White cities, deepest canyons, desert oasis and trying to get to Bolivia
Sitting here in a little Internet café I realise I could be anywhere in Peru, in fact probably in most places in the World, oh how technology has spread. A peruvian is sitting next to me playing some violent video game or other, while to my other side, obviously he has no computer at home and is therfore happy to spend a considerable amount of his earnings to feed his addiction. On the radio the song I come from the land downunder by men at work is playing. They love that song here, and as much as I hated it, I cant help but smile and feel a little twinge of homesickness and memories of my land and people downunder.
Anyway, I am currently stranded in southern Peru in Puno, a town we once visited before. We had no intention of being here, instead I was planning on quickly crossing the border to Bolivia and into La Paz, but unfortunatly the bus companies failed to tell us the border was closed due to elections when we wanted to cross it. So I´ve been doing nothing but wait around and have decided I have no excuse to not catch up on a once again long over due blog post. Its funny how the last entry I wrote was about the weekend I had spent in Puno and now I am here once again for a completely different reason. Since that weekend in Puno, which was almost a month ago, many things have happened and many places were visited.
The following weekend we went to Arequipa, again in southern Peru. Arequipa is a desert city resting at the foot of a tower volcano named Misti. It has a lot of spanish influence, making for a very pretty city indeed. In fact, the Paza de Armas is said to be one of the nicest in South America. It wasnt hard to see why. The buildings and cathedrals are made entirely of white volcanic stone sourced nearby, giving Arequipa the nickname of ciudad blanco, or the white city. We visited an amazing monastry, an entire little city tucked away from the real world. We also visted Juanita the ice mummy, a little girl who had been sacrificed at the top of the volcano and was then preserved perfectly in ice. Very creepy but fascinating!
Arequipa is classy and clean. Many beautiful restaurants and pubs and clubs line the central streets, and we had a lot of fun. Perhaps less classy but just as effective was a place called Tacos and Tequila, where we had both in large quantities. We then left on a 3 am bus onwards to Caño de Colca, or colca canyon. Cañon de colca is famous for its depths (in places deeper than the grand canyon) and the majestic condors. We had plans to experience both!! After a horrific bus trip involving me having my head out of the window most of the time and sitting next to the rather sleazy driver at the front, we arrived at the starting point for our hike.
Following veteran volunteers advice we opted to not go with a tour and simply follow a rough map we had recieved from a shop. We walked down into the canyon, then back up halfway passing through several towns and finally arriving just as the night fell at a place correctly named Eden or the Oasis. Swimming pools, food and beds. We were in heaven! We woke up at 5 the next morning and climbed back out of the canyon, ascending 1600 vertical meters in about 3 hours. Not a bad effort at all. The weekend finished with more visits to Tacos and Tequila and watching the sun set from our rooftop hostel balcony before our night bus back home to Cusco.
Another weekend Laura (my cusco housemate) and two other girls we worked with at the orphanage decided to spend a weekend in a desert Oasis about 15 hours away from Cusco. The night we left happened to be Thanksgiving in the states, so Laura convinced us all to go out with her to a typical thanksgiving dinner. The restaurant was full of nostalgic americans and I felt almost ashamed to speak with my aussie accent. The turkey however was delicious, as were the roast veggies, macaroni and cheese, mashed potato…… I could go on for a while.
Anyway apart from the pain of having eaten massive amounts and then being stuck on a bus for 15 hours, nothing eventful to report until we realised we had driven straight past the town we were meant to get off at. No problems, the bus lady tells us as she drops us off at some desert grifo (pertrol station) in the middle of nowhere, there are plenty of busses going back the other way. We struggled to find these buses and ended up getting in some van back to Ica, about an hour away. Huacachina, the oasis town, is about 10 minutes away from Ica and the coast, however for all you know it could be kilometres out in the middle of nowhere.
Surrounded by towering sanddunes at every angle, there is a small lagoon around which a small town has been built. The sun was shining and the sky a brilliant blue, who could ask for more. We found a hostel right on the lagoon for about 5 bucks. Swimming pool included. Gotta love Peru. The weather and location was perfect for relaxing and doing nothing much at all. We read books, went swimming and ate mangos poolside. Climbing up the sanddunes for sunset ended the day beautifully. The next day we did much the same, except for an afternoon of sandboarding and a dune buggy ride as well. Brilliant fun.
We returned to Cusco Monday morning, or more so noon, as our bus had a 5 hour delay due to a breakdown. I nursed a delightful sunburn and am still peeling of the skin now…. apart from the few hiccups, once again I returned in awe at the beauty and vastness of Peru and all the different landscapes and experiences it has to offer.
I wound up my last week in Cusco saying goodbye to just about everyone. I found myself picking up my laundry and saying goodbye to the laundry lady, walking past certain buildings thinking that was the last time I would do that, eating a last empanada from the street vendor, buying one last chocolate… I could go on and on. I went back to Calca, my old home for two months and stayed with that family for a few days. More goodbyes and last glimpses of places and people that had made my time there such a home. After teary goodbyes with my dear cusco family, I stayed in a Cusco hostel with all the other volunteers for one last big night out, and also for Tessas, one of the project abroad staff, birthday. Walking back from the clubs as the sun was once again rising, I couldnt help think once more that again this was another one of those “last time” moments. I spent most of yesterday on a bus to what I thought was going into La Paz, Bolivia, only to find the border was closed for some reason or other and I would have to wait in Puno until Monday.
So this is my last post from Peru, and I cant deny just how sad the thought of leaving Peru is making me. As hard as some moments have been, especially at first, I have come to love this place, the people and the country with all my heart. I know have three months of travel ahead of me. Three months of living out of backpacks and moving from one place to the other. So, heres to the “beyond” part of my blog…. and who knows where I will find myself.
BUT…. just to keep the mother happy, here is just a small outline of my plans so far.
La Paz on the 8th, stay the week there until the weekend, then cross into Chile via the Uyuni saltplains. Spend some time in San Pedro, the atacama desert, maybe explore some beaches and such in northeren Chile.
Return to Lima on the 20th or 21st.
Fly to Bogota, colombia on the 22nd.
Fly to Brazil around the 10th or 15th January
Travel south down the coast and eventually inland to Iguazu falls, cross the border to Argentina.Argentina for the remaining few weeks until I fly to sydney on the 23rd of February, spend a few days there maybe and then home for beginning of March.
So my love to you all, hope your enjoying the summer the best you can, till next time! xxxxxG
Tags: 1, Tag Index
gperuandbeyond