Travels in (southern) Peru

We have been based out of the beautiful colonial city of Arequipa for the last several days. We are holed up in Colonial House Inn in a great location right by Iglesia San Fransisco (the oldest church in town)... we were told this old house used to house the priests from the church. We like it here and LOVE the balcony where we enjoy our "desayuno incluido" of bread, jam, butter, coffee & freshly squeezed fruit juice every morning while enjoying a panoramic view of the colonial city and nearby Misti Mountain, the sacred volcano which presides over the city.

Here is part of the view from our balcony (evening shot):

I finally found an internet cafe a block from here where I could post some photos... many more but this provides a glimpse of life here.

Arequipa is beautiful & full of an energetic (and sometimes absolutely exhausting!) vitality. A couple of days ago we witnessed a massive strike by workers at the local Cerro Verde gold mine - they are fighting for better labour rights. I did take photos but neglected to post one! The people power was amazing to behold - people have to fight for their rights here and do so; they do not take rights for granted, that is for sure.

As I write it is evening here in Arequipa and the streets are full of life, tiendas & restaurants open & crowds of people wandering around. Latin American towns & cities come to life in the evening. The outskirts of Arequipa are full of a broad range of agriculture & many food products are produced here for local & national use.

On the issue of food self-sustainability & independence, Peru is an absolute marvel.

We did a 2 day tour to some nearby highlands towns & Colca Canyon which has the distinction of being the deepest canyon in the world, and the agriculture continued although our guide told us many farmers are turning away from the ancient Incan legacy of working the fields & growing food in the incredible terraced fields with very sophisticated (and ancient) irrigation channels. Where we travelled for instance, the locals can make more money from selling trinkets to passing tourists. Others choose to relocate to the cities. An increasing amount of land in this part of Peru is becoming dormant and not being worked. Of course we still saw much evidence of the existing aspects of this incredible indigenous culture. People working the soil by hand & with human-powered plough, farmers walking their sheep and donkeys down the dusty road (made worse by the tourist buses blasting by en route to the canyon!) Here is a shot of one of the Quechua women (with you-know-who) we met in Chivay, pop. 7000 & capital of this highlands area. We could not really communicate with her because she only spoke Quechua, not Spanish.

Here is a shot (albeit hazy, maybe with the dust from the roads) of the Colca Canyon with some terraced fields seen in the distance.

The final destination of this tour was Cruz del Condor, an incredible lookout beside the canyon where multiple Andean condors soar. It was an astounding sight and because our zoom lens on the camera was not moving as rapidly as it might, we missed out on capturing the full glory of the spectacle, but here is a shot of a couple of these characters (who have a 3 meter wingspan -- they are the biggest flying birds in the world) hanging out.

Peru is a beautiful, inspiring, busy, complicated & sometimes overwhelming country. I am noticing how my La Paz days in Bolivia are coming back to me as I navigate the streets & cultural nuances... and the elevation we encountered when we went to the highlands (just over 4000 m at the high point) did not seem to be as much of a problem, maybe because of past time spent in La Paz at very high elevation.

We will be heading toward the Bolivian border the day after tomorrow. We have enjoyed Arequipa. Next stop is Puno, Peru on Lake Titicaca, very close to Bolivia.