From Arequipa to Colca

We were picked up by our guide Andrea (excellent tour guide) and driver Juan (the best driver in the whole trip) from Atisa tours from the hotel and we started our land journey to the Colca valley. We took the road to Puno for about 1.5 hours, then took a secondary road to Colca for about 2 more hours. En route we saw many herds of beautiful wild vicunas. We also saw alpacas and llamas (which can be domesticated).

We drove through the highest point (approx 15,000 ft) where we took the photo. We then arrived into the small town of Chivay, capital of Colca. We stopped for a few minutes at a restaurant where we lost Mike and Mark. After searching the little town we spotted them carrying several bottles of Cuzquena beer they bought at a local bar.

We then proceeded another 30 min to the beautiful Colca Lodge (see picture) where we stayed. A few kilometers before the lodge we went though very narrow and steep roads in which occasionally one encounters a vehicle going in the opposite direction where one vehicle has to stay very close to the edge and the other one has to backup to find a wide enough point to pass. The views of the lodge were breathtaking and the lodge itself was beautiful. The rooms were rustic but comfortable. Nice dinner then hot spring baths where we met Ms. Talkalot and her mother Talksolittle, who were apparently following us from Lima all the way to Puno. Smoked cigars and then went to sleep to wake up very early for our longest day next day.

Arequipa

We were picked up by Atisa tours (excellent service). We checked into the fabulous Hotel El Libertador where they have alpacas and a huge turtle in the backyard. We were greeted with coca tea, left our luggage. Mark, Cindy, Mike and Lynn went to down town Arequipa. Delphine and Alberto took a little nap and met the rest of the group by the cathedral. Delphine and Alberto walked around the town hall (Plaza de Armas, see picture).


We then walked to the Santa Catalina convent, but we first stop to have drinks because we were all dehydrated from the Diamox altitude pills we were all taking. We tasted Cuzquena beer but it tasted funny because of the Diamox. Mark didn't believe that this was the reason so he had a second beer (Corona) to see if it was true. Yeah, right. Good excuse.


We then enter the Santa Catalina convent (see photo with Cindy and Delphine) which has existed for around 400 years and has only been open to the public for 70 years or so. The convent is an amazing complex were nuns were secluded from the outside wold. On our way out we stopped at some of the alpaca shops where Lynn fell in love with a modern andean tapestry. Alberto stayed with her to help her decide and bargain. She finally bought it. Cindy, Mark and Delphine went to the restaurant ahead of us and we followed after the tapestry sale transaction.

We then went walked to the Zig Zag restaurant. We found Delphine and Cindy in a nice private room at the restaurant. But Mark was supposed to be waiting for us outside, but was nowhere to be found. Alberto went to look for Mark and found him shopping a sweater at a little handicraft shop. This is when the rest of us found out that, yes it's true, Mark is a shopaholic. We had a fantastic new Arequipeno cuisine dinner at Zig Zag (highly recommended). We ate like celebrities with wine and everything. The whole bill? about 16 dollars per person. That felt very good.

Departure a Peru

After months of planning, our big trip to southern Peru was ready to go!

Mark and Cindy arrived on a luxurious van taxi (a bit dirty) to pick up Delphine and Alberto. Drove to the airport and checked into our American Airlines flight. Excellent service !! No food, no peanuts, all food places closed at the terminal. But at least the flights were smooth and we only arrived 1 hour and 45 minutes late into Lima's Jorge Chavez Airport. Customs were a breeze -- thanks, Lima, for letting us in! Mike and Lynn went to the airport driven by a close friend, checked into their American Airlines/LAN direct flight and only arrived one hour late. Alberto's niece Sandrita came to greet us and pickup one suitcase. After running around trying to find Mike and Lynn, we smacked our heads and realized that it was obvious -- Lynn was in the concourse shopping area, excitided looking at all the souviners, while Mike took some snapshots. This turned out to be a harbinger of the trip.

Lima would have to wait. We saw some of the city through the terminal windows while we dined on delicious coffee, eggs, tamales and Peruvian donuts, but headed right for the next spot in the itinerary -- a LAN flight to Arequipa. Complements to the city; all luggage arrived on time and we started our journey withouth a hitch.

Introduction

This is a blog created to share our experiences, notes and photos from our trip to the Andes. The planned tour: starts in Arequipa; we then continue by land to the Colca valley and canyon (deepest in the world) where we hope to see condors; we then continue by land to Puno where we will stay at the El Libertador hotel on Lake Titicaca (the hotel is built 1/2 mile into the lake and the lake is the highest navigable lake in the world); we then move on to Cuzco also by land an on to the Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley to take the train to Machu Picchu. We will spend the night at Aguas Calientes at the bottom of the Machu Picchu hill and we hope to get up early to see the ruins at sunrise; we will then come back to Ollantaytambo and stay one night at the Sacred Valley and tour the valley the next day; we will then come back to Cuzco and enjoy it for a couple of days; finally, we fly back to lima where we will be treating ourselves to awesome peruvian cuisine and pisco sours.