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Anna´s blog: South Americans like to tell you things are easy. You want to go wine tasting out of Santiago? That´s easy, just walk two miles to the intersection of San Pedro and Valdivia, take the route 7 bus heading south on El Avenida, change to the red line metro…and on it goes. Therefore we really should have been more on our guard when we were told it was ´easy´ to get to Arequipa. Of course, we were expecting a coach to travel merrily across the Chile/ Peru border with a brief stop for some passport stamping before continuing on our merry way. But no, instead we were ushered into a clapped out collectivo taxi (circa 1976) which already contained two Peruvian pensioners and their teenage granddaughter. We drove for a good 10 metres before we stopped and were asked for our passports, whereupon the driver disappeared for 25 minutes before returning with our Andean visa cards which we would need at the border. I suspect a fag and a natter with the other taxi drivers was also involved. Once actually at the border we queued for 45 minutes just to leave Chile and then we joined a long queue of cars waiting for a parking spot at the entry to Peru, which took an hour. Once there, we had to get out the car and queue for a further 45 minutes to be granted entry into Peru. Which really only required a stamp in our passports…very complicated. In any case we eventually made it across the border where our actual bus was waiting for us. Yes, that was real easy. I suspect these things are relative.
Upon arrival in the land of beeping horns (hereafter known as Peru) we indulged in a spot of lunch at the bus terminal. Two baps with freshly roasted chicken and a large glass of freshly squeezed orange juice cost the princely sum of 3.75 pounds and we decided that we might just like Peru after all.
As we made our first approach to Arequipa, the sun had begun to set and the white stone city walls gleamed against a dramatic backdrop of volcanoes and desert. Perhaps it was the climate, the time of day or the array of smells as we drove along in the taxi to the hostel, but I was suddenly reminded of Rio and all the excitement from our first arrival came flooding back. There was definitely something magical about Arequipa. The city is principally constructed from white volcanic stone lending it the nickname ´The White City´ and thanks to early Spanish colonization it shows this off in a range of cathedrals, museums and a 500 year old convent citadel which is still used for that purpose today.
The next day, I probably wasn´t expecting to see a dead body…or an Inca Princess actually, however after stumbling into the museum across the road, this is exactly what we did see. Juanita was just 13 or 14 years old when she made a journey to the summit of a nearby volcano and was promptly hit over the head by her high priest in the name of human sacrifice. The Incas believed the mountain gods were ferocious and mean and that the best way to prevent an angry volcanic eruption, was to kill a perfect human child. So much for teenage spots. Ironically her death did nothing to assuage the Spanish assult on the Incas only decades later, ending their rule forever. She was found after 500 years perfectly intact due to the icy conditions of her grave and was on display in a tank kept at -20 degrees C for all the world to see. She looked very serene (all things considered). It was clear Arequipa had a dark past behind it´s pure white walls.
We couldn´t leave Arequipa without seeing the amazing Colca Canyon which involved a 2am pick up time. This was bad enough, however the tour bus didn´t actually turn up until 3.15am…as you can imagine, we were not best pleased. However the reason for the early start was to see the majestic Condors fly over the spectacular canyon and with a 2 metre wing span, it was a sight to behold. The day was rounded off with thermal springs and a hot Peruvian buffet where Tom and I both tried Alpaca. Verdict: I couldn´t eat a whole one.
The next stop was world famous Nazca lines. These drawings date from over 2000 years ago and are named for the tribe that made them. Drawn on the ground by digging through the rusty top layer of soil revealing the white volcanic rock underneath, some drawings stretched out up to 100 metres long. Because they were so big on a flat surface the Nazca could never have seen the finished product. The full effect can only be seen from the air which presumably wasn´t technology they dabbled in at that time. Who they were for and why they were made are widely speculated with UFO and alien enthusiasts naturally plumping for communication with extraterrestrial life. However, if you consider that it never rained and these people only had access to water 3 months in 12, they probably had a few other things on their minds than ´ooh look at the pretty alien, lets draw a picture of him´. It was probably more along the lines (excuse the pun) of, ´gee I´m getting pretty thirsty now, maybe if I draw a monkey it might rain some´. Tom did a heroic effort in keeping his breakfast down whilst taking a flight over the sight and taking in the famous drawings which include a condor, monkey, frog, tree and a man that bears a small resemblance to an astronaut and a strong resemblance to a high priest (which is also depicted on ceramics of the period). I was content to stay on the ground and visit the museum.
We then got straight on a coach to the pretty little hamlet of Paracas to take a boat trip out to the Isla Ballestas (poor man´s Gallapagos) and see it´s huge colonies of birds, penguins and sea lions. Tom took his life into his hands by forgetting his hat which potentially could have resulted in a small fortune of guano (bird poo) which was also being harvested on the islands. Thankfully we were both spared, but it looked as if the guano collectors seldom got that lucky judging by the state of their overcoats. In any case, it was time for our next capital city…Lima!
You may have heard me allude to beeping horns at the beginning of this blog and Lima is a prime example of why. Peruvian drivers beep when somebody stops (even at a traffic light), beep when the lights are about to change (even if they´re not) and beep to tell the car they are overtaking that they are being overtaken. This results in a melody of horns at any given moment and in fact Tom and I tried to see if we could count to five without a horn sounding and failed as expected at that task. This is in addition to the collectivo minibuses which run up and down their routes shouting the street names as they pass them in an attempt to hustle passengers. ´Arequipa Arequipa!´ shouted one ´Bolognesa Bolognesa´ shouted another. The fact I found a shop selling English books and that we had a lovely meal in upmarket Miraflores is all I´m going to say about Lima for now. In the end, it is just another city and we really had our eyes on some beach action. Which is why I now find myself on the shores of Huanchaco waiting for the hour of happy…well those Pisco Sours ain´t gonna drink themselves…Much love, Mrs Hughes xx.
- comments
Rosemary I've read it now, okay. Very readable Anna, sounds like 'borders' are going to be your least favourite part of the adventure.