Arequipa, Peru

The trip from Nazca to Arequipa was an overnight and the reclining seats on the bus were quite comfortable. I spent the day visiting the main square and the Monasterio de Santa Catalina. This convent once housed over 200 nuns and 300 servants.

The next day started early for the journey to the Chivay. One thing I noticed is that they take crosswalks a little more serious here than they do in Lima. Our driver stopped for a light and was in a crosswalk and a traffic cop came over and had a few words for him. The trip would take about 8 hours with several stops along the way to take in the sights.

The road to get to Chivay will take us to a very high alititude (around 4000 meters). Due to the possibility of some of us experiencing Soroche (or altitude sickness) we had stopped in a local store to by some coca leaves. Soroche can cause headaches, nausea, or in serous cases pulmonary edema.There was also the option of buying coca candies or coca cookies. Wanting to get the authentic experience I bought the leaves (plus they were cheaper). When it was time our guide explained how to chew them. They came in a little bag with a tiny piece of ash rock. The ash would act as a catalyst to increase salavia production. We were to take abut 8 leaves and a small piece of the rock and place them in our mouth and chew them. If you didn't want to chew them you could put a little between your cheek and gum (you know like chewing tobacco). We had already been pre-warned that the taste might not be too pleasant. The taste was actually that bad, not that under normal circumstances I would chose to chew on on them, they were a little bitter. Our guide explain that each leaf had 0.001% cocaine in it, and there has been no evidence to show that consistently chewing on them will cause an addiction. I have no idea how sensitive the pre-employment drug test are in the US, but I'm glad I have 9 months to flush this out of my system. Our guide said we could take the cookies and candies home, but not a good idea to take the leaf as there could be issues going through customs. On the plus side the coca leaves are a good source of calcium.

There are several volcanos around Arequipa, the only one that is still active is El Misti, which you can seen the snow covered top from the center of town. As we make our way to Chivay we can see several others. When we reached the peak we could see several other volcanos and mountain ranges including Mismi Nevado which is said to be the offical source of the Amazon.

Along the way we saw wild llamas and alpacas, and I can now tell the difference between the two. We also learned that if a female alpaca and a male llama mate that the offspring is a hybrid called a huarizo. If this huarizo mates the offspring will be either a llama or a alpaca.

We also noticed many stacked rock formations. They are made by visitors as a way to make a wish for themselves or for someone else.

At most of the stops we made there were local women and their children. They were there selling the handmade materials (hats, gloves, sweaters, scarves). If they gave permission once asked you could take a photo of them, in return we would give them 1 soles (around 0.35 cents). For the kids I had picked up vanilla wafers and some bananas.

We had buffet lunch which had a lot of local dishes. Including cuy (guinea pig) and alpaca. I was glad for the buffet, this way I could try the cuy without ordering an entire dish (sorry Jan). It did in fact taste like chicken, and since chickens are less attracive in my opinion I'll stick with them. Although I hear in Cuzco they grill they on a spit and it's worth tasting. The alpaca was like beef, but a little tougher, probably from all the walking they do.

Once we reached Chivay and had settled into our hotel we headed to the local hot springs. The temperature of the springs was around 85C. A nice way to end a long travel day.

We had a very early start (6:30) to head out to try and see the condors. We ran into some traffic on the very bumping road in the form of sheep, donkeys, and cows. We stopped several times along the way to take in the amazing breathtaking views.

We reached our destination at the top of the canyon, which was already full of tourist, all of us here for the same reason, to view the largest flying bird in the world. Our guide said we had an hour an a half before we would have to head back. So we waited, I could here the many languages being spoken around me as we stood around with our cameras posied and ready. It was a bit of a cloudy morning which of course lessened our chances of seeing these magnificnt birds. At one point within seonds clouds raised up from the floor and filled the entire canyon. Still we did not lose hope. Again the view was amazing, and we did see hawks and other birds as we waited however nothing but condors would have satisfied the crowd (well maybe a phoenix). In the end due the clouds it ended up that we did not see any condors. We're adults and we fully understood beforehand that when it comes to nature there are no guarantees.

As we began to drive back to Chivay our patience and understanding of the situation was immediately rewarded. Our trusty guide had been on the lookout and spotted a condor just sitting on a rock. Apparently they did not like the clouds and decided to go to where the sun was. We all scrambled out of the van as if it was on fire in order to get photos. The condor waited till we were all out spread it's wings and took off right over our heads. Seeing that bird take off was a magnificant sight.

We ended up seeing a couple more as we made a couple more stops as we headed down the mounain. We were more than satisfied with our trip.