Cabanaconde and the Colca Canyon

Tyler ended up being sick for the 3am bus ride but he made it! The views the whole way to Cabanaconde were wonderful but I didn't see much of it, I was trying really hard to comfort Tyler because the bumpy windy roads were not helping him feel better.

     The town was tiny and we found a place to stay quite easily because we had two options. A little later we went for a hike along the edge of the canyon. It was wonderful to look down into the canyon and see the vast amount of space between us and the ground. We hiked for quite awhile, until Tyler started throwing up and then we turned around and walked back.

We stopped so Tyler could have a break, he was sitting on the ground and I was on a rock when we felt the earth shake. It was only the second earthquake either of us has ever felt. I could see the earth moving!! It was pretty cool, but also made us grateful that we weren't hiking into the canyon because we'd seen lots of evidence of rock and earth slides and we didn't want to be caught up in that.

Tyler slept for awhile in the room, then we watched most of the movie 'Up', well we watched it until the power went out. Then we went for a little walk on the couple streets that make up Cabanaconde.

The Plaza de Armas

After we'd seen all the little broken homes and shops we went back to our hotel to eat dinner. I read in the room and Tyler was asleep before 7pm.

Veggie and quinoa soup

Our light source

The next morning we took the local bus back to Arequipa, this time I was able to gawk out the window the whole way :)

The bus went through so many different climates! We did our best to sleep through the desert, snow, hail, etc.

payback..

Once at the bus station we taxied to the center, did some tourist shopping and went to eat at a restaurant that I really wanted Tyler to try. It's called Hatunpa and basically they have one dish, potatoes, and you get to choose what you want to have on them. Peru is known for its potatoes and I believe our dishes came with 8 types of potatoes. The owner was really kind and helpful, he gave us a piece of paper with 80 some countries flags and the way that country says "potato" and we had to guess as many as we could. We really didn't do so well but he gave us free chicha morada anyway! Our food took a little while but we didn't mind because we were occupied with our flags.

My potatoes were topped with carrots, olives, corn, and cheese. Tyler's had llama and peppers and a thick sauce. Sometimes I think we couldn't be more opposite!

We got our stuff packed up and left Arequipa for Ica.

Arequipa

When that nightmarish bus was finally over, we shared a taxi to the very busy center, found a place to stay called El Caminante Class, and we went to a restaurant for lunch/dinner at like 9pm that was in my Lonely Planet guidebook called Istanbul that was supposed to be well known for its falafel and I was looking for redemption since the awful one I had in Uyuni. It wasn’t as bad as the last one I’d had, but honestly I was not impressed, not even close to Mad Greek Deli at home. The next day for lunch I found a place just down the street a few steps that was much cheaper and much better! I’d recommend El Turko over Istanbul any day. The other place that my guidebook raves about is a crepe shop called Crepisimo, known for having over 100 toppings/flavors to choose from. It was a perfect choice for some dessert. Tyler chose one similar to an apple pie and mine was blueberries and sweet cream. They were both massive and delicious! 

Tyler got sick during the night again, I have no idea what keeps doing this to him but I wish I could give it a firm talking to and tell it to hit the road! He needed an easy day the next day, I did some walking around but would come back every so often to check on him. We decided a double decker bus tour would be okay so we booked one for the early afternoon. Our hotel/hostel was really helpful and got us the longer 4 hour tour for the price of the 2 hour. It was a nice way to see the city. Part way through it started raining and thankfully the tour guide made room for us on the dry bottom level. 

We saw some wonderful viewpoints that offered great views of Arequipa, the natural surroundings, and the Rio Chili.

Rio Chili coming down the middle

A top viewpoint of Arequipa

At an old corn mill

His right hand is said to bring great fortune if you touch it

 We toured the mansion that once belonged to the mayor of Arequipa; they told us it was put so far out of town because they had a son who was insane. They then told us that this son died at the age of 12, I couldn’t help but think to myself, how in the world did they know this child was ‘insane’ when he was still a child? Anyway, the home had been mostly destroyed by two earthquakes that had occurred but it had been fixed and refurbished since then.

Kitchen Mansion

 Some of the more interesting points to me were a painting of a pope that when you walk past it it seems as though his feet and eyes follow you. Very strange.

 The other was a massive filter with no hole in the bottom.

 This filter was in the kitchen and made of volcanic stone, it could filter one liter of water in about 10 hours just through its porous surface.

We saw some llamas and alpacas and the very rare vicuñas too! Llamas and alpacas are sheered once a year and they can collect 3 kilos of fur from one. A vicuna can only be sheered once every three years and for only half a kilo, they have the most prized fur and the guide said that a single scarf could cost $1,000. 

vikuna

I also tried queso helado (cheese ice cream), not actually made of cheese but similar in look and color! Tasted sweet and yummy!

Looks like cheese, tastes like ice cream!

We ate dinner at Crepisimo, I had one with cheese and avocado and Tyler had a mango one. They were good yet again but not as good as the previous night. 

The busses to the Colca Canyon only leave at 3AM and Tyler was still just not feeling well enough for that ride yet.

 Luckily, he woke up the next morning feeling pretty well so we opted for a couple hour rafting trip at 11am. We had a good time! It wasn’t as intense as they’d made it seem, considering it was an intermediate level trip, but it was still a fun time, I got Tyler to swim at the end too even in cold water!

Before our adventure!

We did some tourist shopping and booked our bus ticket for the next day, Tyler was ready! (we thought) After dinner where Tyler ate his first guinea pig, we went back to our hostel where they informed us that there had been numerous earthquakes at the canyon and nobody could hike in. I was so bummed, I'd really looked forward to it. Most companies weren't even making the drive there but she was able to find us one that would. So at 3am we were up and out of Arequipa. 

A little breather in Copacabana

Instead of going straight back into Peru like we’d planned, we decided to stop for a day or two in the lovely Copacabana.

Our bus ferrying across the lake

 It’s a lake side town, the lake being the beautiful Lake Titicaca. I was here once before, three and a half years prior when I was in Bolivia for a mission’s trip, I was based mainly in La Paz but we ventured to Copacabana for our “vacation”. Anyhow, we found a place to stay on the lake front called Hotel Mirador, big room with a crazy good view and we stayed two nights, spent about $15 for those two nights. We were proud of ourselves!

The outside of Hotel Mirador

View out our window

 Tyler wasn’t feeling all too well again but we went to eat at a little food stall down by the water. They’re known for their rainbow trout consumption here so I decided to try ‘trucha chicharron’ and Tyler had something with meat and rice like he does. Mine turned out to be pieces of trout not battered but fried, it was a little too salty but was accompanied by some tomatoes and lettuce and lime that helped tone it down.

The next few hours we spent walking around getting acquainted with the little town and walking up the massive hill on the one side that offers exceptional views of the little city and the blue world of water beyond.

 Later we searched for the right company to go to the Isla Del Sol and Isla De La Luna with, I think most of them were connected which just made it confusing but we did choose one eventually and after dinner and a bit more walking we got Tyler to sleep so he’d hopefully feel better in the morning. 

He did! And our breakfast was included and finally someone gave us fruit instead of just bread and jam! We were very happy eating our bananas and watermelon J After some confusion because the lady we booked with told us the wrong boat to go to, we made it on and took off, it was a long long ride, I slept. First we visited the ruins on Isla De La Luna, the island of the moon; I remembered these ruins and was so excited for Tyler to see them because even though there isn’t much to them, they’re fantastic. We rushed up to see the ruins before everyone on our boat so we could experience it without the extra people and then we went and walked along the water till it was time to go.

Gotta love that view! The one behind him too ;)

The Isla Del Sol, or island of the sun, is much bigger than its counterpart and we spent our allotted time here walking. We followed a path that wound around the island, we didn’t even make it halfway but we got to see a lot of beauty on the island; lots of animals, especially donkeys and llamas, tons of plots of land with dozens of different crops being grown, and a constant view of all that dazzling blue water. Even though it was warm, we were high enough and far away enough that the air tasted fresh and clear. 

Tyler having a conversation with a donkey

When we’d nearly made it back to the boat we realized we were both hungry and very dehydrated. We hadn’t brought enough water for the day and the ride back was miserable, I felt really awful. Tyler hurried off the boat and met me at our room with a bottle of Gatorade and we spent a little time re-hydrating our bodies.

 We did a little walking to buy bus tickets for the next day, and then found some food in a fun restaurant by the water playing all oldies loud with their music videos, I mean like Queen, AC DC, Kiss, etc. It was entertaining! We even got an appetizer we were so hungry, they had nachos! And they were delicious. I had an undercooked cannoli and Tyler had spaghetti with trout. I really wanted some hot chocolate but decided I’d pass, thought maybe I’d grab some in the morning before our bus. 

 Next morning when we came down for breakfast there was more bread, jam, bananas, watermelon, and a bowl of hot chocolate powder. I don’t know how they read my mind but man was I grateful they did! The next bus that took us out of Copacabana at 9 AM was one of the most awful bus rides thus far; well it didn’t start out that way I suppose. First we had a short bus ride and an uneventful border crossing, then a couple hour drive to Puno, then we got on another bus. A bus with a thing for Rambo, yes Rambo, that guy who runs around and kills people. The bus played four of those movies consecutively, in Spanish, loud. It was impossible to sleep through and really hard to keep your eyes off of even though it wasn’t interesting at all. We couldn’t wait for the ride to be over.. 

Needless to say, I don't think I can ever watch Rambo again, no offense to Sylvester Stallone but those movies are so repetitive! So happy it is over. They say all things must come to an end and sometimes it's a sad end, like leaving the beautiful sunny Copacabana, but sometimes it's a happy end, like the end of a Rambo saga. If all things must come to an end, I suppose we should do our best to enjoy them while they're here. :)

Back to Peru!