Arequipa & Colca Canyon

(reposting entries from my journal)
May 5
This morning we got to Arica at 6am, and at 7 we were waiting in line for the border to open. There was sand as far as the eye could see, and we had an hour to kill, so William, Liz and I decide to try and walk to the ocean. We are walking, frolicking in the sand right by the border crossing, when one of the men on the highway starts to yell at us and wave for us to come back- turns out the whole border area is covered in landmines, of course we´re just the three oblivious gringos lollygagging through the mine fields.. So lesson learned- do not play around at border crossings.
As we crossed the border and left Chile behind I felt so very sad and nostalgic, the past 4 months were so incredible. Nothing can describe the benefits I got from living and integrating myself into a culture that is like our own, yet so incredibly different, strange, and funny. I was already missing my Chilenos, my apartment, Santiago, everything Chile.
The 5 hour busride felt like forever, the bus kept stopping for random reasons, but we finally made it to Arequipa around 3. The city reminds me of Cuenca, Ecuador and Antigua Guatemala- splendid old spanish buildings all with patios inside and balconies to the outside, and snow capped volcanoes in the background. Our hostel, La Reyna, has a rooftop balcony where we can see the whole city.
Since it was cinco de mayo, we found a Mexican food restaurant, where the owners had absolutely no idea it was a holiday, and we couldn´t remember what the significance was except that you get cheap deals on margaritas (sorry mom).. But we ate mexican food twice in order to celebrate- it was really good and cheap!

May 6
Our trek to Colca Canyon (2nd or 1st deepest canyon in the world) began at 3 am with a long bumpy bus ride out to the canyon. We reached the condor viewing point, and I was surprised to see about 15 South American Condors soaring around the canyon, almost as if they were performing for our delight. Then we began our hike, led by local guides, Bernardo and Kelly. The descent into the canyon was about 2 hours through switchbacks, kicking up dust, it was super arid and there were cactuses everywhere. When we crossed the river at the bottom and reached the other side, the vegetation changed almost instantly- it was way more lush and tropical. We had lunch at a little restaurant (vegetarian meals for everyone!), and saw a baby alpaca wandering in the meadow. I tried to pet it and it kept making spitting noises at me but nothing was coming out of its mouth. We had 2 more hours to reach The Oasis, and the walk took us by two pueblos which had about 45 people each, no road access, one primary school, and one hospital with one doctor- it´s so wild to see how even today people choose to live simply and stay to their traditions. The sun was going behind the canyon, and when we reached The Oasis it was dusk already. The Oasis is just that- an awesome little assortment of hotels at the bottom of the canyon, with palm trees, pools, and bungalows. We took a dip in the pool (possibly one of the best locations for a pool i´ve seen), and rested up for our candle lit group dinner (spaghetti), and drank our last box of gato wine. We were all asleep by 8pm in preparation for our 4:50 wakeup call. I seriously considered renting a mule to take me back up the canyon, the thought of making the ascent made me want to cry, but in the end I decided to tough it out. The second we started climbing my legs were already screaming, but after a few minutes my calves loosened up, and we hiked in the cool dawn. The next 2.5 hours was me vs the mountain, and I just kept repeating- one step at a time, inch by inch life´s a cinch, sí se puede! There was literally not a single horizontal piece of the trail, it was all up, up and just when I thought it was over- more up. But, halelujah, I finally made it to the top! Then we had breakfast in a small town (think it was called Chivay), and hung out in their small plaza de armas. The bus took us by a couple other view points (got to pet another baby alpaca- jerry can we get one at the farm?), then we got to the hot springs where we stretched our muscles and ate popsicles in the tubs.
We were back in Arequipa by sunset, and ate great middle eastern food at Fez. Then we attempted to drink beers on the rooftop, but were all so exhausted that we couldnt even finish one.

May 7
We tried to sleep in, which to us these days means waking up involuntarily at 8am.. Then had a chocolate chip pancake! We had a day in Arequipa, so we met up with our friend Lexi from Santiago, and tried to find the artisenal market. We wandered downtown, and I kind of had a feeling we were not going the right way, but we kept walking and turning down different corners. There were lots of stands selling medicinal plants and Crias (llama fetuses), and I stopped to ask a policeman for directions and he says ´what are you guys doing in this part of town anyway? you need to get out of here right now´, which made sense because everyone was looking at us very strangely and I had a bad feeling in my gut. So we headed back up to the touristy part of town, and realized that the artesinal market was right next to our hostel the whole time..
After that, Liz and I went to the Santa Catalina Convent- apparently in the 1500s the nuns used to get kind of wild, they had all their nice things from home, servants, and lived a fun life? We wandered around the Convent, which is essentially a city with in a city, for several hours. The walls inside were painted bright orange and blue, and it had several really nice courtyards. The rooms were kept as they were when the nuns lived there, with their simple cots stuffed with straw, a cross, and a bench for praying. The convent was at times eerie, but it was also very beautiful and peaceful.
Then, we went to eat at one of the restaurants overlooking the plaza de armas- ps this is maybe my favorite plaza of south america so far- the church is incredible!
At 8pm. William and I said goodbye to Liz, and boarded the bus towards Cusco

Arequipa is a great town and I look forward to returning in a couple of weeks!