Day 10: 10/7/12
Woken up at 5 this morning with a wake up call at the door. We had breakfast and then hit the road again- we were gone by 6! Everyone up bright and early round here.
We were heading for Cruz del condor bit passed through lots of countryside and villages first. The guide also told us lots of history and information- so here's what I can remember!!
Colca is like a province and there's a colca valley and colca canyon. In the valley there ate lots of terraces along the hills. They are like little stonwalsall built in steps up along the hillsides. 80%of them were made in pre-inca times, 20% by the incas. The people still use them today because the walls help to retain the heat so that the plants won't freeZe at night time and they help to oxegenate the plants. Th inca ones are more symmetrical, higher and face east to west.
Before the incas there were two different groups of people in this region. This is the phonetic spelling of Spanish words that I can barely pronounce so I'm sure they are wrong!! Coyawas and conanas are the two groups. They both practiced skull formation- coyawas had long heads, cabanas had short heads. The women today still wear hats that distinguish which group they are descendent from- coyawas wear hats with flowers, cobanas wear hats with sequins. The incas only lived on this area for 8 years so didn't have a big influence. The Spanish took over then and after 8 years they banned he skull deformation.
We got out at three different villages- yanque, achoma and maca. All these villages had a square with a massive church, which were all full of gold and decoration inside. The rest of the villages just consisted of tiny hits- some brick, some wooden. Lots of men an women in local costume trying to sell us hats and things! In one square there were people dancing. All of the locals looking for any tips they could get.
On the way, we were amazed at how like Ireland the countryside is. It's not a green, but there are some hills that could pass for Connemara. There are stone walls everywhere. We passed fields where they were saving hay- all done by hand! We passed fields that looked to have turf in them, but not sure if they really have turf over here! The houses are often made from stone, some with thatched roofs, some with galvanise. There are some modern ones aswell. But generally the villages look like something out of the famine. There were people walking on the roads with animals (men and women). The animals all walking out in front of the bus! There were sheep (like ours), donkeys and Fresian cows who were tagged and all! Muireann says to tell Jamsey that the cows in Peru are tagged! They have John deers with no cabs and Massey fergusons. That's our agricultural talk done!! We reckon some Irish farmer landed out here to show them how thig are done!!
Cruz del condor is a lookout where you can sometimes see the Andean condor. Winter is the time of the year to see them as it gets very hot during the day. In summer it is rainy season so you can't see them. They migrate also to California, I think. We were let off at the top of the lookout and were told to be patient. We waited for about 15 minutes and were wondering we're we going to see anything at all. Next thing a few of them appeared. They are huge- wing span of 3m. They don't really fly, they glide, so it was cool to see them gliding through the canyon. We saw about six in total. Some of them flew really close. At one stage teo flew right over us and did a bit of a somersault! There was a lot of screaming cos it looked like they were coming for us. Muir says I screamed like a proper woman!
We went to a few different stops to get photos of the canyon and saw birds there too. The condors look class- plenty of cool photos.
The canyon Is one of the deepest in the world. There are two near Arewuia- colca and cotahuasi. First it was thought cotahuasi was the deepest, then in 2006 an expedition proved hat colca was deeper. Then in 2008, unesco showed that colca was the third deepest in the world. (4160m) The deepest is in china (5000m) and the second in Nepal 4300m, both in the Himalayas.
We were looking out at one part of the valley where apparently two Peruvian people decided to go hiking. If you were looking at it, you would definitely say- what brought them above in it! Anyway the man fell and was found dead about 10months later. The woman was found alive.
We returned then to Chivay for another buffet lunch. More strange food- lovely stuffed peppers!!
Got on well with all the group- the happy f.... Was still very happy! The Peruvian man and son were telling is what everything meant. We were roaring laughing at one couple cos they never got out of the bus at any of the stops. They had suitcases heavier than themselves which were weighing down the bus! We reckoned they were the laziest shower!!
The bus brought us back to Arequipa then, the same way as yesterday. I forgot to say yesterday that in one of the snow-capped mountains the remains of an Incan woman was found a few years ago. She had been sacrificed, but as far as I can gather her remains and everything buried with her was intact. She is in a museum here somewhere but won't have time to see that.
When we got back to Arequipa we went to the main square again where there is a monastery just off it. Santa Catalonia monastery, which held a dominican order of nuns. Most of the monastery is just for tourists and you can see how he nuns lived- it's quite old and creepy! Very dark and we kept tripping over steps!! There are still nuns in one part. The tour guide had told us that when it was set up first the nuns were up to all sorts and they got in a strict one to sort them out!!
Had food and then went to the hostel again. Have I pack up stuff again as we are leaving to go to puno at 6.15 am. All early starts!!