Yes, where else but Arequipa, Peru. This colonial city is Peru´s second biggest next to Lima, yet it still sparkles after days bussing through desert. It lies in a fertile valley which after so long just seeing sand and rocks is a relief on the eyes. The city is surrounded by 12 volcanos with El Misti (5571m) looming over the Plaza de Armas and the Cathedral. El Misti is another perfect volcano shape, just like Taranaki in New Zealand. It´s a perfect cone with snow on top - and sometimes a bit of smoke too I believe. The older colonial buildings are quite grand and are all built in the local white volcanic rock called sillar.The crystals in the rock give it a glittery feel. We felt the Spanish influence very strongly, and mused how it sometimes felt like we could be in Southern Spain. People´s faces were starting to change as well, as there was now a more prominent indigenous influence.
So what to do. We were dying to climb El Misti, but after four months below 3000m felt it was just a bit daft launching ourselves at it without any acclimitisation. How I wish acclimitisation was a culminative process (and aerobic fitness too). So, we decided to go visit "Juanita" (a nickname)the 500 year old ice maiden currently residing in the Museo Santuarios Andinos, whilst we worked out our next move. Poor Juanita was only about 13 years old when sacrificed on top of another volcano, Ampato (6288m). The neighbouring volcano had been erupting meaning that the Gods were displeased, so some appeasement with the Gods had to made. It was known that she was from an important family because of the quality of her clothes, and also that she had to travel to Cusco to be blessed by the Inca King before travelling on to Ampato. What a journey - that was an overnight bus ride for us. and what a great feat climbing so high. Ampato was clear of snow at the time because of the eruption, but after this calmed, the usual freezing ice and snow set in with Juanita only being found in a subsequent eruption in the 1990s when the snow surrounding her again melted.
Still undecided, we walked around the Cathedral (shameless wealth displayed by the church in my opinion) and also visited Monasterio de Santa Catalina. Founded in 1580,this nunnery takes up a whole block within the city surrounded by high walls. It appears that this was some sort of closed order as there was hardly any comings and goings with the outside world until 1970 when it opened it´s doors to the public. Probably to raise funds! (Skeptic me) We took lots of pictures there as some of their colour schemes were great and Greg has plans to replicate on any future home we have! Watch this space and check out the pics when I uploead next week!
So now we have a plan. We decided to do some downhill mountain biking on Pichu Pichu (another volcano) which Greg is going to write about, and we booked ourselves onto a 2 day trek into the Colpa Canyon which is supposed to be the second deepest canyon in the world at 3191m. What a packed 2 days - totally knackered at the end of it. It started with a 3am pick up and then a 3 hour drive with the road rising to 4900m. Easiest 4900m I´ve ever done - but it did hurt. After breakfast in Chivay, we went to see the condors cruising (with about another 100 folks) at Crux de Condor. But, it wasn´t wasted and the birds put on a good display and swooped in really close. Much discussion between myself and Greg as to which has the biggest wingspan, albatross (as seen in NZ) or condor.
Then the trekking began, and it was no picnic in the park. Our guide, Salome was really interesting and explained a good deal about the plants on the way ie what you could eat, what you couldn´t, medicinal qualities and plants used for dying clothes. We checked out the cochineal beetles on the cacti. She also told us about all the customs of the village folk and how they had incorporated the old religion into Christianity. I like this. She explained how a family would worship both Pachamama (Mother Earth) and the Christian God in parellel. After going down in to the canyon bottom and up and again and across, we descended into an oasis called Sangalle to spend the night. We only got to see Sangalle from above, as we arrived in the dark and left in the dark at 5am the next morning. Following the trail of headtorches up the slope, this truly reminded me of Alpine starts, but we were only up early as there still so much more to pack in. Three hours of oxygen deplition and exhaustion later, we arrived at the rim of the canyon and had breakfast in a village called Cabanaconde. How welcome was that. I´ve never had such good scrambled egg on toast. Even the cocoa tea was starting to taste good. The trip`ended on a real high, however, as we journeyed back to Chivay to soak in the hot spring pools at La Calera. Beautiful, clean pools, it was funny to swim at altitude. Reccomended! The buffet afterwards was good too - all you could eat :)
So that´s the ice mummy and volcanos covered. The earthquake happened twice on our night of arrival, as I woke to feel my bunk shaking (deja vue from Christchurch). With great excitement I asked Greg in the morning if he had felt it too. "No you spanner," he replied, "That was me shaking the bunk because you were snoring!"
Liz
So what to do. We were dying to climb El Misti, but after four months below 3000m felt it was just a bit daft launching ourselves at it without any acclimitisation. How I wish acclimitisation was a culminative process (and aerobic fitness too). So, we decided to go visit "Juanita" (a nickname)the 500 year old ice maiden currently residing in the Museo Santuarios Andinos, whilst we worked out our next move. Poor Juanita was only about 13 years old when sacrificed on top of another volcano, Ampato (6288m). The neighbouring volcano had been erupting meaning that the Gods were displeased, so some appeasement with the Gods had to made. It was known that she was from an important family because of the quality of her clothes, and also that she had to travel to Cusco to be blessed by the Inca King before travelling on to Ampato. What a journey - that was an overnight bus ride for us. and what a great feat climbing so high. Ampato was clear of snow at the time because of the eruption, but after this calmed, the usual freezing ice and snow set in with Juanita only being found in a subsequent eruption in the 1990s when the snow surrounding her again melted.
Still undecided, we walked around the Cathedral (shameless wealth displayed by the church in my opinion) and also visited Monasterio de Santa Catalina. Founded in 1580,this nunnery takes up a whole block within the city surrounded by high walls. It appears that this was some sort of closed order as there was hardly any comings and goings with the outside world until 1970 when it opened it´s doors to the public. Probably to raise funds! (Skeptic me) We took lots of pictures there as some of their colour schemes were great and Greg has plans to replicate on any future home we have! Watch this space and check out the pics when I uploead next week!
So now we have a plan. We decided to do some downhill mountain biking on Pichu Pichu (another volcano) which Greg is going to write about, and we booked ourselves onto a 2 day trek into the Colpa Canyon which is supposed to be the second deepest canyon in the world at 3191m. What a packed 2 days - totally knackered at the end of it. It started with a 3am pick up and then a 3 hour drive with the road rising to 4900m. Easiest 4900m I´ve ever done - but it did hurt. After breakfast in Chivay, we went to see the condors cruising (with about another 100 folks) at Crux de Condor. But, it wasn´t wasted and the birds put on a good display and swooped in really close. Much discussion between myself and Greg as to which has the biggest wingspan, albatross (as seen in NZ) or condor.
Then the trekking began, and it was no picnic in the park. Our guide, Salome was really interesting and explained a good deal about the plants on the way ie what you could eat, what you couldn´t, medicinal qualities and plants used for dying clothes. We checked out the cochineal beetles on the cacti. She also told us about all the customs of the village folk and how they had incorporated the old religion into Christianity. I like this. She explained how a family would worship both Pachamama (Mother Earth) and the Christian God in parellel. After going down in to the canyon bottom and up and again and across, we descended into an oasis called Sangalle to spend the night. We only got to see Sangalle from above, as we arrived in the dark and left in the dark at 5am the next morning. Following the trail of headtorches up the slope, this truly reminded me of Alpine starts, but we were only up early as there still so much more to pack in. Three hours of oxygen deplition and exhaustion later, we arrived at the rim of the canyon and had breakfast in a village called Cabanaconde. How welcome was that. I´ve never had such good scrambled egg on toast. Even the cocoa tea was starting to taste good. The trip`ended on a real high, however, as we journeyed back to Chivay to soak in the hot spring pools at La Calera. Beautiful, clean pools, it was funny to swim at altitude. Reccomended! The buffet afterwards was good too - all you could eat :)
So that´s the ice mummy and volcanos covered. The earthquake happened twice on our night of arrival, as I woke to feel my bunk shaking (deja vue from Christchurch). With great excitement I asked Greg in the morning if he had felt it too. "No you spanner," he replied, "That was me shaking the bunk because you were snoring!"
Liz
Pics show Plaza de Armes (Arequipa), the Colpa Canyon trekking team, that condor moment, inside the Santa Catalina monastry and starting our mtn bike downhill on Pichu Pichu with Walter our guide (El Misti in the background)
No comments:
Post a Comment