Arequipa is amazing!! All these small streets, flowers, mountains/vulcans, people, food etc. *love*
After I arrived on Wednesday morning, I checked into my hostel, met Jenny and Noémi - the Swiss girls - and we prepared ourselves for the 3-day-trekking in the Colca Canyon (backpacks, snacks, drinks). The Colca Canyon is the second deepest canyon in the world and has an impressive landscape. We were picked up on Thursday morning at 3am, to be on out first stop at 7 - Cruz del Cóndor, the viewpoint to watch these amazing huge birds (second tallest flying bird after the albatross). It is just amazing, to stand there in between the mountains and realize how small we are during the condors glide over your heads. Afterwards we started few kilometers further our trail. We were a group of 6 people (Noémi, Jenny and myself, an Italian girl Chiara and an older Polish couple, living in Vancouver) and our guide Evelyn. The first day was only downhill, which was quite exhausting for the knees. But while watching tha nature, you forget all your pain. At 1pm we arrived at our first camp, where we had lunch and the afternoon just to relax - without WiFi!
The second morning we started our again 3-4h hike at 8:30am after breakfast. We learnt few things about the plants there - for example one plant you rub in between your hands and inhale the smell - good against high sickness, or a mold on a cactus you can use as natural coloring (especially used for cosmetics and wool). This day was a good mix of uphill, flat and downhill though different very small villages and a great landscape. At 12am we arrived already in the Oasis, where we stayed the second night. Before lunch we had the chance to swim in the pool and the afternoon was again completely free. We relaxed in hammocks and later Noémi and myself walked around the other camps in the oasis, to search bananas as a snack for the next morning. After a while we found some, were super happy and decided to celebrate the bananas and us with a Mojito in the Happy Hour. After the late lunch in our camp we lay down in the grass in front of our hat and watched the stars - including a huge falling star *make a wich*
The third day we had to get up very early to start the 5km and 1000m altitude uphill hike at 4:30am. It was still dark when we left and it was amazing to see the sunrise and the lightening of the mountains. At 8am we arrived on the top - full of happiness and adrenaline and got finally our breakfast in Copaconde. On the way back to Arequipa we had a short stop on a breathtaking viewpoint, at some Hot Springs and lunch in Chivay and at an other freezing viewpoint on almost 5000m altitude, where you can see the huge vulcans if there are no clouds or fog.
Wonderful 3 days!!
Then it was time to explore Arequipa. Sunday morning I joined a free walking tour which is always a good thing to meet new people - like this time, I met two guys from Bavaria (Markus and Roland). We drunk a beer afterwards and went together to the food festival (Festi Sabores). It was a super cool event and we tried different foods. I loved this Rocoto relleno (stuffed pepper with minced meat, olives, onions etc) con pastel de papa (potato gratin). We were sitting in the grass, eating, drinking beer, listening to the music and figuring out, that we have the same travel route for few days - so tonight we will meet again in Puno (Lago Titicaca) and spend some days together.
For dinner I met Lisa from the UK (she is a friend of a girl I met few minutes in Ica and connected us) and we ate in the beautiful and highly recommended restaurant ZigZag. It is a mixture between Swiss and Andean cuisine and the place is very cozy with stairs constructed by Gustave Eiffel.
We shared a huge cheese platter, drunk an Argentinian Malbec and the main dish was a trilogy of three meats (alpaca, beef, lamb). Sooo good!!!
Yesterday morning I met up again with Marcel, the Swiss guy I met already twice in Ecuador and we visited the monastery Santa Catalina, had some beer, went for lunch and finally ate the Queso Helado on the market. It is more or less milk ice cream, whipped, sliced and topped with cinnamon. The names origin comes from the appearance, as it looks like white cheese.
After a nap and a shower I went with some guys from the hostel (by coincidence I met again Sinan and Johannes I met in Huanchaco) to a vegan sushi place, where I had to eat my pumpkin soup in a hurry to be on time for the salsa lesson I took together with Lisa - so much fun! As well the Halloween party afterwards was great. The Peruvians getting crazy about that day, so funny!!
And now, I have one hour left to hang in the hammock, pack the rest of my things, taking my monster with me and jumping on the bus to Puno - almost 4000m altitude and freezing cold! Looking forward and then I will explore the next country afterwards - Bolivia!! :-)