Adventures in Peru Pt. 3

Arequipa & the Colca Canyon

Earlier in November, Sean and I took a long weekend trip to Arequipa and the Colca Canyon. We stayed in Arequipa for a full day and two nights before we headed out to the Colca Valley.  We stayed at a really cool boutique hotel called Hotel Casona Solar, that is a renovated colonial mansion and UNESCO national monument. It had a lot of old world charm, and our bedroom had vaulted ceilings and a chandelier! 

The hotel's patio and garden was my favorite place to sit and read.

Private courtyard for the guest rooms.

Vaulted ceilings AND a chandelier! 

Plaza des Armas and the basilica lit up at night.

Day time Plaza des Armas

Cool old colonial architecture

During the full day we had in Arequipa we walked around and explored a little. Right around the corner from the hotel is the Mercado San Camilo, which is the main market for the city. One of my favorite (and free) things to do anywhere we travel is explore that city's markets, I'm always interested in seeing what kinds of produce and other goods are sold. And here in Arequipa we got to see some pretty interesting things.....

Yes, those are llama fetuses, and I still can't figure out what they are used for. Or WHY

Witch doctor stall selling various herbal remedies

After I surreptitiously snapped a bunch of photos, we moved quickly away from the creepy witch doctor stalls where old women were putting together what looked like little voodoo packets of herbs, flowers, and other bits of things. The rest of the market sold normal things... I wanted to buy and eat all of that luscious looking tropical fruit. And of course they had their millions of varieties of potatoes on display.

The other weird thing we came across in the mercado was near the bakery stalls. The bakers were selling these loaves of bread that had little babies heads painted on them....

Creepy baby head bread....

After our stroll through the mercado we headed towards the Plaza des Armas. Now, pretty much every city in South America has a Plaza des Armas, each one varying in size and prettiness. So, I'd say now I'm something of an expert on Plaza des Armas-es. And Arequipa boasts a very pretty and clean one. All the buildings surrounding the square are constructed of white volcanic stone so the whole effect is really nice to look at. 

Once you've see one Plaza des Armas, you've seen them all.

There aren't a whole lot of tourist activities to do in the city itself, Arequipa is mainly a stopping over point for people coming to or from the Colca Canyon. There's a small national museum that hosts the famous "Inca Ice Maiden"- the mummy Juanita, an Andean woman found up on Mount Ampato. And there is also the Monasterio de Santa Catalina. The monastery is massive, we spent about two hours walking around the complex, and I think we still didn't cover a few parts of it. 

View of the volcano Mismi from the monastery.

Interesting church door.

The next day we were picked up by our driver bright and early and we headed out on the long drive to the Colca Valley. It takes about 3 hours just to get to the beginning of the Valley and then another hour or so before you get to the actual canyon itself. 

A cool lagoon in the valley.

Before we even got to the Mirador del Condor, we saw a pair of juvenile condors sitting together.

The drive to Cabana Conde, the town we would stay in for the night, took most of the day. We stopped at a few places to walk around and enjoy the beautiful scenery and landscape. 

Hiking along the edge of the canyon rim.

Standing above the Colca Canyon

Looking across the canyon at a small village, in the foreground you can see the terraces the Inca people constructed for agricultural purposes.

We stayed the night at a hostel in Cabana Conde and got up early the next morning to do a bit of hiking and then head back to Arequipa for the night. We stopped at Mirador del Condor early before most of the crowds of tourists showed up, pretty much the only reason  why people stay in towns in the Colca Canyon overnight. I didn't share any more condor photos because all of mine are grainy since I only used my iPhone to take photos on this trip.

One of the many churches we saw while drive through the Colca Canyon, this one under a grant from the Spanish government, is being restored to its original designs after years of disrepair.

Views for days

It was a pretty short trip, but we managed to pack quite a bit of activity into just four days. Arequipa and the Colca Canyon are definitely two places that I would like to visit again, if we ever get the chance to come back to Peru. 


Thanks for reading! See you soon!

Out and about in Lima: Mistura on the Costa Verde

Every October Mistura comes to Lima. Mistura is touted as the food festival of Peru (though I think it's the only food festival of Peru?) I had just returned to Lima from Uruguay  the night before, and so I was able to attend the very last day of it with my friends Nadya and Kevin, and their daughter Emma. We hopped in a cab to get down to the Costa Verde, where the grounds of Mistura were located. And in the typical Peruvian fashion we arrived at the entrance it was a complete circus. It took us about fifteen minutes to first determine which was the line for purchasing tickets, and which was the to get inside the gates with your recently purchased tickets. Once that was taken care of we got in the nebulous line/mob of people and waited..... 

And waited some more.

And waited just a little more.

Finally after about twenty minutes of waiting the line started moving. Apparently the grounds were at capacity so they had to wait for people to exit before they could allow more in. (Makes sense... but still annoying) 

All of the signage and graphic design was really well done. 

Once we got past the maze that was the entrance we entered a complete mob of humanity... and I put my phone away. The festival was massive and sprawling with different sections devoted to different types of Peruvian cuisine from the coast, mountains, and jungle. There was a massive beer tent displaying the recently developed craft beer scene that's taken hold in Lima, and Peru in general. I honestly was really underwhelmed by the whole event, and extremely overwhelmed by the crowds. I guess I expected the event to be a little better organized... though I shouldn't have since nothing is particularly  well organized here in Peru. And I was also extremely disappointed to figure out that my entry ticket didn't also come with food tasting. You had to purchase tickets for food separately. Most of the food stands did not take cash, so that was yet another line we had to wait in to get food tickets. Once again, I wish I had been made aware of that before I waited in line for twenty minutes to order a cheese empanada. 

The four of us did not stay long because many of the food stands were running out of food (makes sense since it was the last day...) and the crushing amount of humanity was beginning to get really old really fast. Overall- and I may get angry comments for this- I'm not really quite sure what the big deal over Mistura is? You can easily get all the same food, for much cheaper, at the food stands around Parque Kennedy or at the Mercado Uno in Surquillo. I don't know that the appeal is of having to wait in massive lines for pretty subpar comida criollo that I could easily have purchased in Miraflores for half the time and half the hassle. 

At least now I can say I went, and that's the point right? 

Out and About in Lima.

In addition to the periodic travel posts, I figured it was time that I start doing posts about my (our) daily life in and around Lima. 

For the inaugural edition I'll take us waaaaay way back to March when we were fresh faced travelers and interested in seeing what Lima had to offer. Before we decided that it's more fun to go elsewhere. 

On Saturday, our second day in the city, we knew we needed to get out of the hotel (despite the late summer heat). We cabbed it north to the Plaza des Armas in Central Lima. 

Plaza des Armas and the cathedral on the left

A busy Plaza des Armas

We caught the back (or front) end of one of the many processions in the lead up to Semana Santa, which is a really big deal in Peru. Here priests are throwing incense and in the distance is a replica of the crucifixion that is so large that 8 other priests were needed to carry it.  

A short walk away from the Plaza des Armas is the much less crowded Plaza San Martin with the famous Hotel Bolivar to the left.

Contemplating the monument to Jose de San Martin.

Some of the many churches that are around nearly every corner in Central Lima

And of course we can't forget the food! Sean had tacu tacu a lo pobre (rice, beans, sautéed onions and peppers, steak, fried egg, and a fried plantain on the side.

One of the things I love the most about living here is the abundance of seafood on all the menus. My favorite seafood dish is definitely saltados de mariscos- a sauté of peppers, onions, calamari, scallops, octopus, crab, and shrimp. So yummy!

Centro historico de Lima is a great part of the city to visit if you want to get a feel for what 'old' Lima was like. In the Archbishop's Palace you can visit Fransisco Pizarro's bones as well as marvel at its Baroque style architecture. At noon on the weekends in the Plaza Mayor, you can witness the elaborate changing of the guards ceremony at the Palacio de Gobernio. While walking around you can see some gorgeous architecture- like the old balconies and the many churches that are located in the surrounding area.

Stay tuned for more glimpses of life in Lima! 

Adventures in Peru: Part 2

Cusco, Machu Picchu, Maras & Moray Salineras

From Puno our next destination was a two day stop in Cusco before continuing to Aguas Calientes & Machu Picchu. 

Originally we were going to take the train from Puno north to Cusco. We would have enjoyed a relaxing train ride through the countryside enjoying meals in the dining car, and probably some drinks in the bar car.... However, this plan did not actually come to fruition. On our last day in Puno we received an email from PeruRail notifying us that service to Cusco was cancelled due to a mine workers strike in Ayaviri (a town halfway between Puno and Cusco) that was planned for the day of our trip. 

While this definitely threw a wrench in our travel plans- we quickly purchased tickets with the bus company Cruz del Sur. It promised to be a relatively quicker trip than the train trip would have been, and we got 'VIP' seats for the equivalent of 24$ per person. Plus, our friends told us good things about Cruz del Sur, so we were all pretty excited for this new plan. 

The next morning we get to the bus station only to find out that Cruz del Sur had just found out about the mine worker's strike and departure time was delayed until noon. We didn't end up leaving until 1pm. The ensuing ride turned into a 8 and a half hour ordeal of driving at breakneck speeds in a swaying double decker bus over questionable roads through the Andes. It didn't end up being the relaxing bus ride promised by our friends and the website. We arrived in Cusco exhausted, irritated, and very dirty (the bus's central air system continually sucked in dirt and exhaust from outside.) 

View from the bus

After checking in at our hotel that was conveniently located off the Plaza des Armas, we went in search of dinner. Sean had found out there was a Gaston Acurio (Peruvian restaurateur/chef) restaurant called Chicha, facing the main plaza. Except it also shares an entrance with another restaurant that we mistakenly ended up in. It was a weird place all decked out in baroque and rococo art work, and to top it all off we got serenaded at top volume by some traditional pan flute players.... just what we wanted after an exhausting and stressful bus trip. 

The next day we explored Cusco, which was preparing for the Into Raymi festival (read more about it here) which is celebrated every year on the Winter Solstice. So there were a Ton of people in the city. And we were able to see a bunch of different traditional dances and lots of people in traditional costume. 

People in costume getting ready for the festivities of Inti Raymi

Street view of Cusco

Inti Raymi dancers

In the morning we took a tour of one of the many churches in Cusco. This one was built over an Incan temple- so some of the Incan structure remains around the walls of the actual church. 

The three of us in the church courtyard

Old Incan ruins with the church foundations on top

Looking out over Cusco

Really interesting bushes apparently

More old churches and plazas

The masses watching the Inti Raymi procession in the Plaza des Armas

That night we finally found Chicha, which was still surprisingly hard to find as you had to walk through one entry way into a hotel's courtyard and up another two flights of stairs. But since I've made it my goal to eat at every Acurio restaurant in Peru, we had to persevere and find it.

Fancy after dinner coffee

And we all enjoyed a delicious meal and an elegant desert.

Decadent muna ice cream & cacao soufflé 

The Into Raymi celebrations were still going strong at 10 pm when we left Chicha and they continued all through the night (keeping everyone awake) through the morning. We were glad to be leaving Cusco as it would probably only get more out of control on the actual day of the Winter Solstice. 

Another taxi ride to the Poroy train station about half an hour outside of Cusco and we boarded PeruRail for the three hour train ride to Aguas Calientes, the town at the foot of Machu Picchu. 

Foggy views in the Sacred Valey

Riding in style on PeruRail

The train ride to Aguas Calientes was great, we got to see some gorgeous views of the country side- and then a giant tour group boarded at Ollantaytambo. And the rest of the ride was noisy because everyone felt the need to talk at top volume.

Gorgeous skies

Views of the Sacred Valley

Plaza des Armas in Aguas Calientes

Around mid afternoon we arrived at Aguas Calientes and checked into our hotel. Then we explored the maze of narrow streets that makes up the small town. The town is entirely walk-able which was great because we had been sitting for so long that it gave us an opportunity to stretch our legs. 

We made it to Aguas Calientes! 

Aguas Calientes is a tiny town nestled in among some giant mountains

Vegan food in Peru!!! at Treehouse Cafe

Fancy passion fruit vegan cheese cake at Treehouse Cafe

The next morning we got up bright and early to board the bus at 5:30 that would take us up to the entrance of Machu Picchu. 

First alpaca sighting

Seriously- best photo of the trip. Period.

Walking through the gates before sunrise is a really cool experience that is worth the annoyance of getting up at 4:30 because you get the opportunity to see the park with only a few groups of tourists. The place gets totally mobbed by like 10 am. 

Another alpaca on the way to the entrance to Machu Picchu Mountain

We got tickets to hike Machu Picchu Mountain, which is a slightly bigger mountain opposite to Waynu Picchu- the more popular mountain to hike.

We were some of the first people to begin the hike at the gate opened- so we got to experience the summit alone for about 20 minutes before many others showed up. 

Machu Picchu views from halfway up the mountain

After we sat and absorbed the breath taking views for a bit we hiked back down the steps and walked among the ruins- which were jam packed with tour groups. 

We made it to the top!

Looking down on Machu Picchu from 9600 ft

And then we made our way out of the maze of ruins back to the bus and rode down the 15 switchbacks to Aguas Calientes for a well deserved pizza and beer (plus a pisco sour for me) lunch.

Looking back up at the peak we had just climbed

Later in the afternoon we explored another little known hiking trail that begins just outside the town limits. This turned into quite an adventure. But our plan was foiled because to start the ascent we would have had to scale an almost vertical rock wall before climbing a series very old and broken looking ladders that had many rungs missing. We passed on the rest of that potential adventure (i.e. disaster waiting to happen). 

After that the rest of the afternoon and evening in Aguas Calientes was spent relaxing and taking the cool scenery.

It came time to leave and begin our trip back to Lima. The PeruRail morning trains only run between AC and Ollantayambo, leaving the 1 and a half hour trip to Cusco up to us to figure out. 

So we got off the train in Ollantaytambo and enjoyed a nice lunch in the bed & breakfast that sits right on the tracks. We found a driver willing to bring us back to Cusco- by taking the scenic route. 

Our first stop was in Moray to check out the Incan agricultural terraces. We were told that these terraced gardens were created by the Incans to study the differences in climactic conditions on their crops. We walked around the three different terraced sites and then hopped back into the car for a breakneck ride on some switch backs to the Salt flats in Maras. 

Terraced agricultural site use by the Incas

This is definitely one of the cooler things I've seen in my travels so far. Nestled in a ravine are salt evaporating ponds that have been in use since pre-Incan times. The salinas is run as a cooperative and any member of the community can buy a pond to harvest for themselves. I picked up a couple packs of pink salt to bring home with me. 

First sight of the salineras

Hundreds of salt flats evaporating in the sun

Cheesin' in front of the salineras

Sean exploring the salt flats

And then we hopped back in the car with our salty treats and sped back to Cusco to board our plane back to Lima. 

Needless to say- this was a trip of a lifetime for my dad, myself, and Sean.

Stay tuned for more South American adventures coming your way!