Peru Tour - 9 - Chivay

2 Jan 2006 – Chivay

Slept well – for a change. After Amantani Island – any place would be better! Got ready and had breakfast by 7:30 am. Our guide came 30 mins late because two American girls were late in getting to breakfast. In any case – good group of people. There are the two American girls, a Peruvian couple, an Italian couple and a Spanish couple.

We left the city and stopped later to take pictures of three volcanoes clearly visible – not active: Chechali, Misty and Pichu Pichu. Very beautiful all covered in snow. The town, Arequipa, is quite dry and brown but people seem to love flowers here. It is colorful because of the flowers.

The landscape became more barren as we drove out. So different from Cusco which was all green. It’s going to be an uphill drive to about 4910 m (about 16,000 ft.).  We stopped at one place to get some candy and coca tea to get used to the altitude. We started ascending and luckily I did not feel sick.

And then we drove through a natural preserve. Such a beautiful drive. There were vicunas, llamas and alpacas everywhere. Vicunas have really long neck and no fur and they come in many colors. Alpacas are smaller and look like sheep. All these belong to the camel family. We would see herds of these animals periodically. It was a lot greener in these places as there were springs here. Although being of the camel family, these animals don’t really need a lot of water.

The drive was just lovely. The scenery was quite barren for most part but periodically there were unique shrubs. There were also snow capped mountains far away – all dormant volcanoes. We stopped at another place for coca tea to prep for the 3 hour uphill drive. We were advised to drink coca and glucose to help us the altitude sickness. Also we were to use restrooms here because at the highest point there would only be a hole in the ground!

The next 1.5 hrs. was bumpy ride to the highest point at about 16,000 ft. it was just beautiful! We were surrounded by snow capped mountains…but it was also bloody cold and windy. Reminded me of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Took pictures and yes there were vendors there!

And then started the descend. It was not so barren any more, there was some moss like plant that is used for fire. (It is not moss). It grows only about 1 cm per year. And because it is a rare plant it is protected by the government. So I guess they don’t use it for fire anymore. Down a winding road we approached Chivay. And we saw the llamas again.

The scenery was just beautiful. Chivay is in a valley. We reached our lunch place at 1:30 pm. food was good. I had potatoes with cheese and bread with sauce and pasta with spinach sauce (all carb lunch!!). Bhaiya had tomato soup and pasta with tomato sauce – not bad either. The snack – roasted corn was also good. Desert was sweet bread…

Chivay

Albert dropped us off at our hotel at 3 pm and said he would be back by 5 pm to take us to the hot spring.

Our hotel was very nice. It faced southwestern and we could see the valley and the other rooms. The room was very comfortable – at least it had a heater because the room was cold. We walked down the hill to the bridge we had crossed earlier. It is over a river where people go rafting. We walked around to get better views. Came back and took a nap and got ready to go at 5 pm. Albert came to pick us up. The hot spring was very nice. It cost us 10 soles to get in but it was worth it. There was an entry point to the pool which was hotter than the rest. I enjoyed the warm pool.

Came back to the hotel by 7 pm and went for dinner by 7:30 pm. it was a in a different location than lunch. The food was okay – I had tomato soup and veggie omelet. There was live entertainment going on. Five man band playing and then a couple came to dance. Their costumes were very different than what we had seen in Cusco. The girl had a lehnga type dress – with beautiful embroidery and sequins. The men were also dressed like girls! Apparently the Spanish did not like the Peruvian men, so the men would dress up as girls to go and meet with the girls!

The next was a seed sowing dance and now the men were in pants. The nice thing about the dances were that they were involving the guests also – we participated too!  We left around 8:30 pm or so – need to get up early tomorrow.