After our tour of the islands we hopped back on a bus bound for Peru's second largest city, Arequipa. Renowned as beautiful and framed by mountains and volcanoes we were looking forward to this one!
After arriving in the early hours of the morning we got up to find ourselves in a really good hostel (Arequipay Backpackers). Clean, bright and with loads of amenities it was excellent. We set off for a wander round the town and to see how we would spend our planned week. We knew we wanted to trek on our own a bit and had heard of a Peruvian cooking class that sounded fun. Fortunately the hostel had a link to the cooking class so we booked on to that the next day and went in search of a recommended trekking company for some advice.
The city itself really was beautiful and had a snow capped volcano looming behind as a nice touch! The main plaza was really clean and well designed and the streets around were also clean and modern. After a long time in much smaller places it seemed very cool to us. We also discovered there was a museum with another mummy so that was added to our to do list.
We found the trekking company and had a really interesting chat with the owner. He recommended avoiding Canon de Colca where everyone goes as it had apparently become littered with bars and lost it's charm. He said if we had time to take the 12 hour bus journey to Canon Cotahuasi. This is the deepest canyon in the world, over double the Grand Canyon at around 3500m in depth. He was running an incredible sounding tour, but we didn't have the money and thought exploring ourselves would be fun.
Next day we headed for our cooking class in the morning. We discovered we were cooking a traditional menu of a cheese and corn salad followed by stuffed rocoto peppers with Peru's version of dauphinoise potatoes. The setting was in the garden kitchen in the sun at a nearby hotel, lovely! The whole thing was great fun and the food tasted incredible. The salad was fresh and tasty, the peppers spicy with a delicious meaty filling of pork and beef and the potatoes were creamy! A really good morning. In the afternoon we headed for the mummy. We went in the wrong museum first and saw plenty more pots and crafts. Then we found the right museum, the Museo Santuarios Andinos. The place wasn't huge, but we got a guided tour and the museum was very well presented. The mummy was amongst 5 found in the area after a volcano erupted and left them exposed. She was named Juanita by her discoverers.
Next day was pretty chilled out as sadly the bus to the canyon is only overnight. The trip is supposedly beautiful, but we saw nothing as it was pitch black the while time. We also managed to sleep through our stop and were left on a tiny village square at 3 in the morning! It took us a minute to establish we were in Alca. We had planned to walk here the first day. We managed to get a room for a few hours sleep on the square thankfully.
Once we woke up and went down to the only cafe around we were unfortunately immediately served the menu del dia at 9am. This consisted of a huge bowl of meat and rice soup then loads of rice with a squash like stew. A bit much for that early! We worked out we could do our planned trek in reverse to the main valley town of Cotahuasi that day, around 20km. It did mean we would be in the local hot springs early, but that was the only real downside. There is just one dirt road through the valley really so we followed that. The scenery was immediately spectacular, incredible greeness in the bottom of the valley and huge terraces of the canyon on both sides of us. One of the best things we've seen without doubt. We hit the thermal baths early, they were at almost 40 degrees and felt incredible!
After about an hour there we hit the road again. A few hours more trekking brought us to Tomepampa, the halfway point. We bought a coke from the local store and got chatting to a local teacher almost immediately who had also popped out for a drink. This was the first experience of probably the nicest people we have met. The teacher was really interested in us and the old lady from the shop insisted we take an avocado she had grown for free to show how good it tasted. Then the kids filed out for lunch and nearly every one said buenos tardes. Still the only time this has happened in such numbers. We then set off again trailed by a local dog! It took another few hours to Cotahuasi where everyone again said hello! We found a hostel and went for a wander to find dinner. When we got back the owners son in law helped us plan the next 2 days activities.
We booked a horse ride in the valley the next day. This was interesting as the horses owner Ricardo was very chatty and informative and our Spanish had improved enough for us to understand him. He also took us to a small lagoon we'd never have found on our own. And there were pigs which Tasha loved. We just chilled out for a few hours after that as we were a bit saddle sore! Just watching life pass by in the small town of Cotahuasi was very relaxing and interesting as it was so different to nearly everywhere else we'd been. The lack of other tourists really made it an attraction too!
Next day we decided to try and find some ruins at the top of the canyon. We planned to hit the baths again after and then return to Arequipa overnight. The day was hot, like every other, and the walk wound steadily up the canyon. This was tough and very tiring, however the view from the top was definitely worth it. There was a small traditional village at the top that was pretty, but sadly noone could help us find the ruins. We set off back for the bottom and the relaxing baths. Only after a nice cheese and avocado cracker lunch on the river though! One of the best things in the canyon was how empty it is. We saw 4 other gringos in 3 days and had most of our trekking time on our own. It was absolutely brilliant and we are very glad we chose to head there.
One of the best parts of the trip was over and next up was the capital of Peru, Lima...
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