Convents & Condors

Beautiful deserted Arequipa Main Square 6am
see all photos »

Arequipa was a ghost town when we arrived early on our overnight bus from Cusco. We were meant to arrive at 7 am but got in before 5am... Luckily there were taxis around so we headed into the main Plaza (called las Armas, a common thing in Peru) in the hope that there might be somewhere open. We found a cafe that was just opening up and we believe we set a record as the earliest gringos ever to go there!

We had been recommended to have a tour of the convent by Matt & Mary so we headed there after returning to the bus station to book a bus on to Chivay, the gateway to Colca Canyon. The guide showing us around the convent spoke perfect English and gave us an insight into the history and current affairs of the beautifully restored walled convent situated in the heart of Arequipa. It was only the wealthy and influential families that could send a daughter to the convent.

The condors turned up after about an hour, gliding majestically far below in the canyon

This place would be heaving later..
see all photos »

It was traditional amongst the elite that the first daughter was married off to bring financial security to the family. The second daughter was sent to the convent in order to guarantee religious security for the family and the last daughter was kept at home to care for the parents. So if you were lucky then you would be third or later but not last, then you were allowed to do what you liked!

The convent was very picky when enrolling potential nuns, the family had to pay a handsome initial sum and annual fees. It took the girls two years to qualify to be a nun during this time they were only allowed 20 possessions (including bed pans/sheets/curtains) in their cell like rooms. Their lives started off challenging but in time they were allowed more possessions and more privacy. Anyhows, the whole world of the convent got turned upside down by a catastrophic earthquake that struck Arequipa and impoverished the area. All of a sudden families could not afford to send daughters to the convent and it had to change all of its rules to survive. The nuns spent most of their time praying of course but created the murals, ikons and artwork lavished on the buildings. One unusual religious ikon was the statue of Jesus, complete with real nuns hair and a mirror in his mouth that gave the illusion of a real moist mouth! The streets were named after different cities in Spain and they were said to resemble them, not sure that Granada is all whitewashed houses but the beautifully maintained streets looked amazing under the blue skies.

The Convent entrance
see all photos »

We left the convent in a very chilled state of mind and were instantly shocked by the mayhem that is Peruvian city traffic. Arequipa has millions of taxis all of whom beep you to see if you really would rather be getting a ride than walking down the street. Grrr. Anyhow Arequipa looked great but we were on a mission to get to Colca Canyon. It´s draw being that it was deeper than the grand canyon in places and that you could see majestic condors up close!

We caught the bus to Chivay, a small place near the canyon and foolishly allowed some touts talk us into staying at their hostel upon arrival rather than staying in a recommended hostel. The only plus point of the box room we stayed in was the price. Basically a quid a night for a double room. Chivay was small, dusty, boring and uniquely did not have a laundry anywhere. We played some pool in the only drinking hole, an Irish theme bar that did not sell Guinness (despite an abundance of Guinness merchandise!). Unsurprisingly we were the only people in there, later we booked mountain bikes for the next day. We ate at a Pizza place run by Argentineans which also happened to be the only place that accepted Visa, useful as we had a wee cashflow crisis!

Granada street
see all photos »

Our big day out high altitude cycling along the canyon did not turn out to be as much fun on the gravelly, rocky roads as we had hoped. The main problem was the altitude, we were still at over 3500m and despite being acclimatized we struggled. The canyon was not very impressive and we returned hot and bothered to Chivay. We planned our trip to the Condor viewpoint and ate some more Argentinean Pizza for dinner. Found out that the guy working there didn´t like the English, which was cool as I was from Scotland. We all had a laugh when I explained in broken Spanish that my wife was English. I went for the Alpaca pizza this evening. Mmmm.

Convent Art
see all photos »

We got up at the crack of dawn to get the early local bus that stopped at the condor viewpoint. Being the only gringos on the bus we felt privileged when we got to Mirador del Condor viewpoint and surveyed the deserted car parks and viewing platforms. This place was set up for mass tourism and we had beaten the rush! This made the last couple of grotty days in Chivay worthwhile. It´s just a shame that we took so long getting here. Anyhow, the views into the incredibly deep canyon (3000m) were stunning. The conditions were perfect: cold, clear and sunny. It was going to be a scorcher but this early in the morning it was crisp. The condors turned up after about an hour, gliding majestically far below in the canyon with their huge wingspans. The tourist hordes turned up as expected and some left again without seeing any condors. We left after four hours and eight condor sightings. We wasted no time getting out of Chivay and were back in Arequipa before nightfall.

Convent fountain
see all photos »

After a little bit of pounding the streets we found Colonial House Inn which had a wonderful rooftop terrace overlooking the city and a kitchen that we made use of to cook for ourselves for the first time in 6 weeks. We supermarketed our ingredients and made a spag bol which contained a innocous looking red pepper that turned it into Chili Con Carne! Oh and we found a wonderful three hour rapido laundry place as dirty smelly Chivay did not have one. Whilst collecting the laundry we fulfilled one promise and spotted a mask for James in a antique shop. Sadly we had to keep moving and left the beautiful city of Arequipa the following morning on a mammoth trip to Bolivia. (could even be described as gruelling for a change!)