Arequipa, and the Colca Canyon!

October 20, I flew to Arequipa, Peru, and spent a glorious week there. I also visited Colca Canyon for several days. The following week I went to Puno for a few days, then on October 31 took a bus to Cusco. I stayed in Cusco for 3 1/2 weeks, including several days visiting the Madre de Dios region of Peru near Puerto Maldonado. I took more than 2000 photos! Having just arrived in Lima after a very fast plane ride, I face a daunting task of blogging about the miraculous past five weeks. I might not be able to do the trip justice, yet will proceed in the effort to describe my experiences. I will provide updates about the trip in three different postings. Above is a photo of the Plaza de Armas in Arequipa. Below are photos of my room at the beautiful Casablanca Hostal, in which I enjoyed a lovely stay.

I really enjoyed staying at the Casablanca, and the staff there made my stay special. I met wonderful travelers and loved the breakfasts together, included in the charge for my room. By the way, my room cost $17.00 night, and I was very close to the Plaza de Armas. Arequipa is known as "La Ciudad Blanca," or the "White City" because so many of its important buildings are constructed of Sillar. Sillar is a white volcanic stone quarried locally, and my hotel was a fine example of a colonial building built from it.  I visited every museum, cathedral and monastery in Arequipa. The most famous was the Santa Catalina Convent. I not only took the tour in the morning, I went back at night to experience the monastery by candlelight, as the nuns who lived there 500 years ago would have known it. Below are some of the photos from my day there, including one of myself with my guide.

After viewing all of these photos, you can see why I was so taken with this beautiful convent. If I had been a young woman from a wealthy family during the 1500's, I would have been drawn to staying here. Afterall, women of this time had few options, and living in a cloistered and peaceful setting such as the Santa Catalina Convent would have been one of the better ones. Perhaps it is obvious to the reader that Sister Ana de Los Angeles Monteagudo was in charge here, at least during the 1600's. She was beautified by Pope John Paul II in 1985 and various miracles are attributed to her.

Moving along, the following photos depict various aspects of Arequipa, including its impressive market, and a trip I made via city bus to a wonderful restaurant known as La Palomino. I heartily recommend this restaurant, where I enjoyed the best meal I've eaten during my whole time in Peru!

Of course I visited the Museo Santuarios Andinos to view a film and see the remains of Juanita, the beautiful Inca girl of the Ampato Volcano. Juanita was named after the anthropologist Johan Reinhard, who discovered her. The museum, supported by the Catholic University of Santa Maria is one of the most impressive in the city. Personally, I find it rather objectionable that the mummified body of this young woman was named after an anthropologist. The subject of anthropologists removing the remains of young women who have sacrificed themselves (or been sacrificed) for spiritual beliefs could be considered controversial. I admit that I found touring the museum worthwhile. Yet, I leave it to others to describe this museum more fully as I proceed to describe my trip to Colca Canyon.

Our tour group consisted of four Peruvian couples, an Italian couple, and a man from Scotland, as well as myself. I had a delightful time socializing primarily with the Peruvian couples, who were remarkably inclusive. The following is a photo of our guide teaching us how to chew coca leaves. Once I started chewing the coca leaves along with a small white carbonate stone known as "lipta," I kept chewing them every day. I found the coca leaves helped with the altitude, and I felt peaceful and alert after chewing them.

The photos I've included of our wonderful afternoon together do not depict my time in Colca Canyon fully enough. First of all, we observed many llamas and alpacas at the Reserva Nacional de Aguada Blanca y Salinos. We had lunch and enjoyed a beautiful hike starting at Coporaque and ending at the hot springs of Caleras, where I enjoyed a long swim. I particularly enjoyed the company of several Peruvian couples, who accompanied me through beautiful pastures of the Colca River Valley.

I'll always remember the night of dancing to the joyous Peruvian musicians and dancers as one of the most special evenings of my life. Several of the members of our tour group were suffering from altitude sickness and did not attend this event, included in our tour. I was glad that I went and will be forever grateful to the young man staying at the same hotel I stayed at for inviting me to dance so often during the evening. One of the most amusing moments came when the male dancer and female dancer took turns "whipping" one another ritually with what looked like a pole with ribbons attached. Then both the woman and the man took the German tourists by the hand and encouraged them to lie down on the floor as they "whipped" their good-natured guests! It was one of the most entertaining spectacles I've ever witnessed. I suppose marriage, or any relationship, can be viewed as a mutual whipping ceremony and the dancers gave expression to this aspect of relationship beautifully.

In the morning we stopped in several beautiful small villages in the Colca Canyon, including the towns of Yanque, Achoma, Maca, Pinchullo and Chivay.

Above, I am seen posing with a llama and a condor. One of the kind members of our tour group took this photo, and I decided to include it since I paid a sole (about 33 cents) to have it taken.

Our group viewed the condors at Mirador Cruz del Condor. You wouldn't have believed the large number of German tourists (I was told the Americans were all in Peru during July) with their large, expensive cameras on hand. Apparently part of the middle class is still alive and well, despite all! While some photographed condors with a wingspread as large as several feet, my photos are also impressive, and I had a great time.

 

I took the photo below after we had lunch in this restaurant and a small boy approached me immediately, asking for his tip (he even said the word in English). Fortunately, he was pleased to receive 50 centavos, which is all I had in change at the time.

We even were present for a wedding that took place at the town center, and the wedding party was accompanied by many wonderful musicians. I would say that our Colca Canyon tour was an altogether well rounded and harmonious experience.

One of the last tours I took while in Arequipa was my visit to the Casa del Moral. I was reminded on that day of the exerience for Arequipa residents, who live surrounded by volcanic mountains. The always present danger from volcanic eruptions and earthquakes is palpable. The Casa del Moral, as well as other historical Arequipa buildings, has been rebuilt after an earthquake more than once. The following are photos from the Casa del Moral. I am starting with a photo of a painting of Misti, Arequipa's closest volcanic mountain. This painting is housed in the Casa del Moral and depicts Arequipa during the 1800's.

The Casa del Moral is described in Frommer's as "an extraordinary mestizo baroque mansion, built in 1733 by a Spanish knight and nicely restored with period detail in 1994, Casa del Moral offers one of the best windows onto colonial times in Arequipa. Named for an ancient mulberry tree -- the moral found in the courtyard -- the home is also distinguished by a magnificent stone portal with heraldic emblems carved in sillar. Handsome furnishings, carved wooden doors, and Cusco School oil paintings decorate large salons, built around a beautiful courtyard, the largest of the colonial residences in the city."

Above is Misti, taken from the roof of the Casa del Moral. And so now I leave the beautiful city of Arequipa for further ventures beyond. Next, I'll write about Puno and the great Lake Titicaca. Afterwards, I will describe my stay in Cusco for several weeks, and my Machu Picchu visit. I also will describe the several days I spent in the Amazon jungle in the Madre de Dios region of Peru. I've decided to separate the 3 locations of my recent trip to Arequipa, Puno and Cusco into 3 separate postings.  Otherwise this update would be too burdensome. Two other postings will follow this one shortly. Thank you for our attention to these photos and to my blog. I hope you will read my next 2 updates as well! I leave you with a photo of myself, feeding a llama at a local artisan shop.