Our first sleep over 2,500 meters.  I am feeling tired and find myself out of breath quite quickly while walking up hill.  I think that this is to be expected.  We have almost 2 weeks before we begin the trek, so I expect I will feel much better by then.  I know it still won’t be easy, but easier than right now. 🙂

 

Stu comes across this lady herding her sheep through the little town of Chivay.  Not something we see much of at home.

 

 

Then as we cross the little bridge that connects the area where our hotel is to the rest of the town we see this flock spilling down the stairs between these two large statues of a woman on the left a man on the right.  The are both wearing traditional dress.  We do see older women today dressed this way, but so far not any men.

 

Here is an example of a bit younger woman in different traditional outfit.  The poncho/backpack can carry anything from groceries, crops, to babies.  While we were in Arequipa women dressed like this were looking for photo op tips.  Not so in Chivay.  Just the way they dress.

 

 

 

I must say I was taken in by this little con man!!.  Leslie and I are wandering down the main street looking at the many colourful statues they have there.  He is maybe 2 1/2,  he is giving me the thumbs up.  So I give him one back  🙂  When he sees that I am clearly dense, he points at my camera.  OK  ,I get get it.  So I take his picture.  He puts on this squishy smile.

 

 

Then he wants to see.  So I show him the photo.  Then he holds out his hand!!  Oooohhh   I seeeeee!!!  Since I have no change I call to Stu who picks through his change and hands the little guy about 80 centavas.  He looks at it and says “Grande!”  We say no and then he drops the coins on the street.  A woman, we don’t know his relationship to, begins to scold him.  He does pick up his coins, but he is not happy about it.

 

 

We are seeing these interesting vehicles around in many towns  They are called Mototaxis.  The whole thing is covered, the driver sits on a motorcycle seat and he can carry up to 3 passengers in the back and maybe some cargo behind.  Some are very very fancy.

 

High up on the hill behind the town church there is a cross on the mountainside.

 

 

Here we are off exploring and trying to keep active while getting acclimated to the altitude.  This is a very rustic little town as you can see.

 

We think it might be chilly on the hike, at least in the morning and evenings.  We did’t bring toques.  We also heard that the local crafts are very very expensive in Cuzco.  So we have a look at the local market here.  I pick up this little number for 25 soles (10.50 CAD)  and Stu found another hat for 6 soles (2.25 CAD)!!

 

I posted a photo the other day of the glass bottles on the top of the walls in Arequipa, that are their version of barbed wire.  This is how they do it in Chivay!  Very spikey Cacti

 

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We are picked up just after 3PM to go to the hot springs about 4km out of Chivay,  There are normally 6 pools, but one is closed today.  Our guide Omar recommends pool 5, so that is where we head.  The hot springs are situated between the mountains and the edge of the valley.  Very picturesque!

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed what we understand are 38 degree water temps.  At times it is too warm and moving up a step brings relief until the breeze picks up and back in you go!

 

 

 

Along with our 15 soles admission ($6 CAD) we get a locker key to store our belongings.  They are painted in traditional designs.

An early morning start for us.  We are supposed to be picked up between 7:30 and 8:00 AM so need to be packed up and have our breakfast well before that.  Our hotel in Arequipa has a language school.  There a bunch of students from BC coming to learn Spanish and stay at Home Stays.  They also have some of their teachers along with them and they are staying at our hotel.

 

The pickup is a bit late due to other passengers not being ready on time.  We are on the road at about 8:20 for a 4 hour ride in a minibus that has the capacity for 14 passengers.  It takes us a least an hour to clear the city limits of Arequipa.  Very busy traffic.  We make one stop and Stu purchases some Coca leaves.

 

 

 

As we are heading to an altitude of  3,635 meters which is above the magic line of 2,500 meters where altitude sickness can affect you, our guide on the bus, Omar demonstrates how to chew Coca leaves.

 

 

We are heading into the mountains where we see Vicuñas . Vicuñas are a part of the same family as Llamas and Alpacas.  In Peru they are a protected species.  Killing one could land you in jail for between 5 and 10 years.  Their wool is considered to be the finest quality and a sought after material.  Even though they are wild and protected they are gathered every year to be sheared for their wool.

 

From the bus we can see this volcano.  It is one of many surrounding us on this journey.

 

 

 

Erosion creates some other interesting landscapes along the way.

 

 

We also come across a herd of Alpacas.  Alpacas and Llamas are domesticated and graze along the highway.  They are both sheared for their wool.  Alpaca is also on many menus in this area.

 

 

This is the road ahead at one photo op stop.  As this is a tour bus that we are joining just for transportation, there are a number of stops for photos and shopping 🙂

 

 

 

 

We reach the highest point on the road to Chivay.  4,910 meters above sea level.

 

 

 

This spot is marked with many markers pointing out various volcanoes in the distance.  This one points out Volcan Sabancaya which is 5,976 Meters above Sea level.

 

 

 

 

We are nearing Chivay.  It is this little town way down there in the beautiful green valley.

 

 

 

Tonight we are attending a Folk Dance and Music performance at a local restaurant with some of the other people on the tour.  Alpaca is on the menu here as well.  Quite tasty, but I found it a very large portion.

 

 

Here are the dancers performing one of their traditional dances.  They changed costumes and performed about 4 dances.  Audience participation is always encouraged.  🙂

 

Another very interesting evening.

This is a late post.  The Wifi in our hotel in Chivay is not the strongest and I don’t know what we will find when we move to Cabanaconde on Saturday.  I’ll try to keep up 🙂

 

 

Last night I decided to consolidate our altitude medication that we brought with us into 1 bottle.  The travel clinic prescribed a severe travelers diarrhea medication and  altitude sickness medication.  I noticed that of the 4 bottles ( 2 for me and 2 for Stu) 3 actually contained the diarrhea meds and only 1 contained the altitude meds.  As we are moving into the higher altitudes tomorrow we need to start taking this medication today.  Not good news.  The pharmacy said they would courier the replacement to us, but the city we gave them, they were not able to send to.  So we will be borrowing some medication from Greg and Leslie and drinking Coca Tea and chewing Coca leaves.  We will see how we feel when we arrive in Chivay tomorrow.

This is our last day in Arequipa.  We head to the market again.  We were there the other day with our walking tour.  We would like to spend a bit more time there today.

 

One of the first stalls we see is this cheese stall.  She is very busy here, doing a great business.

 

 

 

This is one of the fruit stalls.  The proprietor stands up high and has a good view of her goods.

 

 

Here is a photo in the fish section.  This area does not smell so nice to us.  🙂  Lots of flies.  Most sellers have flyswatters that they use constantly.

 

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We see this huge squash that you can obviously buy by the slice.

 

 

 

We are not exactly sure what this is  It is in the fish section and appears to have roe-like eggs in it.

 

 

 

Happy Hour tonight is at the Pisco Museo.  The making of these drinks was quite a show.  The best Pisco Sours we have had so far.

 

 

Dinner tonight is at a place we checked out yesterday.  The aromas were so amazing we decided to come back for dinner tonight.  This is a stuffed hot pepper.

 

 

Stu and I both have the “Pork Chop”.  I put my hand in just to show how big this is!

 

 

 

Back to our hotel.  We will be picked up between 7:30 and 8:00 tomorrow morning so we need to pack up in preparation.

Tonight was supposed to be our last night here in Arequipa.  We looked at the calendar and where and what we wanted to do before we arrive in Puno/Lake Titicaca on the 21st of March.  We have accommodation booked the week before Easter as Peru is a predominately Catholic country, Easter and celebrations the week prior can be dicey.   So to get the dates all lined up we opted to stay one more night in Arequipa and then move to Chivay for 2 nights and then to Cabanaconde for 2 nights and then on to Puno.  Chivay and Cabanaconde are along the rim of the Colca Canyon.

Here is the route we have traveled so far.  It includes our trip to Chivay on Thursday the 17th.  Chivay is at an altitude of  3,635 meters.  This where we may feel the affects of being so high.

Today we don’t have much planned except finalizing our trasnportation to Chivay and finding a couple of geocaches.

 

We decide to go back to the little coffee shop and look at our options for accommodation in Chivay and Cabanaconde as they have wifi.  We check the availability and price for 2 places recommended by the travel operator.

On the way there we see another protest in the street.  This time it is elders.  The translation for this banner is “Regional Federation of Elderly Pensioners of Arequipa. Fighting for non-contributory pensions .  Long live the Peruvians without board !”  ??  I am sure something is lost in this translation 😉

 

 

We enjoy our coffee once again.  Stu needs to stand in the spiral staircase to pay the bill.  We leave with the information we need to make a decision with the tour operator.

 

 

 

On the way back to Plaza De Armas we stop in at the Cloisters of the Compagna church to find a geocache.  We were here the other day and there were lots of people.  Pretty quiet today.

 

 

Back in the square we see several men with portable typewriters.  I googled this and from what I read, they are completing forms for people who do not or may not have the skills to make claims from the state.  Interesting.

 

 

Stu and Leslie among the pigeons!

 

 

We get back to the tour operator and spend considerable time reviewing the costs of the transportation and hotel options.  We are able to get a better deal on line for the place in Cabanaconde, so we book that while we are there.  The other we book through Andrew.  It comes time to pay and we bring out our Visa cards as they have Visa signs everywhere.  Andrew wants some cash, so Stu and I pool all the Soles that we have (130) and he agrees to put the rest on our card after trying to suggest we withdraw cash from the ATM they conveniently have in their office.  We are finding that there are limits imposed by the local banks on how much you can withdraw.  We have found some machines that only allow 400 soles and a $5 CAD fee for each withdrawal.  Some allow 700 soles with about the same fee.  There is a daily limit of 2000 soles which means you would need 3 transactions to get that much, and 3 fees!!  Tricky.  We are finally done here!!

 

We head back to a nice little Turkish place for lunch. After lunch Stu heads back to the hotel.

 

 

Greg, Leslie and I head to a neighbourhood called Barrio Solar to find another geocache.  We were in this exact spot the other day with our walking tour, but didn’t take the time to look for this cache then.

 

 

The place we had planned to have dinner isn’t open tonight, so we search for an alternative.  We find a French Creperie restaurant called Crepísimo Crêperie. They make traditional crepes as well as ones made from a variety of quinoa,  We try these.  We all have a different filling and they were all wonderful.

 

 

Since we were all too full last night (except Greg) we skipped desert to Greg’s disappointment.  Tonight, we decide to share one of the desert crepes.  This one is basically peaches and cream.  Excellent!!

There are 3 volcanoes surrounding Arequipa.  The closest one is Misti.  The Inca’s practiced ritual sacrifice of children at the summit of this mountain.  They have recovered a number of frozen mummies from the mountains near here.

 

We arrive in Plaza de Armas this morning and see these headlines on yesterday’s protest.  It translates to “Gay Pride at risk in Plaza de Armas”

 

It isn’t long before the tour sellers are pressing us to purchase a tour from them.  All of the brochures say the price for a 4 hour tour is 45 soles or a 2 hour tour for 35 soles.  The other day when we were looking for a place for lunch one tour seller discounted the 4 hour tour to 20 soles.  We’ll see what they offer today.  3 tour sellers approach us and it isn’t long before the price does drop to 20 soles each.  It is slow season and they are very motivated.

 

 

We have some time so Leslie and I go to find a geocache that we think is in a church yard nearby.  The gates are locked so we go for a walk.  On our way back down this street the aroma of freshly ground coffee grabs us.  Our coffee expericence since we arrived in Peru has not been great.  We search out the source and must stop for a cappuccino.

 

 

 

 

We arrive back in the square and find Stu comparing equipment with one of the “Official Photographers” there.

 

 

 

 

Not long after that we are boarding this bus that is only half full.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One stop we get samples of “Queso Helado” which translates to Frozen Cheese.  It is basically icecream.  The samples are great so we buy the bigger cup 🙂

 

 

 

 

Arequipa is a very large sprawling city we now see from the bus.  There is a lot of agriculture within the city limits.

 

 

There are also a lot of hills and on those hills there are houses of sorts.  These ones have a view of the Chile River that runs through the city.

 

 

On one of the other stops they offered horse back riding and a Peruvian woman with her falcon offered her bird for photographs.

 

 

 

In the river valley it is lush and green.  At this stop we sampled some of the local fruit.

 

 

 

 

This is the way they protect their property.  Broken glass along the top of a wall.

 

 

Another great day capped off with dinner at a tapas restaurant called Verbena.

 

 

 

This the resident turtle that lives at our hotel.  This morning she was enjoying a banana and a shower with the hose.

 

 

We are planning on taking the free walking tour this morning.  After our breakfast we head up to Armas Square where the tour guide gathers participants.

There is a protest going on.  There are a number of people, mostly women chanting and holding red bins with “Democracia” written on them.  They appear to be protesting for various causes.  I didn’t understand all of the Spanish words on their shirts, but Greg took a photo of one woman being interviewed by many media people and her shirt indicated that she was a lesbian.

 

We join the walking tour and begin in Armas Square.  We learn that Arequipa was known as the “White City” for a couple of reasons.  One was the white stone used to construct most of the buildings and the other was that the population was mostly European.  A lot from Spain, but also France and England.

 

 

 

Inside the Cathedral there is a very large and beautiful pipe organ.  We did get to hear it in action.

 

 

 

We listen as our tour guide Patrice tells us the history of this Monastery.  One courtyard for the Spanish and one for the Indigenous People.

 

 

We go into the very large market.  From the upper floor we have a great view of the action below.

 

 

 

It is organized by Sections.  Large signs above tell you what you can expect to find in that section.

 

 

 

We go to one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Arequipa.  The Solar Neighbourhood or Solar Barrio.

 

 

 

 

Stu gets this shot of laundry.  Maybe this will compliment our Croatian laundry photo on our wall at home 🙂  It is a Happy Face!!

 

 

 

After our tour Leslie and I go to investigate a larger grocery store that we see in the square.  This is the meat department.  All selections are out in the open, we assume an employee will have to serve you and wrap your choices, but it is all wide open.  In contrast the cheese which was all in vaccu-sealed packaging was behind a glass counter????

 

 

During the day here the temperatures are very warm, in the mid to high 20’s.  When the sun goes down they drop dramatically and we (except Greg) have been wearing long pants and long sleeves when we go out for dinner.   As we climb in altitude we are expecting the temperatures to fall.

The night bus is scheduled to leave at 10PM.  We are dropped off by Mickey at about 9:40.   The waiting room is crowded with people and very very hot.  We check in our bigger bags and wait for our bus.

It arrives about 10:20, we watch as our bags are loaded and board the bus.  We have booked the bed seats for 130 Soles, just over $50 CAD.

 

We settle into this comfortable bus thinking that it would be really nice if we had seats like this on a flight!

 

 

 

 

We  get rolling about 10:30 and shortly after they turn out the lights and we can sleep.  Well, that is the theory.  🙂  It is very dark out and the road is not lit.  We feel the bus take several turns, what feel like hairpins to me.  We can see the speedometer displayed at the front of our cabin and I think he is going too fast!  The road feels very rough, like a gravel, but large gravel.  It is like being on a roller coaster for 10 hours!!  The bus has 2 levels, we are on the bottom and feel the sway.  Later we discuss what the passengers on the upper level must have felt.  We are told that a week or so ago there was a rain storm and lots of rocks fell down on the road.  We think we felt each one.

Greg and Leslie managed to sleep for most of the wild ride while Stu and I dosed in and out.

 

We arrived to a beautiful morning in Arequipa.  Locate a taxi to take us to our hotel.

 

 

It is only about 8AM so our rooms are not ready.  They offer us their breakfast for 5 soles ($2 CAD).  Fruit, cereals, yogurt, the strong strong coffee we are seeing everywhere, also eggs cooked the way you want them.  Not a bad deal!

 

 

We head off to explore once our rooms are ready.

 

 

 

 

 

We see this street clogged with taxis on our way to Armas Square.

 

 

 

The square is a very busy place.  The Cathedral borders it on one side and 3 large buildings with colonnades flank the others.

 

 

This lady is serving drinks from this bucket using glasses that she rinses out and carries in the other bucket half filled with water and uses them for next customer.

 

 

They have what appears to be “Official Photographers” in the square.  They all have credentials around there necks and wear khaki vests.  It is obviously a very tiring job!

 

 

 

 

The pigeons are really enjoying this fountain.  They are sitting on the rim letting the water roll over their little feet.

 

 

 

 

This the the Cathedral.  Quite beautiful.

 

 

 

Arequipa is at an altitude of 2,321 Meters or 7,614 feet.  We are starting to climb now.  Our next stop will be a bit higher at 3,635 Meters.

 

We are out for dinner and the Cathedral is lit up beautifully.

 

 

 

We enjoy a pizza and salad at a little place Greg and Leslie found this afternoon.  Large Pizza, Avocado Salad and a litre of red wine for 79 soles or $30 CAD!

 

 

 

 

 

On our way home we find Che!  He has shown up almost everywhere we travel.

 

 

Off to bed for a good sleep tonight!!