Arequipa, Huacachina & 'Peru Verdict'
Trip Start
Feb 16, 2011
1
14
18
Trip End
Jun 28, 2011
Huacachina, Peru
Monday, May 16, 2011
Sorry for the negatively dramatic entrance, but it can only get better from here on out, and I'd hate to break the strict chronology of events.So I arrived in Arequipa and set off for a customary stroll through the city centre. Arequipa is a lovely city hosting beautiful white buildings and focused around the Plaza del Armas, which in turn appears to be dominated by... pigeons. Owing to Arequipa's proximity to the Colca Canyon and a number of scalable volcanoes, the town centre is home to several tourist outlets, and these same streets are punctuated by waiters and waitresses trying to entice you into their restaurant. Despite this, Arequipa feels a less touristy than Cusco, and also more Spanish in character. Of all the places I have visited so far, Arequipa is probably the one the conjured the strongest feeling of being in an old Spanish city.
Apparently the number one attraction in Arequipa is the 'Santa Catalina Monastery', a cloistered convent covering 20,000 square metres in the town centre. At one point in time, it was home to 450 people. It was a bit pricey, in Peruvian terms, but I decided to take the plunge due to the glowing references it had received online. I trudged round for just shy of an hour, looking into the odd room, taking pictures whenever I could and trying to take it all in. When I left, I had a look through the guestbook, in which visitors have signed the date, the country they hail from, and a small comment. This last column was filled with examples such as “Amazing!”, “Excellent” and “Muy bueno!” I judged it probably inappropriate to add my name with the comment of “Boring” and I wondered if I was missing something.
The next museum was a bit better, and a bit colder. I was joined by the Danes, Nicolai and Jeppe, who I originally met in Santiago (along with Andreas, who has since ventured to a different part of the continent). The main reason for going to this museum was to see, and learn about, "Juanita, the Ice Maiden":
The Incas were not a particularly bloodthirsty civilisation like the Aztecs, but they did nevertheless, make the occasional human sacrifice. When the tribes of 15th/16th century Arequipa area bore witness to one of the nearby Volcanoes erupting, they took this as a sign that the gods were angry (I suppose, literally an 'act of god'). In response, they chose a handful of children to be sacrificed. A great many children, all from the upper classes of the Inca society were selected at birth as potential 'gifts' (and as a mark of this selection, lived life with their umbilical chord attached), and if the time to make the offering came, a handful of these children would be chosen – namely the ones deemed the most perfect.
In 1995, some five hundred years after the details above unfolded, Juanita's body was accidentally discovered by an archaeologist at the top of one of the 6,000 metre high volcanoes. Juanita had to perform this ascent knowing that at the end of a torrid journey lay an even worse fate. The museum in Arequipa now houses her body, which has been almost perfectly preserved by the freezing conditions at the summit of the volcano. It is a little creepy but also incredible to be face to face (although the face is not quite as well preserved) with such an ancient human being. The skin on the hand, for example, is still present as if she had only passed a few weeks ago.
The "Ice Maiden" would presumably have been terrified, but probably also proud to be one of the chosen few to give their life for the gods. At first I felt a terrible sadness at the waste of young life, but then, here she was 500 years later, her legend living on after the rest of her friends, family and civilisation have long since gone. Perhaps the gods were indeed grateful of her sacrifice.
The following day I went on a tour. I wanted to do a three day trek in the Canyon, but as I relayed in my previous post, time has been tight in Peru and I felt constricted to two days. Basically, because I wasn't convinced my knees would survive seven hours of non-stop downhill walking, I booked onto a bus tour. It was enjoyable for the following reasons:
- I saw some nice towns, indigenous women selling their goods on the roadside, amazing scenery offering a perfect backdrop to swathes of Llamas, Alpacas and Vicuņas.
- I watched Condors with wingspans of three metres glide majestically through the Canyon and circle above the heads of the tourists. The only downside to the initial viewing point (we stopped again later which was much better), were the heaving crowds of tourists trying to snap the flying beasts. It was also really hard to capture the birds on camera. Even though they were remarkably close at times, they still appear as mere specks on the photograph.
- I experienced some traditional Peruvian dance. Although, it was a bit strange and the applause at the end seemed more akin to the clapping that parents give at the end of the school play. Full marks for effort, but the quality seemed to be lacking. And no, I didn't take part.
- In the town square of Yanque, I envisaged myself as a young Genghis Khan, with my prized and trusted hunting partner, an eagle, at my side.
This short episode with the eagle also confirmed any lingering doubts that many people are dreadful at taking photos, and annoyingly these said people often end up being the ones I ask to take a photo for me. I'm not saying this to try and excuse any lack of photogeneity (which apparently isn't a word, but I can't think of a synonym) on my part, but more to do with framing etc. An Austrian chap on the tour took the 'eagle' shots for me, and then asked me to return the favour. I did, snapping about 8 or 9 times, all at different angles, zooms and poses so he would have a variety to choose from. Later, I turned my camera on and flicked through the memory. There were only three pictures, none of which I was particularly happy with, and despite deliberately holding several different poses and positions, the Austrian had failed to catch any sort of variety. As a result, I returned to the old lady again and asked for a couple more, this time roping in one of the German guys. His efforts were even worse. I'm no master of photography, but the lack of comprehension and skill in so many fellow travellers has astounded and frustrated me in equal measure!
I didn't stay any longer in Arequipa after the tour had concluded, instead joining Jeppe & Nicolai on the overnight (another 12 hours) bus to Ica. From Ica, we took a taxi to Huacachina, which is a tiny town, built around an Oasis in the middle of the desert. It is certainly a bit different to the places I have been to so far, and my two days there were probably my favourite of my trip so far.
Even though we had a few issues with our first hostel (namely kicking everyone out in the morning because it was closing for refurbishment), we didn't manage to book an afternoon of Sandboarding. The concept is basically the same as Snowboarding, except you do it in the sand dunes which rise and fall all around Huacachina. Because our group had a) not paid extra and b) not done snowboarding before, our experience was a little different from the group further along the dune. We were going from top to bottom asap, lying face down on the boards. On hearing this news I was initially disappointed, but in the end I was grateful for it, as while the true boarders meandered from side to side at a pedestrian pace, mixing in a few awkward falls to boot, I was going really really fast. We took on a total of four slopes, each increasing in height and steepness, with the occasional bump or dip thrown in for good measure. Each time it was time to plummet head first down the dune, I can't deny I was also a bit scared. At the grand age of 26, there tend to be a lot more "hmmm but what if this goes wrong...?" kind of thoughts, but perhaps more importantly, the fact that even at the age of five I would have reservations about sliding down the fireman pole in the playground in case I got burns or splinters, meant that it wasn't easy to completely let go. But I managed it, and it was awesome.
Even though the sandboarding was great fun, it wasn't actually my favourite bit of the excursion. That lofty title was reserved for the dune buggy ride. As the buggies made their way across the desert, you could hear, and probably smell, the engines from miles away. Not the most environmentally friendly mode of transport, but certainly one of the most entertaining. As huge flats of sand expanded before us, the car would race into high speeds, then veer off to the side to tackle one of the sand-mountains. Tearing up towards the unspoilt blue sky, and then plunging back down towards the ground at all sorts of terrifying angles was unnerving but exhilarating. It was a similar experience to that of being on a rollercoaster, with the added danger that there is a driver, as opposed to steel rails, dictating where the vehicle goes. As a result, the disappointment of finishing each sandboard run would be almost immediately marginalised by the exciting prospect of another buggy trip.
Before heading back to Huacachina (which would be the most epic part of the buggy rollercoaster ride), the drivers took us to the top of a sand dune to watch the sunset. They timed it superbly well, it was lovely to see the glowing red sun settle behind the everlasting sandy hills and spirals, though as I discovered in Puerto Vallarta earlier in the year, I think one needs quite an expensive camera to capture such a moment in all its glory on film.
The next day I moved to a dorm room based in a hotel. As a result, it was amazing! There was a nice restaurant, an area to sunbathe, and a lovely swimming pool, all for only fractionally more than you would pay for a hostel - bliss! Naturally, I spent almost the entire afternoon lounging poolside, although never actually going for a dip, on account of the water being too cold. Dutchman Gobern, saw this as a lame excuse, and I can see why. Despite telling myself that if I dived in, I would only have to suffer the icy clutches of the water for a second or two before my body adjusted, I still couldn't muster the courage. Poor. But it was VERY cold.
As the afternoon drew to a close, I joined Gobern, Poppy and Juliana for a walk up one of the dunes. Poppy had an uncanny resemblance to a friend from University, to the extent that if I turned away whilst she was speaking it could easily have been my friend talking. I'm not sure I've come across anything quite like it before. Anyway... what we thought would be a nice evening amble to the top of the dune ended up as quite an arduous task, with the sand really making it a case of two-steps-forward-one-step-back. Notwithstanding this, we got there in the end. Poppy, Gobern and I then even ventured to the top of the next dune to see the sun setting. And to take some photographs of really cool things like "jumping in the air", which is pretty tough on sand, I'm pretty chuffed with the 'air' I've managed to get on some of the photos! It was pretty fun actually, a bit like being at the beach, only a reallllly big one.
I am now back in Lima, and have been to visit the downtown area today. Once again, even though I wasn't blown away by what I saw there, the place impressed me by how nice the different plazas are, and the genuine South American feel, even if the presence of McDonalds, KFC (it was so hard resisting the Colonel's smiling face, but I did), Starbucks and Pizza Hut go someway to shattering such an illusion of being somewhere truly different.
It's that time again...
The Verdict: Peru
Even though I spent just over two weeks here, my time in Peru has been fantastic, and I will remember each stop I made around the country vividly. My only regret is that when I booked my flights in and out of Lima, I was unaware of quite how much there was to do here, and because of my limited time, I had to compromise a little on which activities and places I did and saw.
Machu Picchu is obviously phenomenal, and lived up to the hype. Perhaps being the focus for many a traveller and holiday maker (myself included), it is also probably responsible for the sheer volume of tourist-focused offerings in most of the places I have been to. Cusco, Arequipa and Huacachina all pander to the outsider, which is a bit of a shame, and I have heard that Puno and Lake Titicaca are even worse for this. But nonetheless, as I have mentioned in my blog entries, the different cities have retained their charm and character, and although sometimes the lack of authenticity is too apparent, I think the influx of tourists, and hence money, has enabled these places in Peru to have the best of both worlds - the genuine feeling of being in South America, experiencing a different culture, and mixing with different people, yet at the same time also providing the convenience of information and amenities that one might crave coming from a 'western' society.
Overall, two thumbs up for Peru. And tomorrow morning... Mexico!
Twig
