Arequipa final

We spent the last few days in Arequipa in a nice hotel, and it was a good wind down following our Lares Trek and Machu Picchu. I'm sitting in the airport waiting for our morning flight to Lima. One night there and then we fly home.

Yesterday and today there is a strike or protests in Arequipa. We're quite fuzzy on the details, which is our usual mode regarding local events when we travel. Our guide on the Colca trek yesterday mentioned a number of issues being pressed by the protestors. The main plaza outside our hotel's entrance was ringed with police with riot shields and tear gas. The demonstrations centered on the steps of the cathedral, and sometimes marched the perimeter of the plaza. There was chanting, drumming, flags and speeches. One of the demands seemed to concern Tia Maria, a large mining company and either environmental destruction or worker safety. Mining is (one of) the largest industries in the region. As we drove to the airport earlier, we saw other lines of police bearing shields and weapons. However, there didn't seem to be any demonstrations, at least not yet.

 

Yesterday we visited two of Arequipa's main tourist attractions. The first of these didn't allow photography, so I will describe and attach a link. The second was a beautiful large monastery.

"Juanita" is the name that has been given to the so-called "Ice Maiden". In 1995, due to thawing on the high slopes of a newly active volcano, the body of a young Incan girl which had been hidden within the glacier, was exposed, probably for the first time in 500 years. She was brought down the mountain, and a team of scientists and archeologists began uncovering her secrets. In fact, at one point, her frozen body was flown to John Hopkins to be CAT scanned. It was clear from her dress, manner of burial, and the ritual objects accompanying her, that she had been an Incan sacrifice. The CAT scan showed that rather than from intoxicants and exposure, she had died from a blow to the head.

The Museo Sanctuarios Andinos does a wonderful job telling the story of the Ice Maiden. A 20-minute video begins the program, followed by a guided tour of her garments and burial objects. These are displayed in vitrines in darkened air-conditioned galleries. Finally, one confronts Juanita herself, still frozen inside a plexiglass case. She is a bit hard to see behind the condensation and in the very dim light–all the conditions designed to preserve her. But the entire experience is quite moving.

 

After lunch (and some shopping by Annette and Ken) we walked over to the Monasterio de Santa Catalina. It takes up a city block, in the same neighborhood as the trio of fancy restaurants. Actually, the monastery is something of a city itself: behind its tall volcanic stone walls there are "streets" ("calles", named for Spanish cities), flanked by various nuns' quarters, chapels, kitchens, choiries, etc. There are numerous plaques desiring the various spaces, and we didn't feel we needed to hire a guide. I wondered for hours and took a lot of pictures.

 

 

Arequipa foodies

For three successive evenings in Arequipa, we had dinner at top-rated restaurants: Zingaro, Zig Zag, and Chicha. Chicha is the creation of Perú's best-known (celebrity) chef. Our Lonely Planet guidebook claims it is somewhat controversial, snubbed by foodie purists. And although the physical space isn't as dramatic as the colonial barrel-vaults of its rivals, the food was consistently better and more interesting. 

Some assorted photos follow.

panoramas

Here are links to panoramas I made with my iPhone in Perú. I used one of my favorite apps, Dermandar. If you want to make your own panoramas, you can find the app here. 

Lima restaurant

Cusco central market

Plaza Armas, Cusco

Ccaccaccolo artisans ' collective

Lares Trek day one

Lares Trek ascent

Lares Trek: approaching Torrechayoc Pass

Lares Trek: descending from Torrechayoc Pass

Lares Trek: end of the trail

Machu Picchu; view from Sun Gate

Llamas & Alpacas, north of Arequipa

"Rock Forest", north of Arequipa

16,000' foot pass above Chivay

Monesterio de Santa Catalina, Arequipa

catchup

3-Day Trek

We're back to civilization—beds and wifi. We're in Aguas Caliente, the gateway to Machu Pichu. We get up early tomorrow to catch a bus up to the ancient Incan city. 

Today we finished our Lares Trek, the best last-minute alternative to the better known Inca Trail Trek. Ours was technically easier—better footing, fewer days—but climbed far higher and may have been prettier. In any case, one must book a reservation on the Inca Trail well in advance, and we didn't really get our shit together soon enough.

The "offline" part of our trek began with a bus ride from Ollantaytambo to the town of Lares. Actually, to a nice natural hot springs/mineral baths. Most of our group of 10 hikers, except for us, opted to enjoy the facilities. Shortly thereafter we began our hike. 

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[writing now after a day in Arequipa]

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The trek began directly from the hot springs. Climbing in the thinning air, we  started gaining huge vistas of the valley below, and a towering glacial peak in the distance. 

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[OK now I'm going to summarize severely. There's only a couple days left before we return]

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Day one of the trek and we got caught in a sudden rain shower, hail/sleet. We were briefly rewarded with a rainbow. I reached our camp towards sunset, dumped my pack, and went back down the trail to find Annette. She was helping Michelle, a young woman from Canada, who was struggling with the altitude. We arrived in camp in the dark. 

The sky was huge and I've never seen such stars. It was quite cold.

Day two was our long day, perhaps 10 hours and as many miles. We pushed up to our highest pass, at about 15,800'. I enjoyed the strenuous climbing in thin air, and I reached the pass ahead of our group. It was some time before everyone made it up, and actually Michelle hadn't arrived before we started down the other side. On the descent I hiked with Annette. My ankle was hurting. It was a long trudge to our camp. We had a campfire and sat around drinking Cusqueña beers before dinner. 

Day three was a pleasant descent, with lots of vegetation and wildflowers. We had lunch at the end, followed by a ceremony where we met each of the Peruvians who had fed us, or hauled our stuff and the camp equipment. We had gone through some elaborate calculations, and thanked and tipped each of them. Thus ended our trek. 

We rode a bus to the train station and took a very scenic ride to Agua Caliente, the town below Machu Picchu. At dinner, our guide Alexis outlined plans for next day's visit to the Incan city. It's usually foggy at dawn, so we opted to meet at 5:15 to catch the bus, instead of trying to catch the first bus. Sunrise at Machu Picchu seems to the holy grail for tourists with cameras. (Speaking of cameras, Jesus Christ but there's a profusion of selfie sticks and GoPros. Will this sentence mean anything in 20 years?]

In the event, it was clear as the day broke and, after breakfast, joined the immense bus queue. It actually moved pretty quickly and we boarded about 6:15. The switchback road takes 13 u-turns as it ascends to Machu Picchu. There's also a trail/stairs—I had been unable to persuade anyone else to join me for the huge climb, and in any case, Alexis strongly opposed my doing so.  

Words, and photos, won't convey Machu Picchu, so I won't provide much of either. Alexis gave us a tour for a couple of hours and then we were free to roam for the next 4 1/2 hours. Annette, Ken and I stuck together and hiked up to the Sun Gate—the entry point from the Inca Trail. There was a lot we didn't see, and I hope someday we have another chance. 

Next, a train back Ollantaytambo, and switch to a tour bus. We returned to Cusco, and this time we stayed with Ken at the Cusco Pardo Hotel. Here we said goodbye to Alexis, our guide. We went up to the main plaza for dinner and then to meet others from our tour group for drinks. 

Early (too early) we took a taxi to the airport, and flew to Peru's third largest city: Arequipa. Annette had booked rooms in a semi-posh hotel on the main plaza [we're sitting on the balcony having breakfast as I write]. 

We learned that one of the big tourist attractions is to trek in the Clca Canyon, a long bus ride north of town. At the launch point of the trek, it is possible to see Andean Condors, an endangered cousin to California's condor. I was extremely eager to see a condor. Back in college I had spent more than a semester working on an classic cell-animation project of a walking Peruvian and a condor flying, set to the folk song, "El Condor Paso". But the one-day tours to the condor point overlooking the canyon were filled with mandatory touristy shopping excursions, and lots of pre-dawn (and after) driving. This we gathered from last minute online research. We found a reputable tour-operator and visited the office. We were persuaded to join a 3-day trek, from which we would bow out (and take the regular bus back to Arequipa) around lunchtime. Also, the tour would begin at 7:40, instead of 2:30am. We signed up. 

Arequipa is well known for its cuisine and restaurants. We made reservations at the big three (according to Lonely Planet), a dinner for each night in the city. First night was Zingaro. Last night was Zig Zag. And tonight will be Chicha, created by Peru's most famous chef, Gastón Acuria. Possible food-blog details later. 

The Colca Canyon tour (we didn't actually get as far as the canyon) was another long fascinating day. The scenery was extraordinary and we learned a lot from Paul, our guide. We were less enamoured with the folks in this tour group than the one we hike the Lares trail and visited Machu Picchu with. But we only spent the morning and early afternoon with them, so it wasn't a problem. We drove around behind one of the 3 volcanoes surrounding Arequipa, saw vicuñas (relative to the llama and alpaca, but with finer wool, and protected as Peru's national animal), hiked among strange sandstone formations, and drove over a 16,000' pass. And, maybe best of all, we spotted in the far distance, a condor. Some heavily cropped/enlarged pics:

That pretty much catches us up.   

tour day 1

We were picked up at our hotel at around 8am. Goodbye Starbucks. 

Our tour/trek group is led by Alexis, and today had 9 members. We climbed in the hills and first stopped at the statue known as Jesus Blanco, who overlooks the city of Cusco. From there we could see some of the ruins of Saksaywamán, which we had skipped yesterday. 

We drove to a community called Ccaccaccolo, to visit a women's artisan collective. Along the way we stopped to take in sights such as cultivated quinoa, and a woman bringing sheep to market. 

At the collective we were shown all aspects of Peruvian traditional textles: animal > wool > cleaning & dying > spinning > weaving > selling to tourists. Actually the demonstrations were interesting and the pressure to purchase was minimal. 

We took a longish hike at the Inca ruins above Pisca, and back down to meet the van. A foretaste of the trek to begin tomorrow. Annette didn't enjoy the descent without hiking poles, and neither did my injured ankle. 

Then we went to a lunch prepared by another group supported by the tour company. Dishes included breads, vegetable soup, quinoa, and stuffed peppers. I tried the sweet drink made from purple corn—it was reminiscent of hibiscus juice. 

Our driver lost the key to the van and we spent about half an hour searching before it was found. 

Stuffed, most of us dozed on the drive to Ollantaytambo. There we hiked up into some more spectacular ruins, with beautiful stonework. 

Then on to our hotel, from where I write. We went to a group dinner in town, and have returned to pack for our trek, beginning tomorrow.