Have had a pretty tiring two days but it was well worth it. Set off at 7.30 yesterday morning and wound our way up the valley, past volcanoes and mountains into the most beautiful scenery. There were 17 people in our group and to start with I thought they were a strange lot but by the end everyone was friendly and 'had bonded'! Half of the people were Peruvian and there was a Japanese couple, an Isreali couple, a Spanish couple and me! The guide spoke really good english. We stopped for coca tea at 3,600 meters and then climbed to 4,900 meters and I was fine. It was pretty cold up there though, I don't know how the women in all their traditional dress stay up there all day long selling their wares! In the afternoon we descended to 3,800 meters and after eating went to our hotels (another loose use of the word, but it was fine, there was a bed and water and some warm blankets). Late afternoon we went to some hot springs, I have been desperate for a warm bath for weeks and so it was lovely to just lay in the water for an hour or so.... mind you coming out was a different matter, the sun was setting and it was freezing!
In the evening we went to eat and watched traditional music and dance. Now, as I don't speak much spanish I didn't really get what was happening in the dance, I know it was a dance of love with lots of different sequences. In the final part the woman throws the man on the floor and starts whipping him and then the man throws the woman on the floor and does the same??? It was all very amusing until they decided to do the same to two members of the audience... why oh why do I always get choosen??? There were about 100 people there but oh no, it was me that had to dance with the man, was then thrown on the floor and whipped!!!! And it hurt!! Nothing like a bit of public humiliation for the single woman!
I didn't sleep that well, it was very cold and then we were woken at 5am for an early start up Colcan canyon. It is deeper than the grand canyon and the views were spectacular. The selling point of the trip is to get to the highest point and then see the condors, but we didn't see any.
Everywhere we stopped there were people in traditional dress trying to sell their goods. These people are so poor and the tourist industry is their means of survival. In the villages all the women walk around in their long skirts and hats. There are amazing hats everywhere and I know why they all look so good in them, it is because Peruvians have got lovely round faces so hats work (obviously nothing to do with the burning sun and freezing cold, just a fashion statement!)
Back late afternoon but no time to rest because the buses are running again, so have booked a ticket for early tomorrow morning to go to Puno, which is on the shore of Lake Titicaca and then hoping to get a connecting bus to Caopacabana which is just into Bolivia. Apparently it is nicer than Puno and from there I can get a boat out to one of the islands.
I will be sorry to leave my lovely sanctuary in Arequipa but know if I want to get to the salt plains that I need to start moving. So maybe the next blog will be from Boliva... I wonder what currency they use there? x
PS. Had to put the tourist shot of me with Llama and eagle! Better than the tourist shot of me being whipped on the floor!
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