Arequipa & Colca Canyon, Peru: Jan 18th - 21st

Highlights
- ICE MUMMY: Back in the Inca days, they used to sacrifice little children (the most beautiful and innocent ones) to the gods up in the mountain peaks. Over a dozen have been found throughout South America, but one was perfectly preserved having been covered in snow for so long... and they named the ice mummy Juanita. Unfortunately, she wasn't on display... they alternate between her and two others. So we saw Serita. It's absolutely amazing, but still sad at the same time. Serita was placed in a glass freezer for viewing and you could still see her hair and leg muscles... in a fetal position. They were given a sedative and then killed by either a blow to the head or by suffocation. Crazy!


- SMELL OF ALPACA: The stench! Every bus we've been on has had this overwhelming smell, mostly coming from the local farmers. Had no clue what it was until we finally decided to try alpaca meat (similar to llama) from a street vendor. And since street food doesn't come with utensils, you eat with your fingers. The meat was yummy... but my fingers stunk of alpaca for hours on end, even after much washing and hand sanitizers! And it was the same smell from the buses... ugh, it was so disgusting. I am completely put off by alpaca now... can't eat, no matter how good it tastes, out of fear of the horrible smell. I'm nauseous even thinking about it...


- MARK'S DIY TOUR: So after much discussion, we finally decided to do a 2-day TREK (not tour via bus) through Colca Canyon. I was happy to pay the $22 to go through a tour agency, but Mark, who has a serious distrust and hatred for all tour companies, wanted to do it ourselves. It turned out to be cheaper... and yes, it allowed for greater flexibility. But, we did get lost a couple of times. But the views were stunning.

- PISCO SHOTS & GIANT JENGA: The Point Hostel in Arequipa charges the bartender with keeping its guests drunk and happy. So he introduced all of us to Giant Jenga (huge wooden bricks stacked 4 ft high)... where there were rules against silly things, such as leaving the room, making a too easy move, using 2 hands, etc. and the penalty was always a shot of pisco. On our last night, we had a few pisco sours and started playing Jenga. Mark, a bit tipsy at this point, ended up breaking quite a few rules and ended up doing countless shots and finally chugging a beer through a beer bong. It felt like a time warp back to college days! Sigh... luckily, I wasn't as inebriated and managed to get us packed (without any sleep) and out the door at 3:30am to catch our bus to Lake Titicaca.



Daily Account
- Jan 18th: The bus ride to Arequipa was uneventful, except for a pan flute playing/singing teen who wouldn't shut up for 30 minutes! It was the most abusive sound I've incurred in quite sometime... think out of tune Yani. Finally, I had enough and I spoke with the bus manager and pleaded with him, "No mas!" And then it was all over. Ahhhhhh... :) We arrived in the afternoon and checked ourselves into The Point Hostel, which turned out to be a party hostel... but definitely more low key than the Loki in Cusco. We met a few interesting characters, including a Swiss hairdresser name Oliver who Mark swore his door swung the other way and I thought otherwise. I was right. :) We chilled in the hostel, playing pool (I won! Granted, I was given a 3-ball headstart.) and then headed into town hoping for alpaca steak. Unfortunately, being Sunday, many places were shut, including the one that was highly recommended. So we opted for pizza. I was a bit skeptical, being used to NY pizza, but it wasn't bad for being in South America.


- Jan 19th: We slept in and took the morning to just relax... and finally headed into the city centre to visit the ice mummy. Really great museum and you know it's interesting, if Mark (who's not into this kind of stuff) thought it was pretty cool. Later we explored options with tour agencies for trekking Colca Canyon, got plenty of information about the hiking route and opted to do it ourselves. Back at the hostel, they hosted a barbecue... mmmm...


- Jan 20th: We got up at 2:45am for a 3:30am bus to Cabanaconde, where the we started our Colca Canyon trek. The latter half of the bus ride was ridiculously bumpy and especially more so, sitting at the absolute back of the bus. I think we flew up in the air about 2 feet at one point. We decided to forgo Cruz del Condor, a look out for condors, because we had read that we had to pay money to see it, which was going to be a waste since condor sightings are rare during the low, rainy season. We saw a few from the bus and were satisfied. At Cabanaconde, we ate lunch at the Pachamama Hostel and got some helpful tips from the owner and started our hike. The route had us go through San Juan de Choccho, Malata and finally down to the Sangalle (aka Oasis). It was supposed to take us 6 hours... we did it in 3.5. Yeah, baby! Granted, most of it was downhill. During the path, we ran into a Tourist Ticket Taker... apparently we were supposed to pay a park entrance, but we had read that unless we were going to Cruz del Condor, we didn't have to pay. The hostel owner from the morning said we should just tell the TTT that we had left the tix at the hostel to avoid the hassle, but the TTT wasn't having any of it. Mark tried to just keep going, knowing he was in the right, but the TTT crossed the line by grabbing his arm. Mark screamed NO, which stunned him, and we continued our journey. The last bit was through cold rain and we were relieved to make it to the Oasis and check-in at El Eden and our dirt bamboo hut. We even took a swim in the pool, which was filled with natural canyon waters. A bit cold, but it was nice on the muscles. And the owner was quite a character, who kept asking me how to speak various phrases in korean. Bizarre... seeing as I've only encountered very few korean travelers so far. FYI - Colca Canyon is very deep... over 1,000 meters and it's the 2nd deepest canyon in the world, deeper than the Grand Canyon... although, not as large and I didn't think as majestic. But it still was beautiful, especially the Oasis. [Photos: Me on the hike and Mark with one of our adopted dogs.]


Jan 21st: We started the trek up the valley (about 1km) at 5:30am and befriend two dogs along the way. Very strange... they loved us... but hated any Peruvians we passed, as if they were protecting us (or maybe them) by some serious growling and barking. It turned out to be handy to have them around though... we ran into another TTT towards the end of our hike up, who was too scared shitless by the barking dogs to even ask us for our ticket stubs! Anyway, exhausted and tired, we ate breakfast at Pachamama again and headed back to Arequipa. On the bus ride back, we could think of nothing but a shower and rest. But as soon as got got back, there was a sign-up sheet for go-carting for $3! How could we resist! With 30 minutes to get ready, we quickly showered and joined the group. Mark cheated... he beat me twice by blocking me from passing and once ramming me into the sides so I got stuck. Grrr... Afterwards, we went out for the alpaca steak, which Mark enjoyed. But I couldn't go near, because of fear of the smell. After dinner, Mark got his haircut by Oliver, the Swiss hairdresser... and then we proceeded to drink way too many pisco sours and play Giant Jenga. Mark was NOT a happy camper the next day. [Photo: Me on the go-cart]