Under the Arequipan Sun

View from the top of the Catedral De Arequipa; Misti Volcano on right

Our second to last stop on our Peru vacation was Arequipa. We LOVED Arequipa! Located below the stunning Volcano Misti, the city is the second largest in Peru. At 7,661 ft above sea level, Arequipa gets some of the most solar radiation of anywhere in the world, hence the title "Under the Arequipan Sun." We stayed in the most amazing hotel, La Plaza Arequipa, which has only been open a couple of months and is right on the main square of Plaza de Armas. Of all the cities we've been to, this one feels the most like a European city. We got to enjoy breakfast on the veranda both mornings we were here. On the first morning, there was a military parade that lasted about an hour and a half .

In our two days here visited a few neat historical museums, churches, and casas, but mostly just enjoyed walking around the city and exploring. Our first lunch in Arequipa we ate at Hatumpa, a potato place that served all sorts of dishes atop of sliced potatoes. Barrett got the Rocoto Rolleno, a specialty in Arequipa that is spicy and delicious. Mine was served over 6 different types of potatoes, three of which are being celebrated this month as part of their potato festival. The way the owner explained it to me, this variety of potato will only be around this season and then gone forever.

We then visited the Catedral and where you had to have a guide, but the guide was not included in the ticket price. This happened a few places and seemed weird at first, but it wasn't too expensive and the guide got us student tickets which were half the price. She guided us throughout the cathedral, its museum, and the rooftop. It was a nice way to gain some historical perspective of the city as well as had some great views.

That night, we ate at a steakhouse and got a wide assortment of meats to share. The meat was served and kept warm by a bowl filled with hot coals. As adventurous as I am in trying new things, I can't say that I really enjoyed the flavor of most of the cuts we had. We had some mystery "house" sausages, beef heart kebabs, pork loin stuffed with cheese and bacon, and alpaca. The alpaca was my favorite, and Barrett loved the beef heart.

The next day we went to a museum that's main feature was Juanita the "ice princess." She was an Incan child sacrifice to the mountains and had been perfectly preserved by being frozen on top of the highest mountain in the area for over 500 years. While it sounds ghoulish, evidently it was a huge honor to be chosen to be sacrificed and you would be raised especially for the task. Unfortunately, photos were not allowed.

We then had lunch at a creperie which was of course, delicious!

After that we headed to the Santa  Catalina monastery which had around 300 nuns at one time. It takes up a whole city block and was completely walled off from the rest of the city until 1974 when the government forced most of it to be open for tourists.It was a maze of narrow streets, squares, and cells. Each cell had it's own kitchen of sorts, which always included at least one oven, sometimes more.

We found it funny that in a Monastery there would be a special trash pot allocated especially for batteries 

After this, we stopped at a chocolate cafe to enjoy some amazing hot chocolate and watch the sun set!

For dinner in our last night in Arequipa, we went to another fancy restaurant where Barrett got a "meat trilogy" as the menu called it. It was served on a sizzling vocanic stone and as you might be able to tell from the pictures, it was duck, alpaca, and cow. It came with several dipping sauces as well to make for some fun combinations. I was meated out from the prior night, so opted for the gnocchi made with potatoes and quinoa and served with a pesto sauce.

Meal complete with special bib

The morning we were leaving Arequipa, I had the strange but extremely exciting opportunity to skype with a committee for a teaching job. Technology sure is fantastic!! As you can see, Arequipa is a gorgeous and a place to gorge yourself with many different foods!

The Cathedral view from our balcony

The Colca Canyon Experience

After taking a plane from Cusco, then a taxi to the bus station, then a public bus for 4.5 hours, we finally were dropped off at dusk in the main square in the quiet canyon town of Yanque. We walked four blocks on dirt/dusty streets to our Bed and Breakfast, MiskiWasi, which has just four rooms that open to a private garden.

Flying over volcanoes on the way to Arequipa

The deserted, yet beautiful main square in Yanque

After checking in, we walked to some local hot springs that were just a bit outside of town. The scary part was that you had to cross an old rope bridge that crossed the ravine, straight out of Indiana Jones movies.

Swinging rope bridge

We then headed back for dinner cooked by the co-owner, who had gone to culinary school. We had a quinoa soup, then chicken or grilled trout, then crepes for dessert. After a rough day of travel, it really turned our anniversary around.

The next morning, we had a guide take us around the Colca Canyon area. We had met him the previous day during check in when he served as an interpreter for us. He took us to the Cruz del Condor, which is a great viewpoint for condors as well as flocks of emerald green parakeets.

flocks of green birds

He let us hike along the rim to this point and we actually saw some foxes who were scavenging some dead cows or alpacas nearby. What a treat!

Fox enjoying life

Woman next to road with her Alpaca

Looking down the great Colca Canyon

The condors were magnificent! We saw several fly just overhead and just watched in awe as the floated gracefully through the sky.

Condor taking off

We then headed back on the most bumpy road I've been on, other than when we've gone four-wheel driving in Utah, back toward Yanque. We stopped along the way to take in more views, and in a town to visit an old church and of course, get our pictures taken with an eagle and alpaca.

After a picnic at our B&B, we headed for a 2.5 hour hike to some pre-incan ruins. After we got back, we went horseback riding until sunset for a couple hours. We are all kinds of sore from the trotting! It was a packed day, but when you only have one day in the Colca Canyon (which is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon), you've got to take advantage of every moment of daylight!

This is quinoa before harvest, with volcano in background

Horseback riding!

The Cool Co. (Barrett and I) go to Cusco!

Hello again! Although we are just finishing up our time in the Colca Canyon, I continue to be one stop behind in my posts. Barrett had a cold during our time in the beautiful city of Cusco, but is doing much better now. After a train and then van ride to Cusco, we got to our first actually nice hotel, Tierra Viva. The king beds here are out of control huge. They are basically the size of two queen beds put together. I have no idea where they get sheets for these things!

After settling in, we headed out for a late lunch and then just wandered the main squares deciding what we'd want to do the following day.

Plaza De Armas in Cusco

We then had dinner at this amazing vegan restaurant called Green Point (no we're not turning vegan...yet). Our waitress spoke the best English of anyone we've met yet. It turns out she's from Venezuela but had been living in Canada for quite some time. While she was traveling around Peru, all her money got stolen from her hostel so now she's had a get a job and apartment and is trying to get enough money to go back to Canada.

The next morning we woke up and had a great breakfast at our hotel. It was a strange mix of things, including tamales, spinach bread, all sorts or fruits and breads, and an assortment of juices. We then headed to San Pedro Market which is huge and well worth a walk through. We saw all sorts of fruits, veggies, bread the size of old records, but the most interesting isle was the innards isle.

Seeing women with kids on there back is a cute and common sight all over Peru

*Caution* the next few photos might be graphic.

After wandering around some more we arrived at the Koricancha/Santo Domingo convent. It is a mix of architecture, as it has some buildings from the Incan Sun Temple, as well as a convent built around it during the colonial times.

We also hiked to the top of a hill that overlooks the city to take in some great views.

After that we shopped at markets and then had dinner at Nuna Raymi which was a very delicious meal. I had the Lomo Saltado, which is a traditional Peruvian dish with the most amazing marinated beef strips served with red onions and tomatoes and with rice and french fries on the side. Barrett got the alpaca steak served over mashed potatoes and served with two unique sauces. Our general thoughts of Cusco are that it's a fun city with plenty to do and places to eat!

Cusco Cathedral in Plaza De Armas at night

Macho Machu Picchu

Sorry this post is a little late, but we have been having too much fun in Cusco to write about our time in Machu Picchu! It started with a train ride on the Inca Rail which might be one of the nicest trains I've ever been on. It wound its way through the mountains and even past the starting point of the Incan Trail.

Bridge at the start of the Incan Trail

When we arrived in Aguas Calientes we did the hike to bury 7's bottle. Fast forward to 5:13 am the next morning. We woke up and got ready and stuffed ourselves with as much bread, eggs, and bananas as we could before heading out on the hike to Machu Picchu. Unlike all the other tourists, we wanted to "earn" Machu Picchu, so we hiked up the mountainside starting at 6 am.

Barrett on the floating Incan Steps on the trail to Machu Picchu

Trillion herding Alpacas on the way to the Huaynu Picchu Trail Head

When we got to the top and made it into the ruins, we headed straight for Huayna Picchu, which I cannot recommend enough. They only allow 400 on the hike per day, 200 hundred in the first group from 7-8am and 200 hundred in the second group from 10-11am. It was nice being in the first group because lots of the intense hike was in the shade. They have you sign in a book on your way in, and sign out when you leave, I guess to make sure everyone survives the trail? Anyways, the views from the top of the Huaynu Picchu were gorgeous! We got 360 degree views of the surrounding mountainside.

 We then opted to take a two hour longer route back that went down to some Incan Caverns and some other ruins along the way. After asking the guy who is posted down there to make sure nobody tries to do anything stupid, we determined that less then 10% of the Huaynu Picchu hikers decide to take this route. It was lots of extra steps, but why not see as much as possible in this once in a lifetime trip?

When we finally got back to the main ruins, it was about noon and we were hungry for a snack. We tried to find a shady spot off the beaten track since technically you're not supposed to have food or water in the ruins (though no one checks your bags). Unfortunately, the alpacas wouldn't leave us alone as soon as they knew we had food so we had to find a more remote area.

We ended up snacking in the shade up at the top of the ruins near the Incan Bridge trail. After our quick lunch, we hiked to the Incan Bridge which had some terrifyingly sheer drop offs on the side in areas and no guard rails to keep you from the abyss. We then hiked to the Sun Gate which is where Incan Trail hikers get their first view of the ruins. It was a further hike than we thought it would be, but still pretty neat. By this time we realized we had not really walked through much of the main ruins and since they were emptying out quickly (it was around 3pm), we decided to get a tour guide to take us around. It worked out perfect because the sun was setting and we had basically avoided the heat of the day and the crowds by doing everything else first. Our excellent tour guide, Felix, really made the ruins mean more than they would have if we had just wandered around ourselves. I also found out he works there for 15 days and then goes home to Cusco for 3 days and then starts the process all over again. Once again, I'm astounded by how hard Peruvians work!

We were exhausted by the time the park ushers herded us out around 5pm, but when we saw that it was $10 for the bus to take us down the mountain, we decided to completely murder our knees and walk down instead. By the time we got back to our hostel it was dark and around 6:30. We had spent a little over 12 hours hiking and getting as much out of our Machu Picchu experience as possible. While an exhausting day, it is one we will always remember.

PS. we did this whole day with 3 water bottles between the two of us. We were VERY thirsty by the time we got back to our hostel. You better believe we chugged a two liter bottle of water when we got back!