We've been busy and moving around the last few days. After our trek we had a full day in Cusco, which we took fairly relaxedly. Nik wasn't feeling so crash-hot with a funny tummy, so that was another reason to take it slow. After lunch on the balcony of a nice little restaurant we both had an hour long full-body massage, at a cost of 15 soles ($A6) each - very enjoyable. Mexican for dinner, then I left Nik at the hotel and joined the rest of the tour group at an English pub celebrating a couple of birthdays' of people on our tour.
We spent the next day nearly entirely on the road, stopping only to pick up some groceries and for lunch. We had our first "bush camp" experience, we pulled over on the side of the road in a huge stone quarry for the night. Big dinner, then marshmallows around the campfire. Nik was up sick lots in the night which left her feeling completely exhausted for the next day as we travelled to Chivay.
Chivay's in the Colca valley, and is the gateway to the Colca canyon, which until recently was thought to be the deepest canyon in the world (they discovered another one close-by that's slightly deeper :-P). After stopping in the snow at the top of the pass (which itself is 50m higher than Mont Blanc - the highest point in Europe) we had amazing views of the valley as we decended down into it.
The following morning I left Nik to catch up on some sleep while I went on a tour to the canyon. Not exactly what I expected, it's really just a big, deep, steep valley. All the same, amazing views, and I did manage to see a Condor or two. The pictures tell a better story, see below or Facebook! Also sampled some cactus fruit, some of which was quite tasty.
After returning to Chivay we climbed back out of the valley on our way to Arequipa. Arequipa is Peru's second largest city with a population of a million. The terrain as we drew closer to the city changed again (it's a diverse landscape here!) - harsh and arid, almost looking like hard sand dunes. The outskirts gave me a bad first impression, I couldn't imagine what would posses anyone to live in such a barren place. However, as we drew closer to the city centre it's beauty and charm grew, and now after spending a few days here we've come to quite like the place. The main square definitely has a colonial, almost European feel to it.
Yesterday morning we had went on a "reality tour" of Arequipa. We visited a quarry, a cemetery in the shanty suburbs, an orphanage, a community restaurant and the markets. Each family leases a 50m section of the quarry for S/50 per year, which they are then entitled to mine. They work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, hand carving stone bricks out of the side of the quarry, using 2nd hand car axles as tools. At 1.5 Soles per brick, that's about S/450 per month (A$182), when it's estimated to cost about S/700 per month to live. Yet it's necessary to provide building materials at such a cheap price because otherwise the poorest class (60% of the population) couldn't afford to build. What a cycle...
The cemetery was equally as depressing to me, although I think I was mostly saddened by the emphasis people put on ensuring "blessings by the gods" by building elaborate gravesites and offering food, drink and music, basically as a sacrifice once a year. There are seperate sections for "religious" people, those who are "unbaptised", and those that committed suicide. Part of me felt like it's so sad that even in death people are discriminated against, another part of me felt like none of it matters anyway so it's a shame that people care about it so much.
The next stops were more encouraging; children always seem hopeful and bright :-) The "orphanage" was basically a family day-care centre set up and run by single mums for single mums. Each mum takes a turn of a year of looking after 10 kids, 6 days a week in her home. This is in order for the other mums to seek daily employment. It's partially government funded, and our tour also supports the program, as it does all the projects we visited. The community restaurant is based a similar idea; efficiently providing low cost meals to a community. Kids whose parents are working can get a cheap feed at lunch and dinner, it also provides discounted or free meals to pregnant women, the elderly and disabled. Again it was run by a roster of women who take it in turns to cook for a week at a time.
The market was amazing, again pictures speak louder than words (see below). All in all, the reality tour proved to be a thought provoking experience. During the tour we also discussed why democracy isn't always good, how corruption is a bigger problem than lack of education, why it would be economic suicide for Peru to get serious about cracking down on the cocaine industry, marriage, divorce, illegal workers... three and half hours full of thoughts.
Today we went out for brunch to a little cafe overlooking the Plaza de Armas, where we spent several hours journaling, eating and people watching. Then we wandered the city, found some ice-cream and lazed at our hotel. Also said goodbye to Becky & Ed as they left for home today. This was after a final crazed hour of Puno, which everyone seems to have taken a great liking to :-)
Tomorrow we're driving 11.5 hours (yuk!) to Nazca, and then on to an overnight desert adventure before Lima. More adventures await!
Blessings,
Alex
Colca Canyon
A dad climbing up to get the next big slab of rock to make bricks from
A kid at the orphanage - wearing an Incredible Hulk T-shirt :-)
Arequipa markets, from top left: Pig's head, cheese, veges, fish, processed meat, dried frogs (for making soup!), potatoes, kittens (for pets, not eating - at least I think :-P), grains, bull's testicle and penis, bread, fruit, llama fetuses (superstitious charms), herbs and potions, fresh flowers, hats.
Plenty more on Facebook.
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