearly sank the damn thing trying to get it to come unstuck! Hilarious. The Colca Canyon trip ended up being more of an adventure, in the sense that there's more of a story to tell. Riduclously early start to day - pick up from the hostel was at 1.30 A.M. Now, normally we were supposed to get off at a place called Chivay to have some 'complementary' breakfast, but we slept through the stop. Instead we carried on for another 1 1/2 hours, past the Condor viewpoint (which was the next stop on the tour), before we realised the gravity of our mistake. We got off the bus in the middle of nowhere and walked back to the Condor viewpoint, which fortunately only took 30 minutes. Mind you, this was at 7 a.m. and it was bloody freezing! Eventually we managed to find out guide, but she was none too pleased... Anywho, we saw the condors, so all worked out well in the end! There were about 6 or 7 of them, gliding on the morning thermals. It's impossible to explain how enormous these birds actually are: adults have a wing-span of up to 3 metres! A spectacular sight, particularly because they flew overhead several times. Immense. Afterwards we had a few photo-stops to admire the scenery, also fairly impressive. Got a glimpse of vicunas driving through a reserve on the way back to Arequipa. They're a close relative of the llama and alpaca, but are a wild species, not domestic. Good daytrip, but exhausting.
On our last day in Arequipa we went to a mummy museum which was really interesting. In the last 2 decades quite a few Inca mummies have been discovered on the peaks of mountains in the surrounding area - apparently young girls and boys (chosen at birth) were sacrificed to the gods when they became angry (i.e. when a volcano was about to erupt). Juanita is the most important of these mummies, because she's actually a frozen body instead of a mummy - it was that well preserved. In the afternoon we caught a bus to Puno, which is where we are now. As I mentioned before we saw Lake Titicaca today, which is beautiful once Puno dissapears from view. The tour gave an interesting overview of the lifestyle of the natives on the islands (Los Uros, or the floating islands, and Taquile island), but I struggle to see how these people can cling on to their cultural norms and values - especially when 'exploitation' from the tourist industry is so strong and they're all too happy to accept the income. It doesn't even provide that much of financial boon - people still rely on their traditional ways to get by with some degree of comfort. Taking photos of locals felt like being at a zoo snapping pics of the animals. Sometimes I hate being a tourist.
Right, that about sums it up for now. Tomorrow's our last day in Peru before crossing the border to Copacabana. Bolivia, here we come...
posted by Job @ 5/27/2006
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