Arequipa, Colca Canyon and the Nasca Lines

Arequipa is Peru's second biggest city at around 2 million people and the old town is made of rocks of white and grey volcanic ash.  It is a really nice place to look at and is surrounded by 3 volcanoes, one of which is active.  We stayed in the city two nights, taking a double decker bus tour and visiting a 16th century monastery by candlelight.  At one point there were some 400 nuns living there, now there are only a couple dozen. Arequipa is also the gateway city for touring two of the world's deepest canyons.  The Colca and Cotahuasi canyons at almost 3300m are twice as deep as the Grand Canyon.  We decided on a 3 day tour of the Colca, which is the more touristy but also cheaper of the two options.  The bus picked us up at 3:30am (yes, that early!) and, after stopping to view some massive condors (3m wingspans!) by 10:00am we were hiking down into the canyon, with our group that included two young Germans (Joanna and Dominic), one Aussie (Ken) and our guide Pepe from Arequipa.  We descended 1100m on the first day.  It was knee weakening walking but with the sun out, the mountains hemming us in and the raging river below it was a pretty impressive place to spend a great day.  Although I think there needs to be some tweaking to the definition of 'canyon' as this looked more like a really steep valley to me.  Regardless it was really nice trekking.  We spent the first night in a electricity-less but very comfortable hospedaje.  Next day consisted of a short walk to what is called 'The Oasis' which is a collection of guesthouses with somewhat warm swimming pools at the very bottom of the canyon, directly below the region's main town.  We enjoyed the pools and played cards as it poured rain (very cool hearing the thunder echo through the valley) before going to bed early in preparation for the  next day's 1160m ascent of the canyon.  Elise was a little nervous, especially after Pepe (who was in fact a great guide - although he smelt like a smokey brewery the day we walked up) suggested that Elise might want to get a donkey to take her up instead of walking.  Elise told him that she thought she could do it, so at 4:30am we began our climb.  It was fantastic both because of the amazing scenery and the fact that Elise made it up no problem (Pepe later apologized) and she was so stoked that she'd done so.  We also heard a rock slide that night which sounded like bombs exploding.  After having a breakfast in the village we finished the day with a 'colca sour' and some very nice hot springs before returing to Arequipa.  A couple of days later we were on our way to Nasca.

Mike eating amazing vanilla ice cream in Arequipa

The Santa Catalina monestary in Arequipa, by candlelight.

Elise making up for past mistakes?

The road to the Colca Canyon - cold!

The Colca Canyon.  The river runs a Class V-VI (That's huge rapids).

Elise almost up to the top and right on schedule.

Amazing views were everywhere.

Our group - Pepe is on the right.

Some of the scenery on the way back to Arequipa.

Nasca is famous for the mysterious lines that are found in the desert near the community.  The entire coast of Peru is a desert which made it possible for the ancient Nascan culture to draw, over the course of some centuries between 300BC and 700AD, enormous images in the sand.  There are images of animals (monkey, whale, hummingbird, humans and more), geometric shapes and lines that stretch perfectly straight for kilometers.  What makes these drawings so incredible is there is no way to see them from the ground, only since planes have flown over have these lines been discovered.  It is thought they were drawn as offerings to their Gods in order to bring water, which was always in scarce supply. We paid a lot of money and, as thousands of tourists do (especially Japanese in this case) we took a 35 minute flight to see the lines from above.  It was an amazing flight.  The 4 seater Cessna would fly with its wings vertical to the ground so those on one side could see the lines and then repeat on the other side.  The area we flew over was some 40 km sq but the entire reserve is over 500km sq.  To me these lines were equally as, if not more, impressive than Macchu Picchu.  They are older and their accuracy and meaning are baffling.  Amazing place.  Elise liked the hummingbird, I liked the 'Astronaut'.

This 'astronaut' is hundreds of feet long.  How did they make him so well without being able to see from above?

Ditto for this hummingbird.  There are perfectly straight lines that stretch for kilometres. 

Flying in this tiny plane was like being back home!

Our ride over the lines.

From Nasca we headed further north towards Lima, stopping on the way at a beach town recommended to us by a French couple we'd met in the Sacred Valley a week prior.