Arequipa, the white city, so called because a white volcanic stone, Sillar, was used to build everything.
We had the most amazing hotel, Los Tambos, it was only 3 stars but with 6 star service, they were all lovely and couldnt do enough for us. It was also 2 mins from the Plaza de Armas but really quiet, so perfect for me of the light sleeper brigade! We were offered coca tea (their cure for altitude sickness) on arrival as the city is at 2,380m but we were fine, G had some anyway though!
The city is lovely, loads of nice restaurants and very pretty. The centre has certainly been restored to its former glory. We toured Santa Catalina convent which is just stunning, it was home to nuns who had their own houses built within the convent, so they call it "the city within the city". The second born daughter of families would be offered up to the church at the age of 12, and for 2-4years, depending on how quickly they learnt, they had no contact with anyone but other novices. Even after they became nuns, contact with family was through a grill - horrendous, worse than prison.
As soon as you leave the centre of the city, you realise how traditional it still is, with small farms everywhere and people selling whatever they have produced on the streets, always with a smile on their faces though!
We had a two day tour to a small town called Chivay in the Colca Canyon, the deepest in the world. We drove through very barren volcanic countryside, just going higher and higher (4,910m was the highest point) before starting our descent into the valley and Chivay. So far so good with the altitude though, both a bit light headed and breathless but nothing much. After a yummy lunch and a little sleep, we went to some thermal baths - lovely! Then the altitude kicked in as we walked up the steps afterwards. G had an agonising headache and couldn't do anything, pain killers did nothing so the hotel called a nurse out. He had high blood pressure, a temperature and a quickened pulse so she loaded him up with pills and it calmed down. I spent the night tossing and turning with what felt like a queazy hangover and an unbelievable thirst. The alarm went off at 5:15 (nice!) and thankfully we both felt a lot better as we headed off on the most beautiful drive. We drove through Colca valley, seeing pre-Inca terraces on the steepest slopes with huge mountains on either side with Colca river at the bottom, the most incredible landscape. We went to Mirador de los condors where the canyon is 1,200m deep, we didnt see any condors but we walked a bit to where you can see villages that take two days to walk to, now that is isolated. It was unbelievable how out of breath we were after a few steps uphill, thankfully the headaches stayed away! To get to the deepest part of the canyon it was another 4hr drive and a days walk but we didnt have time or the inclination to do that! The views we saw were stunning enough. On the way back as we stopped at a viewpoint, a few condors decided to grace us with their presence and soared above us, they are huge with a 3m wingspan, so peaceful and elegant too.
We got back to lovely los Tambos hotel in Arequipa for a night and just slept, after some crepes! The next day we wandered and had a drive out to some viewpoints, all just lovely. We were really lucky with the weather the last few days, its coming to the end of the rainy season in all the Andean regions we will visit over the next few weeks so keep your fingers crossed!
Thoughts of coming home are creeping in now but we're trying to ignore them. It will be lovely to sleep in our bed and see everyone but the thought of finding a job is horrible, not sure we'll cope!
We have just done a 10hr night bus ride to Cusco, not bad at all as it goes. They put a film on, gave us snacks and blankets and we both managed more sleep than on a plane. Seems like we've hit the jackpot again with our hotel here, they let us into our room at 7am, gave us brekkie and then we slept for 4hrs. We're high again here, but so far so good, we'll just have a wander round the city and take it easy today before discovering what these Inca folk got up to! Hasta luego x