17/07/04- 22/07/04 Arequipa and Colca Canyon

We stayed in the nicest hotel on our trip for far in this place and it wasn't too expensive so for anyone thinking of visiting this very lovely city I recommend staying in a hotel called La Casa De Mi Abuela. The city is also really lovely although Roger has an issue with the Cathedral´s steps.

On our first night we went for a drink in one of the bars over looking the main square which was really lovely (the view rather than the alcohol, although in fairness that was quite nice as well), then the following day we had a wonder round and visited the monastery which, confusingly, was actually a convent but was pretty spectacular. I am still frightened of nuns but having seen their digs I can understand why someone in the 16th century might have taken this as an option.

The following day risked th roads again and headed off for the Colca canyon and some amazing scenery. We stayed over in a tiny little village and Rog and I still managed to get lost trying to find our way back to the hotel. The following morning we were up at the crack of dawn to head off to see the condors flying in the Colca Canyon. We arrived at the same time as 15 other bus loads of tourists and not surprisingly the racket being made by that number of people meant that most of the condors had gone off to look for food elsewhere, we did get to see a few of the stragglers at the viewpoint. But we got a much better glipse of them when we stopped later as one flew straight over our heads. The scenery along the canyon was really stunning, I am not sure that this picture actually does it justice.

The following day we wondered around town some more and visited the museum where they are keeping a frozen mummy that they discovered a few years back. It would seem that the Inca´s, being the wonderful civilization that they were, used to get young teenage girls to walk from Cusco to Arequipa (it is a hell of a long way) then get her to climb a really high volcano without proper equipment or clothing and once she had done all that they would stove her head in and leave her up there. Nice. Apparently she didn't mind, but I get the feeling that she probably wasn't given a huge number of options. Anyway they have found 6 or so of this human sacrifices (or murder victims as they would now be known) around Arequipa and they do all sorts of experiments on them to see how the Incas used to live. I cant help thinking that if the Inca´s had learnt to write then all this would not be necessary.

The following day was spent shopping for presents, you lucky people.


Mum and Dad enjoying the sunshine on top of the monastery in Arequipa.


The Colca Canyon


Aaahhh- wherever there is a bit of space and a viewpoint, you can guarantee that someone will be there to sell you something. Viewpoint spectacular and novelty fruit novel.

Colca canyon is stunning though- many people there to see the condors which has the converse effect of scaring them off. Best look at the enormous gash in the ground. Twice as deep as the grand canyon you know- second largest in the world- the largest is nearby so don't know why we didn't go and see that instead.

The author Mario Vargas Llosa was born in Arequipa- I would recommend him to you- well his books anyway though I am sure he is a good cook and all that. I have read two of his books but have eaten none of his food.