Aaaaaarequiiiiipaaaaa *squawk!*

In our (first) room at Hostal Caminante Class
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This is going to be pretty dodgy as I've lost my notebook which had all the details down - so this is all from memory.. here goes!

Well we arrived in Arequipa after travelling for hoooouuuurs by bus from San Pedro de Atacama to Arica in Chile's north. We then crossed the border to Tacna, a dirty little border city which basically involved Jason and I booking a bus to Arequipa amongst a whole raft of spruikers who all crowed "Aaaaaarequiiiipaaaa" like parrots. It really was quite hilarious, and many pirate jokes were made.

Hundreds, maybe thousands of tentacles dangle from the body of the beast

The outside area of the original Hostal Caminante Class (which we only got to stay in the second night)
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After waiting a lot longer than we expected (as we forgot that Peru is 2 hours behind Chile) and changing some money, we finally caught the bus with Cruz Del Sur (the most reputable Peruvian company) to Arequipa along with a LOT of what seemed like school age or recent school graduate aged students, all of whom were very noisy during the trip and kept insisting on playing their crappy music over the bus loudspeakers. They also insisted on changing the language of an in-bus movie from English to Spanish WITH SPANISH SUBTITLES.

A small pic of Juanita, the pretty little thing
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The trip was about 7 hours of sitting around, every now and then we caught a glimpse of what looked like an eagle flying next to the bus, as the route pretty much went through about a dozen canyons. If it wasn't a canyon, it was desert. Basically it was pretty boring.

Finally we arrive in Arequipa, also known as "the white city" because of a type of volcanic rock they use to build stuff. Knowing this in advance, I expected an awesome place filled with white buildings and was disappointed to find that there was a total of ZILCH noticable white buildings to impress me.

All the guitars
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Anyway, we arrived and found a taxi very easily, marvelling at the price (as we would come to do for a lot of things). They dropped us at the hostel we'd booked which, it turned out, had assumed we only wanted to stay for one night so put us in a great double room with a private bathroom... which would be occupied for the other nights we'd wanted. It was also in the second part of the hostel, which was 5 doors down from the original part recommended by Lonely Planet. Needless to say, we didn't agree with Lonely Planet's rating of the accomodation. That being said, the price was very agreeable and the rooms had nice firm beds (though Jason said it was too hard for him to sleep on).

Me on top of the convent overlooking some of the city and the looming mountains behind
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That night we decided to find something tasty to eat and grabbed some food at a place called Fez, which offered felafel (hence why Jason would eat there). It was sooooo delicious and for 2 meals, 2 alcoholic drinks, and a bowl of chips which we couldn't finish, it came to a total of 25 Soles, which is AU$10 exactly. We revisited there another night as well, as the food was so good and the staff so obliging!

The next day we went about looking at one of the basic tourist sites, Juanita the ice princess. Basically she's a frozen Inca sacrifice which they found in 1995. They wouldn't let us bring in cameras and they gave us a guide who wore a very formal suit and spoke very formal English. They showed us things like pots, cloth, and of course Juanita as part of the tour, also a video explaining the significance and history behind her.

Arequipa plaza with all the crazy pigeons
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At the end of the tour, we were basically expected to give the guide a tip. Since we only had small change in Soles (Peruvian money), we gave him a US$10 note, which somehow felt much cheaper than giving him Soles from our budget.

Earlier, we'd looked up where some instrumental stores were and decided to visit one of the streets which a store was located on. When we went in, Jason's jaw dropped. Everywhere, guitars hung stating "240 Soles" on them, which is a bit less than AU$100. Everywhere we went, the results were the same, and Jason eyed several things he wanted to get his hands on. On the way back to our hostel, I saw a quarter chicken and chips meal for 4 Soles (AU$1.60) and couldn't resist! Jason grabbed some food at a nearby vegetarian store and we chowed down before taking the rest of the day VERY easily.

The beast that is.. shoelaces-man!
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The next day, after booking our Colca Canyon tour for US$20 each (awesome!) we went to see the other main tourist attraction of Arequipa, located on the block next to our hostel. A convent. Yes, an old convent which apparently was home to Saint Ana (no joke). It was OK but if you don't like paying exorbitant entry fees to walk around and look at dried paint (no, not even drying) then this isn't the place for you. It probably would have been better had we gotten a guide, but after the day before we knew we'd just end up paying them more than we could after the entrance fees had already stripped away half our budget. That being said, it was quite interesting trying to translate all the biblical verses on the wall into English, and the view from the top of a set of stairs was really great.

The crazy festival in Chivay
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So after perusing around, and dropping into the cafe for some coffee and delicious chocolate cake, we went to the ATM and headed to the instrument stores, where Jason purchased a 10-string guitar (called a Ronroco) and I got a Chromatic Zampoña (panpipes). That same day I went and purchased a small bag for my panpipes, as well as some woven material to protect it in the bag so I could travel.

I should mention that on this same day, we tried to find out how much it would cost to send a guitar home, and found it to be about AU$80.. in other words, any instruments we bought would be coming with us for the rest of the trip! More importantly however, is what we encountered on our way back from the post office... Walking back to our hostel, minding our own business, we look down a driveway casually and see what seems to be a monster. Hundreds, maybe thousands of tentacles dangle from the body of the beast, with rough fur covering every part of his being. The beast lets out a harsh loud yell which quickly crescendos from a small growl to a giant howl. He spots us. What do we do? We simply look at each other. He sees the colour of our skin, and his howl changes into a frantic yell:

A little girl who tried to get money off us for the shots of her with a Llama
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"SHOELACEEEEESSS!!!! SHOELACES MEESTEEEEERR!!!"

That's right.. the dreaded shoelaces man.

And we ran, well, at least we quickened our pace. Later, we were lucky to sneak a snapshot of the beast from afar. This is a rare photo, so treasure a peak at the rare homo-shoelacius while you can.

Anyway, back to the storyline..

The "natural" hot springs
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The next day, we got up bright (Ha!) and early with our packed bags and shoved them into storage for our 2-day tour of Colca Canyon! We hopped on a bus which went a very round-about route to collect everyone before heading out along the suburbs and into the desert once again. When I say "suburbs" I should clarify that these burbs aren't like those in Australia, with the big houses and the plush gardens, though there are still plenty of little kids running around as parts of big families. These burbs have very little electricity and our guide informed us that they also only rarely have water. The houses were made of scrap pieces of plastic and metal and built into the side of small hills, or constructed like a small house of cards (with a flat roof) in the middle of a patch of dirt. The houses themselves probably were about the size of my living room, if not smaller.

The best pic we have of our Rabbit-Chinchilla thing
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Anyway, after a long bus ride, and a few stops to take snaps of the Vicuña (llama-like animals) grazing, we get to a pit stop, complete with peruvian arts-and-crafts markets (called artesanias), sheep, and coca tea. That's right, coca tea. We'd already tried some in San Pedro de Atacama, but here they also sold the leaves seperately, which we bought and chewed (apparently very common and traditional Peruvian activity, though technically still illegal). It basically just made our mouths numb, and even though it was supposed to make us more alert, I fell asleep soon after, during the rocky ride up the mountain tops, reaching a maximum height of 5900m above sea level.

Jason in a full-length beanie we found!
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Eventually we descended until we reached the main town, Chivay, where we had to pay a huge entrance fee to get in. This is around the time Jason and I realised that we hadn't brought that much money, and that there may not be any ATMs in the middle of a small town lodged between lots of really high mountains. Luckily another Australian called Anna said she'd loan us 50 Soles as she was staying in the same hostel as us. After dropping us all off at our hostel in Chivay, the guide gave us the option of either doing a 2 hour walk, or just resting at the Hostel. We decided to rest...

Vicuña!!! In a weird pose!!!
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But wait, we can't rest, as some crazy music has started! We walked outside at the strange commotion and found it to be... a festival in the square, with all the citizens dancing around with crates of beer on their shoulders in traditional dress. The music was the same tune repeating over and over. Jason and I went out to have a look. After a while, the dancers formed three seperate groups which danced in circles at different parts of the plaza. Intrigued, I asked one of the other girls who had stayed back what was going on. She told me that it was a festival where the mayor gives three local families 1000 Soles to hold giant parties with free food and beer, and that the festival had already been going for 3 days. After a while, it was time for us to be picked up and taken off to some hot springs, but the festival was blocking the entrance in. Eventually our guide came around and took us to the bus parked a street away. We headed up to the pool which was VERY different to the thermal pool in San Pedro de Atacama. These ones were completely built up, obviously finding a way to stabilise the temperature of the water and disperse it evenly. The problem was that you have to shower before going into the pool, and let me tell you now : The shower is NOT thermal, it is FREEZING. So after quickly rubbing ourselves down in ice-cold water, we plunged into the thermal, 40 degree water, which burnt at first but eventually became perfect!

Another random photo from the photogenic convent! Couldn't resist putting one of them in!
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About an hour later, we headed back to the bus, Jason and I now with dizzying headaches from the pools (which is apparently quite normal). Also, Jason and I discussed the "Shane" phenomenon. Shane was a guy on our tour who had a different hostel, who didn't eat breakfast or other meals with us, and who hadn't come into the pool. Jason and I concluded that since he was picked up from a hotel in Arequipa, "Shane" from Byron Bay must have a lot of money and must have paid extra for better accomodation. Although that still didn't explain why he didn't come into the pool....

Anyway, after getting back I was feeling sick as a dog, presumably from altitude and the headache. Jason went and made his first attempts at ordering food without the help of my Spanish, and came back with an expensive pizza which I never ended up having much of as I was so sick. I should add that when we got back from the pool it was about 2 hours since we left, and the music (the SAME music) was still playing. Sure enough, the music kept going until about 4am.. I know because it kept waking me up during the night.

The next morning we woke up at 5:30am, waited in the lobby til 6am, and then headed out on another laborious bus trip to Colca Canyon, the second deepest canyon in the world (only second by about 30m!). We stopped briefly to look at what are called "hanging tombs", where the Inca (or some other group) managed to put their dead in tombs in the mountain-side. We also took a moment to look at what are called "Terraces" in the land. These things are EVERYWHERE in the area and apparently are Pre-Inca. However due to global warming, there is less and less ice on the mountains each year and more and more dirt and crumbling rocks, hence the terraces are becoming more useless for their original purpose: Irrigating the water for agriculture.

After a bit longer on the bus, we finally reached the canyon, where we went on a half hour walk to the lookout to try to see some Condors. On the walk, however, Jason and I spotted another animal that looked like a nimble rabbit with a long tail. We were later told that it was a cross between a rabbit and a chinchilla, but I'm yet to find the animal online without knowing its name. The condors were feeling shy so I got a few shots from afar but nothing good. Also, I should mention that there are no toilets at the lookout. I know this from experience. I ended up having to go in a bush between the main road and the carpark, with Jason holding his jumper to try to block any views.

Just up above the lookout is a little area which at first I thought was just a bunch of tourists, but after walking up there we found that it was, in fact, another little marketplace which also sold some basic food. I was able to get some chicken and fried rice. Normally I don't like fried rice, but here in Peru it is AWESOME. Even Jason could find something he liked, opting for an avocado and cheese sandwich. We also took the opportunity to borrow some money from Anna and buy a beanie for me, as well as two sets of gloves, all of which were (not very subtly) motiffed with a Llama.

After that, we pretty much headed back. I should mention, though, that we stopped at the highest altitude point this time. I took heaps of photos of these little rock mounds. Originally, they were made by hikers who would stop and make them, putting coca leaves in the middle and wishing for luck in business, or family life, or something like that. Needless to say, every tourist who has passed through has made their own rock pile. Naturally I decided to contribute, and get a photo taken of me and my rock pile.

The ride back to Arequipa felt like forever, but we finally made it. Jason and I got some money out, and discovered something interesting about Peruvian ATMs. They give you your card last. Money, then receipt, then a long wait and a screen which says "Do you want to complete another transaction?" and then you press no, and THEN you get your card. We discovered this the hard way, as I left one of my cards in the machine. Even though nobody went in after us, the bank insisted they didn't have our card the next day. Nevertheless, no money has been taken out of that account, which makes me think that perhaps it's either still buried in my clothes somewhere, or I somehow threw it out, or my Spanish wasn't good enough to get the bank to check properly.

Since we'd already booked the bus to Lima (the 16.5 hour bus) for the next night, we stayed one more night in our hostel, got a DELICIOUS breakfast in the morning, put our luggage in storage (again) and had to find somewhere to spend the day. So where else, but the mall? We went there, had some trashy food, and got to see two films we'd been meaning to see: Casino Royale and The Prestige. Casino Royale was better than most Bond films but still trashy, and The Prestige was great! After that we simply went to the internet cafe, had some chow, and headed off to the Bus Terminal. Although I should mention that "heading off" is the wrong phrase, perhaps "risking our lives" would be more appropriate, as the standard of driving in Peru is simply crazy. Not only do people simply not blink, but they beep before speeding through intersections, swerve crazily, don't stick to the lines on the road, and constantly (and I mean constantly) beep at anyone or anything which even slightly rubs them the wrong way.

Nevertheless we did arrive at the bus terminal in one piece, ready for a sickening overnight bus to Lima which made my stomach turn constantly.. I'm not one for motion sickness but that was one rough night...  Still I eventually fell asleep and our time in Arequipa quickly faded away behind me.

An update on our time in Lima and Huancayo soon to come!!