Arequipa Dreams

More and more tourists are getting off the gringo trail at Ica. But why? Huacachina is a small town in the desert with little life and not much more to say for itself. So why the interest?

Pure, frivolous fun is the answer.

The empty desert is the perfect playground for dune buggies that send you on a roller-coaster ride over the humps and bumps. And this is just the warm-up.

You’re left at the top of an impossibly steep slope. You strap a plank of wood to your feet and hurl yourself off. It’s a great adrenaline rush as you fight for control.

Better still, the buggies wait for you at the bottom to whisk you back up again and save that exhausting climb through the sand.

No prior experience is necessary, and though you’ll frequently tumble, it doesn’t hurt and can occasionally be quite impressive. If you want to go faster, find the guy with the wax to make your board fly down the slopes!

We went at 4pm, so were in the desert at sunset, which is a magical experience in itself as the shadows from the dunes loom across the landscape.

Note that this means it’ll be dark when you finish - don’t wear sunglasses, or you won’t be able to see. Also, it’s a desert and you will get sand absolutely everywhere, so don’t bring valuables or bring your camera in a transparent bag.

This experience will tell you absolutely nothing about Peru, but I loved it for sheer exhilaration and fun.

P.S. Apologies for the lack of pictures of people actually boarding. I was too busy boarding to take photos!

Of course they are. The solution is to visit the "Poor Man’s Galapagos," otherwise known as the Ballestas Islands, just off the coast from Paracas.

In one 20hour tour, we saw seals, sea lions, penguins, and innumerable birds, including the Peruvian cormorant and the red-footed booby. We even met a school of dolphins on the return journey.

The huge fish factories on the 20-minute bus ride from Pisco hint at the reason for this diversity. Warm and cold sea currents clash at this point, generating perfect conditions for fish to thrive. And where the fish thrive, what feeds on them will flourish.

The connection with the Galapagos is no fluke. Many species use the Ballestas Islands as a staging point on their way to/from the Galapagos Islands. The only thing that won’t be extinct is your wallet.

Now, I’m no naturalist. I confess that before this trip, I had never heard of the Peruvian cormorant or the red-footed booby. And I’m convinced you don’t need a degree in zoology to appreciate this wonder. I know nothing, but I was blown away by the wildlife.

My trip cost me 28 soles from Zarcillo Tours on Pisco’s Plaza de Armas. There are people around who will offer you the same tour for much, much more. I was offered it for $30, over three times more! Don’t line their pockets.

The Ballestas are usually the first half of a day trip that continues to the Paracas National Park for more wildlife fun, but I was on a time limit, and being back in Pisco by 11am allowed me to go sandboarding the same day.

I would sincerely love to visit the Galapagos Islands. If this is the poor version, the real thing must be truly wonderful. But, until then, I’m thrilled with these magical islands.

It's the deepest canyon in the world and has a placed viewpoint (Cruz del Condor) at the deepest section, where you can see huge condors majestically soaring on the early morning thermals.

But I must admit that the experience left me rather cold. Initially, this was entirely due to the freezing conditions at 7am at 4,000m. But then, as the day warmed up, the action didn't.

The Canyon
It's difficult to make sense of the depth of the canyon. It's certainly very deep (3,191m), but that isn't so exciting. The impact only hits when you realise that you could lose Ben Nevis (or Mount Washington for those in the US) in there and still have room.

Actually, the deepest canyon in the whole world is Cotahuasi Canyon, metaphorically just round the corner from Colca. But the difference is only 163m, which isn't much over 3km vertically.

The Condors
So the condors. The big attraction. And big is the word. With wingspans of over 3m (about the size of a Mini), you can see them coming from a distance, which is just as well, as there aren't that many of them.

I'm there from 7am until 10am, and we see only seven birds out of the population of about 40. And we see all but two of those between 9 and 9:30am. Apparently, at 12kg, condors are the heaviest bird that can fly, and if they eat a bit too much, they can't take off. I can only assume they were out for a feast last night.

But the lesson is there. The birds are likely to be around from 9am. Most tourists are there from about 8am to get a good spot. Don't do what I did and get there at 7am. It's just cold.

The Logistics
Many agencies in Arequipa will offer you a 1-day tour. Don't take this, as you can't avoid the 10 hours of travelling.

Go for 2 days. You can go with the agencies for approximately US$20, which is all very easy.

I tried it the hard (stupid?) way and did it myself. Day 1, afternoon bus to Chivay. Day 2, get 5am bus from Chivay to the Cruz del Condor, see the Condors, then bus back to Arequipa. So was it worth it?

I did it for about US$14, which is a reasonable saving. There's an extra US$7 for the park ticket, but that's not in the agency prices either. And I was about half a day quicker (on Day 1), but then I didn't stop at so many places. But I avoided the tourist-trap lunch and the hellish folklore show.

Summary
I was disappointed by the Colca Canyon, as it was a lot of travelling for not so much. If you are tight on time, I would suggest that this is one attraction that could be missed.

Juanita is the best preserved pre-Columbian mummy in South America. Carbon-14 dating has put her at around 1490AD. A girl of only 14 years, she was brought from Cusco and sacrificed to appease the gods of the Ampato volcano.

Rather than mummification in the Egyptian sense, where the body is embalmed, Juanita was effectively deep frozen by the ivy conditions at the 6,380m summit.

It was over 500 years later that she was found in 1995 by anthropologist Dr Johan Reinhard as the ice on Ampato briefly melted due to the eruption of the adjacent Sabancaya volcano.

You can still see Juanita, sealed in her chamber at -20°C. It doesn't take any imagination to see what she would have been like. I found it very eerie.

Between January and March, Juanita is taken away for restoration and another mummy is displayed in her place.

The rest of the museum has artifacts found with the mummies. They are in stunningly good condition, in particular, the clothes you would have sworn had come straight from the nearest market stall.

A video (in English) sets the scene, following Dr Reinhard as he finds more mummies. It also gives a recreation of what Juanita´s last journey must have been like.

The entire tour cost S./15, with a tip for the guide at the end. Photography is not allowed.

I enjoyed this well organised and haunting view into history and highly recommend it to anyone visiting Arequipa.

This intrigued me, and I did some digging to find out the history behind it all.

The shield belongs to the Order of Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, otherwise known as Mercedarians after "merced", the Spanish for "mercy".

The Order was founded on August 12, 1218 AD, by Bishop Berenguer de Palou in Barcelona. The driving force behind the Order was Saint Peter Nolasco (1181 - 1245 AD).

The purpose of the Order was to liberate faithful Christians who were held prisoner by the Saracens in the Moorish part of Spain. They did this by raising money to pay the ransom or, in extreme cases by substituting themselves for the prisoner.

The shield is the vertical red and gold bands of the King of Spain at that time, James I, surmounted by the white cross of Barcelona cathedral.

The Order came to the Americas on the second voyage of Columbus in 1493 and also accompanied Pizarro in his conquests.

This is my imperfect understanding of some of the history of the Order, and a much more comprehensive document is displayed at http://www.orderofmercy.org/HistoricalSurvey.htm.