FROM AREQUIPA, THE WHITE CITY TO THE WORLD`S DEEPEST COLCA CANYON
After getting back from the Bolivian Amazon the challenge we set was to arrive to Arequipa in Peru by the next day via La Paz and the Lake Titicaca. We didn`t count, however, with the 4+ hours delay of our flight from the jungle, which only left us enough time to get to the bus station from the airport in La Paz and take the next bus to Copacabana arriving at about 10pm, still in Bolivia. Although the border is only 10 minutes from there, it closes at 7pm, so the last bus leaves at 6.30pm which we missed by far. As we couldn`t cross to Peru to take the 10.30pm night bus from Puno to Arequipa, we had no choice but to travel during the following day. We lost a day this way, but on the positive side we slept in a bed instead of on the bus after a long day, and we could also have a nice breakfast in Copacabana at the cafe on Plaza Sucre (it has no name but it is the only café on the square, next to an Asian fusion restaurant) that we discovered at our first time there. In the morning we took the first bus to Peru and in 3 hours we got to Puno where we could jump straight on the bus to Arequipa. This time we used Bus Peru which is much less comfortable than Cruz del Sur but is also cheaper and has more regular service. After 6 more hours on the bus we couldn`t wait to get off finally in Arequipa! Our hostel was 5-10 mins walk from the historical center, so even if we didn`t feel much more energy after the 2 days of travelling, we made it to the city center for a relaxed walk and a well-deserved dinner in the beautifully lit center.
We heard different explanations of the title of the White City: One relates to the volcanic whitish stone that has been used for the contruction of many buildings and gave a light look to the centre; the other is about the dominance of people with Spanish origin compared to the indigenious communities nearby, which has always been an exceptional feature of Arequipa. As the city was only founded in 1540 by the Spanish, it has no Inca history and inheritance. Due to its loyalty to the Spanish crown Arequipa gained economic significance, and after the indepence of Peru from Spain it even become the capital for about 50 years in the 19th century. This is when most of the prominent buildings of the centre were built, which today are part of the UNESCO word heritage. Several strong earthquakes hit the city in the past which influenced its architectural style - most buildings are low and have a think wall of 1.5-2m to be able to withstand future seismic activities. Now the city is the second largest in the country with almost a million inhabitants, and it even has some initiatives to become independent, since as locals say "they have everything to become separate from Lima: their own water, beer, food and gold". Indeed, the restaurants are proud to offer local Arequipeno dishes, which can be found nowhere else in Peru. These are mainly a fusion of Spanish and Andean cuisine as a result of adaptation to the European taste.
The most popular trip from Arequipa is the hike to the Colca Canyon, which you can do in 1-3 days depending on how easy you take the trek. As the starting point is more than 150 kms from Arequipa and the hike is about 6-7 hours, the one-day trip leaves no time to enjoy the view and is very exhausting. Hence we decided to go for 2 days which makes a loop of a 6 hs trek on the first day, overnight in an oasis in the canyon then a 3 hours uphill trek the day after. On our first night in Arequipa we just wanted to gather some information about the trip and see the options at a few travel agencies, however, we realized that having 3 days in total in the region it made a lot more sense to go to the canyon first and then rest a day in the city after the trip than the other way around. This meant, however, that our tour started right the day after we arrived, and what was a bit of a shock, they came to pick us up from our hostel at 3.30am! Once we knew that this was waiting for us, we quickly booked the tour and decided to pamper ourselves with some good food – a cooked meal after 2 days on the way!
One of the things we loved about Arequipa was its abundance of good restaurants and cafes with a great variety of food (not only trout and rice). For this evening, as a treat, we chose a restaurant from Gaston Acurio, the world-famous Peruvian chef, who made the local cuisine famous around the world. His selection includes traditional dishes and innovative fusion creations with international food. He has restaurants in Cuzco, Arequipa and Lima, and we had been looking forward to the opportunity to try one of them. In Arequipa his restaurant is in an elegant courtyard prominently located next to the Monasterio de Santa Catalina, which is one of the most spectacular religious buildings in not only the city but in Peru too. Within the courtyard guests can choose from the elegant and more formal restaurant, Chi Cha, and the more relaxed Tanta which has an open-air terrace in the courtyard. We chose the latter mainly due to our outdoor outfit and the courtyard. The food and the fruit juice coctails, together with the spotless service were an absolute highlight of our stay in Arequipa.
The day after we got up at 3am after about 4.5 hs sleep… Although the intention was to go to bed early after the restaurant, by the time we prepared our luggage for the trek etc. it got quite late. In the morning the agency arrived with a bus of around 20 people who were our travel companions for the next 2 days. As we were the last 2 people to get picked up, we only had a limited choice of seats: one between the guide and the driver straight in front of the radio with no leg space and no head support on the seat, and one in the very back with limited space overall. I was asked to sit at the first seat as Szilveszter`s legs could no way get squeezed into that space. In the end both seats were so uncomfortable that we couldn`t use the 3-hour drive until our first destination to catch up on sleep, but it made us so much happier that both our guides had a great nap at two of the best seats. By about 6.30m we arrived to Chivay to have a very simple breakfast and then continued to Cabanaconde, from where the trek starts. On the way there we got to the Mirador del Condor, which is the viewpoint where condors can be spotted and it`s a magnificent view. We were only told by this, however, as at the time we got there we couldn`t see longer than our nose in the mist, so there was no chance to see any birds.
As we learnt later, the condors are monogamous birds, they choose their partner and stay together until one of them dies. In this case the male commits suicide by performing a kamikaze-style dive into the ground; however females get over it quite easily and choose a new partner. If a condor commits suicide above a village, it is considered extremely bad luck by for the locals. These birds, however can live as long as about 80 years, so such accident is not too common!
What we were meant to see vs what we saw...
At this point we also got told that due to the heavy rain that hit the area the night before we had to skip the trek planned for the first day, and walk down to the oasis, our accommodation straight away, on the same way that we would take back on the 2nd day. Well, this is what can happen when someone goes climbing in the rainy season – in the end we didn`t mind. Even the 3-hour climb down on the very steep path to the oasis was enough that all our legs were shaking afterwards. For the effort the trek takes through some spectacular views over the beautiful canyon and the the oasis from above.
The oasis itself is located at the foot of a red rocky mountain, and it looks like a green island in the middle of the dry area. A river in the bottom of the hill feeds the vegetation and keeps it live. The oasis must consist of about 3-4 hostels, and we stayed in the one owned by the Oasis agency we booked the tour with. It had a good size pool in the garden which was great to relax after the hike. The rooms, however, were probably the worst we had stayed at in South-America so far – the doors were made out of bamboo but had huge (fist-sized) holes in between the poles, so that bugs and mosquitos could easily go inside - and they did. The floor, the bed cover, everything was covered in bugs, so it took us a while to clean them up to reach an acceptable level at least for the time when we went to bed – in the dark since there was no electricity either. It was a truly rustic experience!
We planned to spend the afternoon relaxing by the pool, but as the rain started we killed the time by chatting and laughing at the conditions with the group. Unfortunately due to our unexpected change of itinerary we weren`t expected for lunch at the hostel, so we ended up getting a quickly pulled together food (also a lowlight of our time in South America so far!), which consisted of mashed potato pure, boiled rice and a spoon of the tomato sauce from the (no-meat) spaghetti dinner later that day. As no food was available in the hostel or anywhere nearby we were all grateful for some preparation we made before the trip to stock up from biscuits and nuts – sharing with the others, we were able to make a passable picnic after our meagre lunch.
The second day we started at 05:00am to climb back up to Cabanaconde village for breakfast. It was a sweaty 3-hour trek up the mountain where we were often overtaken by mules with tourists who preferred the easier way uphill. The sun came up while we were trekking so we could see the nice view again over the mountains. After a (finally) hearty breakfast we made our way back to Arequipa and stopped at a few viewing spots in the hope of seeing the missed condors from the day before. Unfortunately we had just as much fog as earlier, so the condors remained a mystery in our imagination. Sometimes the sky cleared up a little so we could see the scenic landscape we were driving through, it was truly spectacular.
The last stop of the tour took us to a thermal bath, also popular with locals, where we could relax our sore muscles a bit in the about 35 degrees water.
After the spectacular but less than perfect trip to the canyon we had some time rest and to explore the city of Arequipa. We started off in a local favourite potato place, Hatunpa, where 7 different potatoes are served with different toppings from the local or international cuisine. The service was absolutely impeccable, we were greeted with a Hungarian flag and words with also potato in Hungarian on it. The owner collected a selection of about 70 of these flags, so he can customize each table set according to the nationality of the visitors. We thought it was a nice touch! The service was exceptional, and for our picture the helpful and friendly owner even prepared a mix of fresh potato slices for us. The food was really good too, and finally we could try purple and blue potatoes among many others – disappointingly, they all taste quite similar.
The last surprise of the day was the collapse of the city's water supply system - meaning no showers, no flush in the toilet, no tea, coffee or pasta at restaurants. Due to the heavy rains the pipes to the water reserve of the city got contaminated and while they got cleaned and repaired all water supply was shut off - without any warning or indication about the expected time of recovery. We v ery quickly realised how important water is in our lives and how granted we take its existence...
The following day we joined a free city tour in the morning (starting at 10am from the iPeru office on the main square, the tour lasts about 2.5 hours and donations are encouraged) that took us to a few spectacular churches, the main market, a factory where the production of clothes from llama and vicuna hair was on display as well as some small corners of the city that we would have not been able to find ourselves.
The long-awaited clarification of all llama and vicuna types;
One of the stalls in the huge central market
Although the water shortage lasted the whole day, we were spoilt with a great internet connection the first time in 2 weeks (you can`t have everything!), so in the afternoon we had some time to relax and catch up on emails, blog and skype with family before our overnight bus to Nazca.