Another long day over wild Andean high altitude desert, brought us to colonial Arequipa, Peru’s second largest city, and unexpectedly beautiful, it’s setting dramatic. The grand old Spanish buildings, the whitish local volcanic rock, sparkle in the harsh sunlight... the town is surrounded by active and dormant volcanoes, puffing wisps of smoke on the horizon. They’re a constant reminder of how unstable this land is, and why the Inca felt the need to sacrifice their children to appease the Gods inside them.....
The museum, with the artifacts and mummies from these sacrifices is fascinating ... we hear the story of Juanita, the Inca princess, who was walked here from Cusco to face her fate; we see the beautiful fine cape and tunic she wore...the mummies were found at 6280m, perfectly preserved at altitude.
Equally impressive is a massive convent, established by a wealthy Spanish widow in 1580. The daughters of wealthy Spanish were taken in, but had to build and furnish their own quarters; they had at least 2 servants, and lived a life of luxury, (and prayed all day apparently) This continued for 300yrs, until they were ordered form Rome to live communally in 1800’s. Nuns lived there in the same mediaeval conditions until 1970’s when it was opened to the public, a city within a city with hundreds of tourists wandering the maze of cobbled streets, and courtyards....the 22 nuns still here are cloistered; they make Communion bread, scented soaps and rosaries with rose petal beads...
We were warned of frequent recent robberies by taxi drivers but armed with my map and some basic Spanish words, I braved a couple, searching all over the town for a computer charger but to no avail. I hated being parted from my Mac, obviously....
After 2 nights of sleeping in comfort in a bed, we headed to the coast for a night in the old Puerto Inca, now nothing more than a hotel on the beach. Most camp in the sand - I opted to pay for a bed! Ivan made a great cerviche for dinner,and we shared the last of our wine from Mendoza around a bonfire.
I climbed early next morning over the ruins, up to the site of the old sacrificial altars, now guarded only by vultures and cormorants.
The winding drive up the coast was stunning in it’s own desolate way, the eroded hills literally tumbling into the sea. I had no idea so much of Peru was desert - it’s not all like Machu Pichu! The desert is punctuated by rivers and strips of cultivated land...they rely entirely on these rivers coming from the snow melt (it never rains here) and the snow up in the Andes is less and less frequent. One riverbed has dried up, the fields are a wasteland...We have a last roadside lunch in Gus - a bit sad!
Further north to Nazca - what we saw of the lines were disappointing, but we’re warned against taking a flight to see them properly (they are apparently stunning) - the safety standards leave alot to be desired and they lose quite a few tourists ...
We were "treated" to a tour of a Nazcan funerary site...lots of ghoulish mummies with extraordinarily long hair, preserved by the harsh dry conditions. The last forty years have seen a big trade by grave robbers, and the desert sands are literally strewn with bones of all descriptions. Not the most pleasant place I’ve been, but the sunset was beautiful...
Our last night on the road was a gem, one of the best. We passed through the town of Ica, to an oasis in the midst of huge sand dunes. We hung around for our dune buggy rides at sunset, and it was a real thrill, like the biggest roller coaster, straight down near vertical dunes, 180deg turns on the side of others. made the palms sweat a little, but they were very accomplished drivers...
We watched the most amazing sunset, then were treated to a around a campfire, fed lots of Piscola and danced to the guides Peruvian music,, complete with improvised bongo drums. In the wee hours, some later than others, we found a bit of space - easy enough to do, crawled into our sleeping bags and slept under a sky full of stars, not sound to be heard (except my nemesis, the truck's snorer)...but it was awesome.
The next day was a long one with a stop at Pisco where some opted for a boat tour of Islas Ballestas, called the poor man’s Galapegos, but I was going to hold at for the real thing. We arrived tired, hungry and desperate for a shower in Lima, at 9pm, but still managed to go out for a farewell dinner. I’ll miss the crew - 6 hardy souls are continuing on for another 3 weeks.
And so it was goodbye Gus!
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