After
speaking to the guy who owned the hostel in Cusco, who when we had
told him we were going down to Patagonia, had advised us to go sooner
rather than later to catch the milder weather. We decided to change
our plans slightly- instead of going from Peru to Bolivia then to
Chile, we would skip Bolivia for now and try and get south as quickly
as we could, and then return to Bolivia on our way back up. There
were only 2 more places on our list for Peru, Puno and Arequipa,which
we wanted to fit in first.
Puno
is a town by lake Titicaca, which is the highest navigable body of
water in the world at 3,812 metres above sea level. From there, there
were tours to a few of the islands on the lake (it's a massive area).
We checked out the options at a tour agency and decided on a half day
visit to some tombs one day, and a full day boat trip on the lake the
next.
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| A review of the hostel mentioned they liked the 'Dolphin taps'- I can see why they were impressed! |
With
some time to kill in the morning, we paid a visit to the coca museum,
which explained the history and significance of the coca leaf to the
people of south America, used as gifts and in ceremonies dating back
to before Incan times, and then how it became used by the West to
make cocaine. There was also a video showing us traditional dances
and costumes, with some dressing up options. We also stumbled across
a free gig which was a kind of heavy rock-traditional peruvian music
fusion, complete with a guy who alternated between playing the pipes
and headbanging.
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| Just in case you didn't know what a crack head looked like |
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| Of course, a Llama marriage ceremony! |
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| Like something from The Labyrinth |
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| Being dressed as a curtain- Not sure the hair piece is fooling anyone |
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| Handsome |
The
afternoon tour to the pre- Incan cemetery of Sillustani involved a
drive of about an hour into the countryside and a short walk, where
we could then see the conical structures made from cut stones. The
guide explained that they were mostly used for the important people
in society, and some of them had numerous bodies in them, buried in
the foetal position with a few possessions. We also paid a visit to a
local home, where they gave us a lovely snack of a boiled potato and
slice of homemade cheese, and they showed us how they weave rugs from
alpaca wool.
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| The new Cyberdog range in Peru? |
We
were then taken to the next island of Taquile, where we were highly
disappointed to learn that they didn't have any police or dogs on the
island as it was so safe they had no need for security (a pup is so
much more!) The residents have a unique cultural identity- they wear
red and white hats when they are single, and red when they are
married, their marriage ceremony lasts for three days but the bride
and groom cannot join in the party, they have to stay kneeling the
whole time. When they get married, the woman weaves the man a belt
partly made from her own hair, and the men spend their free time
knitting. We
then went with the guide to a local house where they had cooked us
lunch, and gave us a demonstration of their crafts and traditional
dances. After that, we walked around the island where we were met by
our boat to take us back to Puno.
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| This child is clearly not married as you can see by his head wear |
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| Knitting is taken seriously here |
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| Just a child with a sharp gardening implement |
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| Man with his bag to keep coca leaves in to chew |
The
main reason why people visit Arequipa is for the tours to colca
canyon, the second deepest canyon in the world. We were undecided
about if we wanted to do it or not, but again thought we might as
well go and see what the tour companies offered and there were a few
other things to do in Arequipa even if we chose not to go to the
canyon.
We
arrived in the accommodation we had booked and were immediately hit
with a blast of stale, wet air. The 'en suite' was actually a part of
the room walled off, but the shower was hitting the wall with no
waterproofing surface, so the water was going directly into the walls
and making damp and mould. 3 nights there ensured we both had colds
by the time we left.
Anyway,
Arequipa itself had a nice old town to walk around and a fancy plaza,
extremely touristy but we had expected that. They also had some kind
of competition for 'queso helado' (cheese ice cream) going on- called
this because they make it in blocks that look like cheese rather than
its ingredients- and were offering free samples in most of the
stalls.
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| Gotta love a fancy plaza |
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| Street performer by the 'Queso Helado' stalls |
The
following day was my birthday, and exploring the sights in Arequipa
seemed like a good way to spend the day. We started with a slightly
alternative birthday treat- a visit to a museum where they kept
Juanita, a 500 year old girl who was a human sacrifice and mummified
by the ice. Her body is kept in a box at -20 degrees to preserve it,
and apart from her face which was exposed to the elements, she was
doing pretty well! The Incas believed the mountains were the home of
the gods, and if things were not going too well they selected the
healthiest and purest children to sacrifice to them- giving them
alcohol to make them unconscious and then hitting them over the head
and burying them with offerings of statues.
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| Let it go, let it go...the cold never bothered her anyway (Not our picture) |
Next
stop was 'mundo de alpaca' (Alpaca world). Most of it was an
overpriced shop where they sold alpaca wool products, but they did
have llamas and alpacas chilling out at the back who entertained us
for a while.
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| So many flavours! |
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| Duhhh |
We
made a few stops in some other places- another plaza with a supposed
view of the volcanoes around the city which were not visible that
day, and a park which initially looked nice but our opinion changed
when we saw they had caged up monkeys for people to see, many of them
clearly traumatized or terrified. Then a local marketplace, which had
mainly hats, vegetables and meat, with a row of stalls for
alternative medicines- including llama foetuses strung up.
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| For a suggested valentines day gift? |
After
all these unique experiences it was definitely cocktail o'clock- the
local drink of pisco sour was calling. Firstly, a cheap place, then
we decided to go a bit more upmarket and have one overlooking the
plaza. Then we went hunting for dinner- unfortunately our first and
backup choice were both closed but we found a pizza place with wine
which was an improvement over our usual basic 'menu of the day'
choice.
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| Pisco time! |
After
checking out the tour agency options for Colca Canyon and our
experience of the arranged tour to Machu Picchu, we decided to try
and do it by ourselves instead. We could get a bus to the town at the
top of the canyon, walk down, find somewhere to stay at the bottom
for the night and then walk back up the next day. From looking into
blogs from other people who had done this, it shouldn't be too
difficult.
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| The town of Cabanaconde |
We
arrived in the town of Cabanaconde, with around an hour of sunlight
left, enough time to have a quick walk to check out the viewpoint of
the top of the canyon. It did look pretty deep. We had checked into
accommodation for the night where we could then leave our big
backpacks, ready for an early start.
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| A disused bullfighting ring |
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| First sights of the Canyon- with a rock that looks a little like a Condor |
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| Sunset over the canyon |
Before
walking down the canyon, there was first a bus to catch to take us to
a place to hopefully catch a glimpse of condors gliding through the
canyon, catching the warm air currents. The Condor is a prominent
creature in South American culture, they represent the sky, the
domain of the Gods, and are pretty huge, their wingspan can be around
2-3 metres. We arrived at the viewpoint and began our wait. Less than
an hour later, a few appeared from far in the distance, swooping
around, and even though they are not the prettiest of beasts, it was
impressive to watch.
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| Found them! |
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| Very glidey |
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| Quick bit of Condor yoga |
Now
the bit we were not sure of, how to get back to the town to start the
walk. Most people had come with tours in minivans, and the route did
not have regular buses. After a bit of waiting, we managed to find a
combi vehicle who took us within 3km of town, adding a bit of
distance to our walk but the weather was nice and it had some good
views
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| Right, down we go... |
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| Dodging loose rocks and animal poo on the way down |
After
successfully getting to the edge of the canyon, we began our descent,
Jonno making it very clear that a) he hates walking downhill, and b)
the views at the top are more impressive, so after all the effort of
getting to the bottom all we get are worse views and then have to
climb all the way up just to see the view you had seen first. The
walk was mostly very steep and gravelly, and at a few points one of
us would loose our footing and almost fall. And it was fairly
disheartening knowing that the further down we went, the more we had
to climb up the next day.
We
reached the bottom after about 2 and a half hours and found a few
tranquil hostels, very basic except for the fact they had pools using
the water from the springs. There was nowhere else to go and nothing
to do but chill, which was fine with us.
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| Our haven at the bottom of the canyon |
We
were up early the next day for the hardest part- the walk up. We had
5km and an incline of 1,200metres, which Jonno worked out was about
750 of me. We powered up in just over 2 hours, meaning we had almost
3 hours to kill before our bus back to Arequipa, plenty of time for a
leisurely breakfast on a balcony of a cafe.
We
had one more day in Arequipa to get Jonno some new walking boots as
his had fallen completely apart, and we were ready to cross the
border into Chile.
