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.    

The Sacred Valley of the Incas, including Macchu Picchu

After returning from the jungle and enjoying the creature comforts that Cusco has to offer (pretty incredible food here) we began our exploration of the Sacred Valley of the Incas.  Before heading to the valley proper we toured the most sacred Incan place known as the Qoricancha, located in the heart of Cusco.  This complex is where the main Temple of the Sun was located before the Spanish arrived, as well as temples dedicated to the moon, stars, rainbows and lightning.  The Spanish, once victorious over the Inca at Cusco in 1533, wanted to eradicate all Incan worship and so destroyed the temples to build a monestary and basilica in their place.  As usual the Spanish used the incredible Incan foundations to build on.  The main tower of the Basilica has been destroyed twice by earthquake since it was built, most recently in 1950.  We asked our guide what he thought would happen during the next earthquake - ¨ít´ll fall again, but the Incan remains won´t move an inch¨.  The architecture is truely amazing and has withstood at least three huge earthquakes without moving.

These windows have been in line like this since they were built over 500 years ago.  The Spanish tried to build on top have toppled many times over.  Currently there is nothing else built on them.

Examples of Incan stones used in construction.



The basilica tower, twice replaced.



We´d heard about some hotsprings a half day´s journey away at Lares.  We took off on the morning of the 5th on a local bus to Calca then waited a couple of hours for the bus to Lares.  Again the road played tricks on us.  First it was paved and fairly pleasant, however after an hour again it turned into a single lane track with ridiculous drops leaving us fairly white-knuckled for another hour but the scenery was incredible.  It was like going back in time with stone buildings and glaciers in view of the green valley we passed through.  After arriving at Lares we walked the 1km to the hotsprings.  I was expecting us to be almost alone - HA!  We arrived to a mass of Peruvians (a couple tourists but hardly any) running around the complex along with roughly 40 tents, soon to include ours.  The baths were great - super hot with fantastic views of the tight valley and surrounding mountains.  We don´t know if the baths were used by the Inca or not, but I imagine so.  We spent one night before catching a ride back to Cusco.

The scenery on the way to Lares was incredible.

You can see the little notch cut into the side of the mountain at right.  This was our road and is typical of Peruvian ´carreteras´or ´highways´.

The masses at the baths.

After returning to Cusco we had plans to meet with a friend (Julie, from Quebec) and her boyfriend (Jose, who owns a river rafting company and guides) for dinner but it turned out she was ill so couldn´t make it.  Instead he invited us to raft for the day free of charge the next day - sweet!  We met at 8am and were on the river by 11am.  Of the three times we´ve been rafting on this trip (Argentina and Chile also) this was the best both because of the river - none stop 3+ all the way down, not too cold - and because of the service (might have helped that the guide´s girlfriend - Julie - was in our boat!).  At one point Jose put our boat into a rapid which resulted, on purpose, in four of the 7 occupants floating down the river after being thrown out of the boat.  I now know what Elise looks like flying.  We finished the day off with Pisco sours at their house before meeting with Marc and Lauren for her birthday dinner.  No pictures of the rafting but it was super fun.

Next day we began our tour of the actual sacred valley.  Many people go on what is called the Inca Trail Trek which involves walking for 4 or 5 days on the old Incan road from Cusco to Macchu Picchu.  To do this apparently amazingly beautiful while difficult trek you need to book months in advance and pay lots of money.  We didn´t want to do either.  Instead we took a bus to Ollantaytambo which once served as a massive Incan complex halfway between Cusco and Macchu Picchu.  Here we toured the old imposing fortress and some ruins tucked away by the train tracks that other tourists rarely visit.  Apparently Ollantaytambo was much bigger than Macchu Picchu but was largely destroyed by the Spanish after conquest.  That night we took the train to Aguas Calientes which is the base from where Macchu Picchu is reached.  We camped in a field some 25 minutes walk from Aguas Calientes in total darkness and went to bed.  In the morning we woke up to an amazing view of steep jungle covered mountains crowding over us with Macchu Picchu perched on top some hundreds of meters up.  The sound of the roaring Urubamba river added to the intensity of the scene.  I had woken up at 4am to pee and had seen the procession of headlamps and flashlights moving along the road as people made an early beeline for sunrise at the site.  We had spoken with various local people in Cusco and Aguas Calientes who told us it was best to see the site between noon and 3 because there was less chance of clouds and crowds covering it.  After a lazy morning we made our way up to the site (another incredible/scary bus ride) at 1pm.  We got a guide with a group from Argentina so had to get the descriptions in spanish but we think we managed to get most of what was going on.  Archaeologists believe that Macchu Picchu was built as a kind of refuge for the Inca ruler, government officials and clergy.  No common people lived there.  Only 500 people actually stayed there at any given time.  Among the reasons for its appeal is after the Incan defeat by the Spanish it was left alone (i.e. the Spanish didn´t know about it) and then eventually covered over with jungle vegetation.  It was ´rediscovered´ in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American, who really just talked to the right local who informed him that his family was using the terraced fields and one of the buildings as a house.  Going to Macchu Picchu is expensive and no matter what time of year or day it is over-run with tourists.  However it is totally worth it.  The setting is incredible - imagine building such a huge complex at this height on a saddle between two mountain peaks - and the pride that Peruvians have for it is infectious.  Besides, how could we go to Peru for a couple of months and not see this world renowned place!?

The Fortress at Ollantaytambo

Often unseen ruins at Ollantaytambo

Our tent with a tour group´s and Macchu Picchu at the very top of the photo.

Macchu Picchu

Same

Same

Same

Same.  Great views up here.

They have 25 llamas that roam the grounds at Macchu Picchu.

The whole complex.  The highlights are the sun temple, virgins residence, amazing terraces, a sort of sun dial that allowed them to know when to plant and harvest as well as the priests´quarters and Royal Residence.  Incredible.

Elise enjoying Macchu Picchu before heading down.

The little white/blue spot down from the building is our tent, as seen from Macchu Picchu.

Aguas Calientes, the main town near Macchu Picchu, with the Urubamba River raging in front of it.  They must have lots of floods because we saw sandbags everywhere. 

  

Early in the morning on the 11th we took the train from Aguas Calientes to Ollantaytambo again and this time walked way up to the ruins on the other side of the fortress where some huge granaries had been left.  We decided to head to this site because 1) it showed advanced thinking in the case of drought or floods affecting crops and 2) because my folks had done the same walk a couple of years ago and I couldn´t be ´beat´!  Again the architecture was incredibly impressive.  From there we took a mini bus to the town of Urubamba, spent the night at a very nice hostel and then the next morning went with a couple from France to visit the Inca sites at Salinas and Moray.  At Salinas are hundreds of terraced ´salt makers´ that come from diverting a local hot spring.  The resulting salt was and still is given to animals.  That walk was about 30 minutes from Urubamba then we walked another two hours to get to the little town of Maras from where we took a taxi, the four of us with two Argentines, to the Incan ruins at Moray.  It is believed that Moray was used as a place for agricultural experimentation and perhaps sacrifices and ceremonies as well.  We walked back to Urubamba from Maras that evening and went back late to Cusco.  Visiting both sites was really great because of their surrounding scenery and the nice company. 

The huge granaries at Ollantaytambo.  Each was two stories.

Mike being a grain.

The salt deposits at Salinas.  They are still being used today - you can see the women working in the photo above this one.

Elise and Michel talking salt.

The typical views on our day out of Urubamba.

The terracing at Moray is thought to have helped the Inca with developing agriculture.  Supposedly there can be a 5´C difference between each terrace.

We came back to Cusco that night and the next day had our final visit to an Incan site at Saqsaywayman (i.e. ´sexy woman´) which sits at the top of Cusco.  The site was originally thought by the Spanish to be a fortress because during battles in 1536 the Inca used it as so, however, it is now thought that it was a gathering place and could hold up to 60,000 people at a time.  Our guide told us that when John Paul II came to visit in 1985 he used a microphone to address some 60,000 people at a special mass and the noise was so loud, due to the phenomenal acoustics, it scared everybody half to death.  The most amazing part of the site are the gigantic stones that were used it its construction - the biggest one is 130 tonnes.  Nobody knows exactly how the site was built but it is known that construction began in around 1200 and took some 70 years and 20,000 workers.  Of all the sites we saw this one impressed me the most simply because of the size of the stones used and the designs that can be found in the construction.  Our guide only showed us a puma´s paw and a llama but apparently there are dozens of others to be seen. 

Elise with Saqsaywayman walls behind her.  During Inca festivals there were no spectators - everybody participated.

This massive rock, some 100 tonnes, is the original stone in the entire complex.  From here everything else was built.

Our guide suggested this picture.  Hmm.  We are pushing on the largest of all stones at the site.

Can you see the Inca´s paw?

Elise in a doorway.  This doorway is some 12ft high whereas at Macchu Picchu they were only 7ft high.  Why?  Our guide explained that here the Inca King (i.e. the ´Inca´) needed to be carried around in a chariot and could not be seen by commoners touching the ground.  However at Macchu Picchu, which was reserved for nobles of government and religion, he was just one of the boys and could walk around wherever he wanted.

This is a shot of a corner looking up.  It is about 10 ft high and probably has 6 or 7 different stones in it.

Can you see the llama?  Hint - the triangle part is its head.

So that is our visit to the Sacred Valley.  An amazing place for sure.  However this whole country is dotted with all sorts of sites, Incan and pre-Incan, that we´re looking forward to seeing.  Today we´re finally leaving Cusco after first arriving here on March 22nd and we´re heading to Arequipa, Peru´s second largest city and gateway to the world´s deepest canyons. 

Cusco and Manu National Park

While we have been very lucky and happy to be traveling around South America, seeing and experiencing all of these wonderful places, it had been getting a bit repetetive so we decided to look into some volunteering opportunities to change things up a bit.  We remembered a recommendation for volunteering from Ben and Kerryn (whom we spoke with in El Chalten, Argentina) in Manu National Park.  The head offices for the volunteering firm are in Cusco so we headed there from Puno.  The bus journey was incredible, traveling in a valley surrounded by Andean peaks almost the entire way.  As we got closer to Cusco more and more corn was growing - I wondered if it looked the same as it did during the Inca period.  We stayed in a hostel recommended to us in Puno and were not dissapointed - very nice place.  And we certainly weren´t dissapointed with Cusco.  What a gorgeous city.  The hostel has a view of the Plaza de Armas from its balconies.  I had no idea really what to expect from Cusco but it certainly has a european feel with all the cathedrals and monestaries around.  There is still some evidence of the incredible Incan engineering despite all of their buildings being destroyed by the Spanish - the foundations of many have been left because the Spanish recognized how superior they were.  In the taxi on the way to the hostel from the bus station the driver was pointing out the differences - ¨the Inca stuff looks better¨ I said, to which he replied ¨Claro!¨.  We toured some of the local sites including Saqsaywayman (i.e. ´sexy woman´), Quenko and remnants of the old Incan road to the north.  We also met with a friend of a friend for lunch and will most likely have dinner with them again before we go.  Most people stay in Cusco to see the city and organize their trips to Macchu Pichu and the sacred valley.  We on the other hand looked into volunteering in Manu National Park with a group called Atalaya.  They offer two volunteering opportunities - one reforesting and one with kids - and we signed up for 11 days of reforestation work.  We´re back in Cusco now and plan on visiting the Incan sites in the next week.

Manu National Park is thought to be the most biodiverse place on the planet by many.  One of the books we read said that in a 5km square area there are more plants than in all of the UK.  It is also home to several tribes that have little if any contact at all with the outside.  Apparently if you go looking you´ll be shown the way back to civilization with the end of an arrow.  However, many of the native trees have been cut down and bamboo and other invasive species have taken over.  The Atalaya project at Chonkachari is an effort to re-introduce native species into the area.  They´ve also begun an animal rescue project and have two young howler monkeys in camp - one missing a finger (Paula) and the other missing an eye (Chico).  We were picked up at 4:30am, brought to a local bus and sent off to the place in the jungle.  We had previously asked if the bus ride was dangerous or mountainous - ¨not really¨ was the answer.  BULLCRAP!  I think we´ve found the new ´world´s most dangerous road´.  Imagine winding your way up narrow mountain valley roads so fast that a car becomes a tiny bug in about 60 seconds.  Apparently the drops are some 1000ft.  It just got worse and worse.  After a while the paved road turns to dirt, then it narrows, then gets super muddy and the last hour of the 7 hour ride is in clouds.  The bus is literally inches from the rock wall at points, and the tires are barely on the road.  It was terrifying.  Apparently a mini van had gone over just a couple of days before we went.  But we made it - we being about 50 passengers, including two Americans (Karam and Leah).  At one point Karam said ¨this is something you´d 4 wheel down at home, not drive a bus¨.  We were warmly greated by Arpi (from Hungary - he´d been there since January), Marc and Lauren (from England), Jen (from Vancouver) and Alex (from Australia) and shown to our bunks - in an open air dormitory with mosquito nets - given the mandatory snake speach (¨if it gets you, you´re done for¨) and told what our general day would be like.  Essentially it boiled down to this - wake up at 7:30, have breakfast and then for the morning undertake a task that has been assigned by the head staff or volunteer.  Then have lunch and do what you like for the afternoon, including swimming, playing with the monkeys, going for walks or just reading and playing cards.  I picked up War and Peace, you know, light reading.  We did all sorts of things including hacking down bamboo and other plants with a machete for reforestation (machete work is fun!), planting saplings, making and placing signs, clearing the gardens where the saplings were being grown, monitoring animals (saw some capuchin monkeys one day and heard a wild pig another), cataloging insects (we went with Ana, a spanish biologist, on a butterfly hunt and caught and released 14, 5 of which we couldn´t identify - new species?), planting medicinal plants and playing with the monkeys. It was great work and a really healthy lifestyle for ten days.  The showers were cold and there was no electricity. It was really nice to be told about the forest and also told what to do for a while.  We ate simple but healthy vegetarian meals and didn´t have a sip to drink for the duration.  Another major project was clearing a trail up the mountain to the other side where the forest is pristine.  This had been going on for weeks, making about 500m every time ´up´ to allow Peruvian biologists to explore - apparently two new species of orchid had aready been identified.  I did my part cutting this trail and it was amazing both because of how hard it was (I wrung the sweat out of my T shirt at the top, also drained sweat out of my rubber boot - this before even swinging a machete) and the thought that we (on this day we were Mike, Arpi and Karam) might have been the first humans to ever see this place.  We came close to the top, but not quite.  We worked so long that we had to come down in the dark using our headlamps.  That was a pretty eerie experience. 

We lucked out for our return journey because instead of taking the bus (which on the return goes at NIGHT!) we got a ride with a tourist van during the day.  Still very scary, but not nearly as bad as the original ride.

I hope to keep in touch with some of these great people we met and wish the entire project well.  We´ll celebrate Lauren´s birthday with Marc in a couple of days.  Hopefully some of the trees we planted will one day grow to be enormous old growth trees that will allow all sorts of animals to thrive.  We really liked our volunteering experience and will probably look for more in Ecuador.

Cusco´s Plaza de Armas, from our balcony where we eat breakfast.

The fortress of Saqsaywayman - protected Cusco from attack.

Incan masonry.  No gaps and no filler - incredible accuracy.

Elise on the old Incan road to the north of Cusco.

Arpi and Karam on the way ´up´.

The view from where we started cutting that day.

Hacking through the dense jungle.

Upon our return.  Look at my shirt!

Elise in her bed, under a mosquito net.  It was nice sleeping outside.

The common area where we ate meals and read or played cards.

Elise next to the Rio Alto de Madre de Dios.  We went there to watch birds and saw some but high in the trees.

One of the butterflies we catalogued with Ana.

Marc, Lauren and Ana at dinner time.

The waterfall where we could bathe.  Only with biodegradable soap.

The view just before sunset of the lodge.

Us with Gloria our cook, who wanted us to call her ´mama´.

Paula, lying down, was quick and will be reintroduced in the future.  Chico, who was adorable but a pest at meal times, will never be let into the wild.

Our dorms.