Stay Tuned

I know it´s been over a week since I´ve posted. I have some fantastic pictures from my weekend trip to Colca Canyon and from my relaxing time at home last weekend. I´ve been really busy at work, and hope to add some posts by the end of this week. :)

Weekend Trip to Colca Canyon

This past weekend I went on an overnight trip to canyon country. Colca Canyon is the world`s deepest canyon (the Grand Canyon is the 3rd deepest). Although it is not as pretty as the Grand Canyon, it is still a site to see.

I paid 50 soles (about $17) to for transportation with a tour group to and from the canyon. Other people on the tour included a nice, young couple from Lima, a Peruvian family, a Canadian couple (from Montreal), and two Americans from Arizona (more about them later).

We left at 9am for the 4 hour drive through the high plains of the Andes Mountains to the town of Chivay in Colca Canyon. Along the drive we saw vicuñas, llamas, and alpaca in their natural habitats.















We stopped at a rest stop for about 20 minutes for mate (tea). Here´s a picture of the restrooms. Roughing it. Haha.



I took this time to take advantage of a few photo ops I noticed.






Of course, as with all tourist stops along the trip, there were locals selling arts and crafts (which all look the same). Luckily, I came across this woman spinning alpaca fiber into yarn. I watched her for a while, especially with my interest in the textile industry due to my internship, and then I asked her if I could take her picture... and she didn´t mind, as long as I gave her some money, of course! I think this picture was well worth the $0.30 I gave her.



After the rest stop, we drove for a bit more and reached the highest point on the drive: about 15,000 feet!





Then we began our descent into Chivay - the entry city to the Colca Canyon.




We stopped for some photo ops of the view, and I also snagged a few pictures of these children in the local dress (embroidery is big here).




We had lunch at a restaurant in Chivay before heading to our respective hotels. Luckily, the company I am working for owns the nicest hotel in the area, Colca Lodge, so I was able to get a significant discount.

A 25 minute drive out of town on a gravel road, this place was spectacular.




It had a spa and its own private hot springs with bar service.



After arriving to the hotel around 3pm on Saturday, I bought a $15 bathing suit at the hotel shop and proceeded straight to the hot springs. Here´s a picture of the view from the hot springs.


Here at the hot springs I ran into the two Americans, Chuck and Stephen, who were also on the tourist minibus from Arequipa. Chuck is an infectious disease professor at the University of Arizona advising Stephen on his disertation project for his PhD in epidimiology. Stephen is living in Arequipa for a year studying chagas disease.

Of course we had a conversation about diseases, and it was actually facinating, although I think if I learned anymore I wouldn´t be able to relax (I´d be worried about all the micro organisims in the world around me harboring disease). At one point, Chuck was telling me about some organism that lives in water and when you submers your head under water, it enters through your nose and makes a "b-line" straight to your brain. Dead in 6 days without treatment. Needless to say, I did not submerge my head in the hot springs. ;) Chuck also told me about some really funky diseases in other countries (luckily we don´t have them in the US). He said Haiti is the worst place for disease, so I´ve decided that I will most likely not travel to Haiti.

I also met some other guests in the hot springs. There was a young couple from England (the woman was a pediatrician) and a couple from Virginia (the woman was an Episcopal priest).

After an hour and a half in the hot springs, I headed to the spa for a massage and pedicure. After the spa, I met Chuck and Stephen for dinner in the hotel´s restaurant (trout and a lovely Chilean red).

The next morning we departed at 6am for the drive into the canyon to the Condor Cross viewing point to see the endangered Andean Condors fly. They were very graceful and reminded me of hangliers. Their wingspan can reach up to 10 feet.











After watching the condors, we went on a 45 minute hike along the top of the canyon.








Then we headed back to Chivay for lunch before our drive back to Arequipa. I slept most of the drive back to Arequipa. Weekend trips are tiring, but I´m glad I got out of the city to see some of Perú´s lovely countryside.

My next weekend trip (in 2 weeks): Lake Titicaca.

No Sprinkler? No Problem.

One day during my first week of work at Incalpaca, I noticed the landscape people flooding the lawn... and then it occured to me: There are no sprinklers here. So, about once a week, they simply flood the garden and use plastic bags to change the flow of the water to other parts of the lawn.

Crepes in Arequipa

Today I wanted to get "out of the office" for a bit, so instead of eating lunch with my coworkers in the company´s outdoor cafeteria, I took a cab to the historic center of Arequipa.





I decided to try the crepe place across the street from St. Catherine´s Monastery: Crepismo.







I sat at a table next to the window and enjoyed a ham, cheese, and spinach crepe and a glass of Peruvian red wine.





Nice little break in the middle of the day. And I definitely have to go back for dessert!

Beef and Ostrich and Llama, Oh My!

Saturday night I went out with my coworker, Denise. I was in the mood for steak, so after a couple drinks at her apartment, we went to the Zig Zag Restaurant. This restaurant is located in a two-story colonial house made of sillar (white volcanic rock) with a straicase designed by Gustave Alexandre Eiffel himself.

Denise and I started off with an appetizer of quinoa and shrimp:


Followed by quinoa gnocchi for Denise:


And the trilogy of stone-cooked meats for me (the house specialty). Included was beef, local South African farm-raised ostrich, and llama. It was delish and it the spot! (Note: the large bib was to protect my new alpaca sweater from the sizzling stone meat).




After dinner, Denise and I went to a new bar for one of her friend´s going away party. This place was really cool with a good mix of music, including reggae.






And later we went to the Rock Forum for some dancing. Apparently, the clubs stay open as long as there are customers (?), so this place was still hopping when we left at 3am!