I left Pisco and PSF with my boyfriend Ross on May 21st, after nearly six months of volunteering (nearly three months for him). We decided to head to Arequipa first for some trekking, as the town is surrounded in volcanoes, mountains, and canyons. We explored the city a bit first, having fun checking out the old Spanish buildings and churches and doing some shopping for warmer clothes! Alpaca is everywhere and very cheap! I even bought a hoodie, falsely thinking alpaca are protected in Peru (only to find out later that they are farmed like any other animal and eaten too). Whoops.
(Plaza de Armas)
(Plaza de Armas)
(Plaza de Armas)
(You can buy bird seed from ladies in the plaza)
(Arequipa is surrounded in mountains and volcanoes)
(a courtyard with cool drain spouts)
(Plaza de Armas)
We toured the large monastery, Santa Catalina , which is the size of an entire city block! It housed rich Spanish nuns since 1580 and still has about 20 of them living there. The nuns lived lavishly there, hosting parties and having nice things. A wonderful place to take photos.
(old medical supplies)
(one of many kitchens)
(Room with paintings of decreased nuns of the monastery)
After a couple of days in the city, we went for a 3-day trek into the Colca Canyon, the deepest in the world! We started at about 4,000 meters and hiked down to something like 2,000. We went with a group of other tourists near our age from Germany, Austria, Belgium, and even South Korea! I had fun chatting with the Korean girls, but we had to mix up our Spanish and English to really communicate. It was really fun to try and remember my Korean. I’ve lost so much of it! I also had fun joking that I was the sister of the Austrian girl, because they royally screwed up my name on the roster – I was “Roswitha Thwessel” from Austria! Probably mixed me up because I am actually Heather Dessel and I’m “with Ross.” Really really screwed that name up! I’m surprised they even let me come!
Our guide was cool because he was actually from the canyon, where people live and farm with only mules for transportation! No cars, no bikes, no roads, just paths and animals. They use the animals to transport goods in and out of the canyon villages, and when we passed the mules on the trail, we had to back ourselves up against the wall of the mountain so we wouldn’t get knocked off the trail and fall to our deaths! He told us that in the villages there are elementary schools, but older children have to climb all the way up and walk into town for junior and high school – a hike that took us about three hours! Our guide’s grandparents still live in the village and we stayed at their hostel there. His grandparents are nearly 100 years old and tell people there are three rules to a long, healthy life: exercise everyday, always eat organic, healthy food and no soda, and have sex often.
We had a great group on this trek, having fun sharing very expensive beer (had to have been brought in by mules!), swimming in the pool, and playing card games together. It was a great time and we loved the views in this amazing mountain range. You can see the stepped farming plots on steep mountain sides, the beautiful green-blue river cutting through the valley, and at night, the Milky Way and constellations of the southern hemisphere. We also got to see the largest bird of prey in the world – the condor. They stand one meter tall and have a 3-meter wingspan. Unfortunately people eat their eggs, so this canyon only has between 45 and 75 condors left. They live in other places in Peru as well, but I still have only seen them here.
Our guide was cool because he was actually from the canyon, where people live and farm with only mules for transportation! No cars, no bikes, no roads, just paths and animals. They use the animals to transport goods in and out of the canyon villages, and when we passed the mules on the trail, we had to back ourselves up against the wall of the mountain so we wouldn’t get knocked off the trail and fall to our deaths! He told us that in the villages there are elementary schools, but older children have to climb all the way up and walk into town for junior and high school – a hike that took us about three hours! Our guide’s grandparents still live in the village and we stayed at their hostel there. His grandparents are nearly 100 years old and tell people there are three rules to a long, healthy life: exercise everyday, always eat organic, healthy food and no soda, and have sex often.
We had a great group on this trek, having fun sharing very expensive beer (had to have been brought in by mules!), swimming in the pool, and playing card games together. It was a great time and we loved the views in this amazing mountain range. You can see the stepped farming plots on steep mountain sides, the beautiful green-blue river cutting through the valley, and at night, the Milky Way and constellations of the southern hemisphere. We also got to see the largest bird of prey in the world – the condor. They stand one meter tall and have a 3-meter wingspan. Unfortunately people eat their eggs, so this canyon only has between 45 and 75 condors left. They live in other places in Peru as well, but I still have only seen them here.
(Condors flying over the canyon)
(Ross and I getting ready for the long hike down into the canyon)
(A view of the canyon and the villages in it)
(Napping on a rock in the river after the long hike down)
(Special Peruvian chickens with crazy head feathers)
(The group sitting at a table that's way too high!)
(A church and main plaza of a village)
(The awesome hostel of day two had a great pool and awesome views)
(The group at the dinner table, playing cards by candlelight)
(A view of the way up - the zig zag trail on the other side)
(The group at the top of the mountain, victorious!)
(Another view of the canyon from the car ride back to the city)
After the canyon trek, it was back to Arequipa where Ross and I indulged in some amazing crepes and milkshakes before hopping on a very cold bus to Cusco, the Incan capital of Peru.
