Will you be my Condor?



View of the volcanoes from across the plateau

After Nazca, it was finally time to get back to the mountains. We decided to spend our last week and a half traveling together in Arequipa, a town at the foot of multiple volcanoes and also a stone's throw away from whitewater, canyons, and various other adventure sports. Arequipa is not only a jumping off point for many outdoor activities, but is also a fun modern city. We spent most of our time enjoying the city, staying in a beautiful hostel with a great rooftop terrace, and the rest of our time taking a tour of the nearby Colca Canyon (which is the second deepest canyon in the world!).    

Although Arequipa is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes that reach over 6000 m, the city itself is only at 2335 m, and is therefore a popular place for people to acclimate before going to Cuzco or hiking in the Andes.  

Just hangin' out by the train tracks

We don't always love organized tours, but we decided to take an overnight tour into the Colca Canyon. If you don't have time to trek for at least 10 days, they recommend a two day driving tour. On the way to the canyon, there is a reserve that is home to herds of vicuña. Vicuña are related to llamas but can be identified by their tan and white coloring, and their long necks and dainty faces. They are also found wild in Peru, as opposed to the domesticated llama and alpaca. 



Vicuña

Te mixto, with coca and chamomile

Llama crossing

Although the terrain on the way to the Colca Canyon doesn't seem extremely dramatic, the road gradually climbs to an altitude over 16,000 ft. Because of this, the tour buses all stop at a rest stop to feed you products made from coca leaves. Coca tea, candy, or just chewing the leaves themselves are tried and true tactics from Incan times to minimize unwanted side-effects of the altitude. Most of us were fine, but there were some people on the tour who had a rough time. It is definitely a little bit of a shock to change altitudes in such a hurry! It must be common because our tour guide was always reminding us to remain "tranquilo" and to refrain from running or making sudden movements!

Coca tea rest stop!




Herd of llamas!



llama!



Everywhere you stop, they are there ready to sell you something

Highest point (altitude-wise) of the drive

On our way down into Chivay, the town where we stayed the first night

So many little llamas :)

Look at the little guy in the corner...I loved him!

We spent our first day in the town of Chivay in the Colca Valley, where we ate a buffet of typical Peruvian food before heading to some hot springs. The hot springs are located in the foot of the valley next to a river, and while highly picturesque, were also amazingly crowded. After waiting in line for what seemed like hours, we only had a short time to actually enjoy the hot springs. We did our best hopping from pool to pool to try things out before we had to leave. It seems obvious that volcanically heated water would be hot...but it is still fun to see it steaming and being funneled from the earth into pools. Whoever came up with the idea of sitting in hot baths...I am for it! That night we were taken to a restaurant to eat more typical foods and to watch some typical dancing from the region. The dancing was fun, but by this point the nature of the organized tour was really starting to wear us down! Our whole tour group decided pretty early in the evening that it was time to go back to our hostels and get some rest for day two.

Our second day of touring started with breakfast at 5:30 am. Then we were on the bus at 6 sharp headed to the canyon. Our final destination was the Condor Cross. This is an area of the canyon where our guide assured us we would see some condors. During the drive we stopped at little towns along the way as well as some very beautiful viewpoints.

The Colca Valley

Kyra, scoping out the scene when we arrived at the canyon

Photos just really can't do it justice. It was so steep and deep!

On our way to the Condor Cross

When our tour guide assured us that we would see condors, I have to admit I was skeptical. However, by the time we left I had seen over 8 at once all flying within 30 feet of where we were standing on the hillside. What you can't tell by the photos is that condors are HUGE. Our guide took the time on our walk to the viewpoint to give us information about condors. For instance, the adult condors have a white ring around their necks and white on the top of their wings, whereas the juveniles are brown. He also told us that legend has it that condors are monogamous, and that if their partner dies, they fly to the top of the canyon and fall off to commit suicide. Who knows if the legends are true, but it led us to coin the phrase... "will you be my condor?" Romantic?

Adult condor

Juvenile condor

In any case, we got to spend quite a bit of time watching the condors fly pretty close to us before we headed back toward Arequipa on our little tour bus. Once back in Arequipa, we had a few more days to sample the local foods (like queso helado, aka cheese ice cream!), do some souvenir shopping, and get ourselves organized to head to our next destinations.

Not much space between the road and the cliff...

Another wayside rest stop/ souvenir shop/ fruit stand

All in the family

On the way to Nazca

After filling up on tastings and adventurous activities we made our way further south to the town of Nazca. As per usual, we looked up hostels in our trusty Lonely Planet on the bus ride and had a particular one in mind when we got off the bus. Also as per usual there were tons of taxis offering us rides and tour operators trying to sign us up for things or recommend a hostel. We gave them all the cold shoulder and headed to the hostel we had in mind. It turns out one of the guys hassling us works along with his cousin and numerous hostels in town, so once we got close to the hostel he sent his cousin to convince us to go where they recommended. We kept up the cold shoulder until we realized they meant the same hostel we were headed to. We laughed it off and had him take us on a tour of the place and help us get set up. During the whole explanation we heard we got kitchen privileges, but this turned out to be a misunderstanding. After cooking popcorn and buying eggs for breakfast we found out the kitchen was for making tea and coffee only (the señora didn't like other people in her kitchen). Needless to say Liz wrapped each of the eight eggs in their own plastic bag and we carefully carried them all the way to Arequipa.

Mirror headboard? 

Stairway in our hostel

Happy pisco sour

Most of our time in Nazca was spent relaxing (again) and walking around the town. Usually people only spend one or two nights at most because they book a few tours then get on their merry little way. But Liz and I soaked up the surroundings a different way- we went to numerous set lunches (you can get a huge bowl of soup, a whole plate of rice and meat, a piece of cake, and some chicha all for around 10 soles!), searched out many pastelerias, and even did a bit of souvenir shopping.

Terrace on top of our hostel with a view of Nazca

The viewing tower (not ours)

We did end up booking a tour on our last day. This area is known for huge geoglyphs covering the desert that were made between 450 and 600 AD by the Nazca people by removing the top reddish layer of rock and soil to leave the white under ground exposed. There are several theories on why they were created; some say it was to mark water sources, others say the animal carvings were signals to the gods. The most avid researcher of the lines was Maria Reiche, who now has a museum dedicated to her in the area. They left her one-room house at the museum site set up just as she left it, with drawings strewn about, a dusty old bed, and her slippers waiting to be put on. After muling it over for numerous days and being asked consistently by the same tour operator we gave in. We knew we wanted to see the Nazca lines, but didn't know how we wanted to experience them and Kyra was skeptical about how much they were charging for a tour.

Notice the lines over the bird figure and the tire tracks to the right (not our picture)

Huge hands we were able to see from the tower (nada) 

We ended up not regretting the tour one bit! We had a great tour guide named Orlando, who had a wealth of knowledge about the history and theories behind the Nazca lines. He took us to three different sites: a natural hill to view the lines, a tower built by Maria Reiche to view the lines and figures, and the museum where Maria lived. He would make us stand in certain spots to see the continuous straight lines heading towards the mountains or to the sea. He showed us football field-esque areas that were cleared for sacrifices to the gods. He told us how disappointed he was that some of the lines have been ruined by car tracks before it became a protected site in 1994. The Panamerican Highway actually runs right through the large lizard figure, cutting of its tail and arm. While at the museum, Liz and I became surrounded by grade school kids saying "Hello" and "How are you?", but too shy to say much more. We actually ended up having quite a good conversation with one girl about Hannah Montana and Justin Beiber. As Orlando drove us back to Nazca we ended up explaining in detail how to search for the best flight deals to the United States and what to see when he got there. He even came in to our hostel and we gave him a demonstration on how to look it all up. It really was a win, win situation.

Various Nazca lines with the highway running through (nope)

Huaca-what?

Cold water pool on the left, pisco heater vessel on the right

Wood fire to heat the pisco

                                 

Pisco aging containers

Still on a quest for actual pisco country, we headed further south to Ica, the primary region for the production of pisco in Peru. After our rest and relaxation, we were ready to be touristy again. We had two goals in and around Ica: pisco tasting and sandboarding. Huacachina is the sandboarding capital of Peru, and is located only a few kilometers outside of Ica. We decided to splurge a little our first night to stay at a hotel that is also a producer of pisco. The hotel is in an old hacienda that boasts a restaurant, pool, shop, zoo, and more. As usual...not all of these things were actually in existence or functioning, but it was an impressive estate nonetheless. When we arrived and checked into our room, we decided to explore a bit. Since we obviously didn't know where we were going and probably looked lost, a friendly staff person decided to show us around. It turns out they don't participate in the full pisco-producing process, just the final steps. The pisco is heated by wood fire, and moves up through some tubing that is submerged in cold water. Then the liquid that emerges in the pool at the other end is stored in ceramic containers for months until it is ready to drink. Well, our little tour guide gave us a taste of the raw stuff, straight out of the heater. It packs a punch! Together we didn't even want to finish a half shot.

Life at the hacienda

The next day, we decided to hire a taxi for 15 soles an hour to tour the nearby bodegas, or wineries. Peru isn't known for its wine, but the picso is produced at the same places. It was fun to learn about the process of producing pisco, and also nice to see both a small, family owned operation as well as a full blown commercial one. If only we had come a few weeks earlier, we would have been able to participate in the grape stomping dance! It was also nice to taste some of the stuff that is actually ready to drink.

Our trusty bodega tour guide

Pisco products!

Grape skins have multiple uses...one of them...to keep the dust down

Storage for aging pisco

Official grape squisher

Large scale operation at Tacama, slightly different from the ceramic jugs

Tacama

Vineyard at Tacama

Our jail cell for the night

After our day of pisco tasting, we headed to Huacachina, thinking we would stay there that night and go sandboarding the next day. Well, when we arrived and checked into our hostel, it was clear to both of us that we weren't going to want to stay there more than one night. It was a bit like a mosquito filled jail cell with gross beds, no toilet paper in the bathroom, and hippie backpacker partiers blasting music next door. So for the evening we decided to get out and explore the sand dunes and the tiny town. Huacachina is a picture perfect oasis (except for the garbage piles) in the midst of miles and miles of sand dunes. It used to be a location for the Peruvian elite, but now it's a spot for backpackers looking to do some sandboarding on the dunes. We had thought we would just rent boards and walk up the dunes, but as we hiked around the dunes at sunset we saw all the sand buggies coming back from the tours and it looked like way to much fun. We hadn't known that all the tours left in the evening, while the temperatures were cooler, otherwise we may have planned differently. That night after grabbing some food, we both fell asleep at about 8 pm. Never in Peru have I had such a bad night's sleep because of mosquitoes. There were no nets provided, but we needed the window open in order to have any air to breathe. So, Kyra woke up looking a bit like a leper, and I spent the night trying to find bug spray in the dark or swatting wildly at my own face.

Mosquito bites :(

Our hostel, being eaten by the sand dunes

View to the outside world

Lake/pond? in Huacachina

Huacachina

Sunset on the dunes

A small group of sandboarders

Our little dune buggy!

The next day, not wanting to hang around until our sandboarding tour in the evening, we went back to Ica and secured a much more comfortable hotel, had some coffee and lunch, and relaxed until we had to head back for the tour. Riding in the little dune buggies is just as fun (if not more) than the actual sandboarding. It's like being on a roller coaster without a track, but sand instead. The tour consisted of dune buggy riding to different dunes, starting with the bunny hill dune to try sandboarding. The boards are just laminated pieces of wood that require a lot of wax to continue sliding on the sand. You can either try to ride it like a snowboard or go down head first on your belly. Kyra was better at the snowboard style, while I opted mostly for the belly ride. Apparently people don't always have a lot of common sense, and Peruvians don't have a lot of rules, because people insisted on standing right at the bottom of the hill as the rest of the group came down. Well, for this reason, Kyra and I tended to go down first in order to avoid the madness. It turned out to be a good idea, since our tour ended up sending someone to the hospital. So, after some fun boarding and riding, and some unnecessary excitement with a flat tire and pretty serious injuries, we headed back to Ica.