South America 2002-3

Continued from Page 1

It was an overcast day with low clouds over the hills when we left La Paz for Copacabana, on Lake Titicaca, the following Sunday. We had great last views of the city from the bus window and then we were on our way. The bus trip was easy and we were even served complimentary coffee and tea on our journey. A little after two hours later we reached the tiny settlement of San Pablo de Tiquina on Lake Titicaca. The shortest route to Copacabana involves a five minute ferry ride across a strait to rejoin the highway on the other side. The bus travels on a barge across the water, but it is not considered safe for the passengers to remain inside. Instead we all got off and boarded small boats to take us across. Bolivia is a landlocked country but it maintains a Navy on Lake Titicaca. The dock was right next to a naval checkpoint, which we had to clear.

The bus rides the ferry across Lake Titicaca

Back on the bus, we continued on, up hills on a peninsula where we could look down on both sides to the lake below. Lake Titicaca is 230 K long, 97 K wide and at 3820M, is the highest navigable lake in the world. The waters are supposed to be a beautiful blue but it was overcast and rainy for our trip, so it was hard to tell. After a short journey, we descended to Copacabana surrounding a lovely bay. We found a good hotel room with a view of the lake and settled in.

The town is a favourite vacation spot for Bolivians, and despite the cold, rainy weather, many families were down by the water having their pictures taken with pet llamas, renting paddle boats and kayaks, and playing foosball. This is a mechanical soccer games on raised tables with the players manipulated by twisting poles protruding from both sides of the game tables. I used to have a hockey game like foosball. We watched the festivities until it started to rain in earnest and we headed to the safety, if not warmth, of indoors. Some restaurants have portable heaters, but most homes and hostels do not. Thank goodness for lots of blankets.

the 11th station of the cross on Cerro Calvario (Calvary Hill)

It did clear up enough the next day for us to climb two hills to enjoy the view. In the morning we walked up Cerro Calvario, which in 1946 had 13 concrete crosses erected on a wide cobbled path leading to an upper altar. Pilgrims who follow this route leave stones as homage to Pachamama on each of the stations of the cross. At the top (3966 M) were booths where women sold soft drinks for the thirsty and souvenirs to remember the walk. Most of the booths also had large displays of miniature cars, houses, small storefronts (tiendas) and fake money for sale. People buy the miniature of whatever they are hoping to acquire in the next year and have them blessed at a special festival at the local Cathedral on January 24. I bought small trucks for our grandsons Tyler and Ryan but I really think they are too young to own the real thing. Besides, they will be unblessed.

The local Cathedral is huge, considering the size of the town. It was constructed in Moorish style between 1605 and 1920. The main buildings are all white topped with blue mosaic covered domes. Inside is a room devoted to the Virgin of Copacabana. Twice daily people decorate their cars or trucks with flowers and rosettes and drive to the church for the vehicle blessing. We later travelled in a bus that proudly displayed a banner proclaiming it had the benediction of the Virgin of Copacabana.

That afternoon was still nice so we headed out to climb another hill beside the town to see the Horca del Inca. This brought us even higher than our morning walk. We had to pay an admission fee, higher for foreigners, to see the Horca, but we weren't going to turn back. The Inca ruin was two upright pillars of rock with a cross bar of rock, a la Stonehenge. Interesting, but I didn't find out the meaning, except for the fact that festivities are still held there later in the year. We climbed past the Horca to the very top of the rocks getting a good panorama of the lake and surrounding countryside.

Horca del Inca

Ruins on Isla del Sol

Just offshore from Copacabana is the Isla del Sol, birthplace of the Sun according to Inca mythology. We were hoping for a sunny day and planned to stay overnight on the island, but the weather was overcast and drizzly in the morning.

We boarded our excursion boat along with about 50 others anyhow and motored slowly out through the waves. Once we passed to the sheltered side of the island it was a calmer and quicker trip but it was still raining lightly. We landed at a tiny village at the north end of the island where we were met by a guide who herded the majority of us off to see our first Inca ruins. Nearly everyone else intended to return to the boat that day, either to visit the Isla de la Luna before heading back to Copacabana, or to walk to the south end of the island where the return boat could be picked up. For this reason, we were led at quite a fast clip over a headland to the site of the ruins. A large flat rock was pointed out that supposedly was in the shape of a puma head, symbol of life on earth. I had a hard time seeing the face but this is the site of the birthplace of the sun. Across from the rock was a large stone slab table surrounded by stone stools where animal sacrifices are still made during a festival on June 21 each year. About 100 meters away were the ruins of a large temple complex, that once housed 30 people in multiple rooms. Except for missing roofs, the stone walls were in very good shape.

The tour ended there, but Ray and I stayed behind to eat our picnic lunch in the shelter of the stone walls. After lunch we found the well marked ridge trail leading to the south end of the village. It was supposed to take three hours to walk the trail, but it was still drizzly, so we didn't stop too often or too long along the way. We reached the village at the south end at 3 PM and started to look for a hostel for the night. The first one didn't look very promising and neither did the weather, so Ray suggested we just return to Copacabana on the 4 PM boat. We were booked on an afternoon bus out of Copacabana the next day anyhow. I didn't object, so we joined several others for a cup of tea while we waited for the boat. We didn't even feel like searching for other Inca ruins at that point.

We were leaving Bolivia the next day to enter Peru and our Bolivian money supply was running out, so back in Copacabana we went looking for a less expensive hotel than our previous choice. We got a real bargain at a new place for B$20 ($4-5 CAD), including a bathroom with hot water shower. We settled in comfortably as the rains started in earnest for the night.

Click the map above to see a photo album of Arequipa and Colca Canyon. Close the window to return to this page.

The next day we took the bus to Puno, Peru. It was an easy ride and the border crossing was quick, but the rains followed us to Puno. We were getting burned out coping with cold rain so, for that reason, we only stayed overnight and missed the fabled floating islands. Instead, we took another bus the next morning to Arequipa, where we still are.

It actually looked like a nice day when we left Puno and stayed sunny as we made our way across deserts to Arequipa. We found a nice, quiet hostel, Posada de Cacique, with an inner courtyard in the center town. In fact it is almost right next door to the one our niece and nephew Nadia and Nicholas Scipio stayed in last summer.

Arequipa is a large city but the center retains a lot of the original Spanish charm. The large Plaza de Armas is green and leafy and is surrounded on all sides by two story white stone buildings with covered, arched sidewalks. Restaurants on the upper terraces on two sides make a good spot to enjoy a snack or meal and watch the local scene. We have been trying out several of the restaurants and visiting a museum or two.

Plaza des Armas

Monasterio de Santa Catarina courtyard

We took a guided tour of the huge Monastario de Santa Catarina complex, encompassing more than a city block. This was a cloistered convent begun in 1580, and enlarged in the 17th century for the daughters of the Spaniards who for one reason or another chose not to marry. Until the South American Independence revolution in the 1820s, the nuns lived simply in their own individual homes, complete with servants. After the revolution the nuns lived a communal life, sleeping in long dormitories and eating in a common dining room. About 450 nuns and lay people lived in the complex at its height, but they never ventured beyond the walls of the enclosure, even in death. In 1970 the population drastically reduced, the complex was turned over to a private organization who restored most of the original buildings and opened it to the public. No one in Arequipa had ever seen what lay inside before. There are still about 30 nuns who now live in a separate more modern building in one corner of the complex. It was a beautiful and peaceful spot with many gardens and attractive narrow streets.

We also visited the Casa Morales, once the private home of one of the original Spanish colonists, partially destroyed by earthquakes in the 1940s and then lovingly restored by a British man who amassed a huge collection of paintings and colonial style furniture and lived in it for forty years. It is now owned by a local bank, once again restored and opened to the public. Included in our small entrance fee was an informative guided tour by an English speaking girl, who obviously cherishes the contributions of the native people who made the furniture and painted the pictures.

A highlight of our trip to Arequipa was a visit to the Colca Canyon. We had heard good reports of a hike down into the canyon, so that is what we did. We joined 15 other people for a minibus tour to the Canyon. We stopped to see llama, alpaca and vicuna herds along the way to Chivay, the principal town in the region. Vendors selling souvenirs were waiting at every stop, dressed in colourful traditional costumes.

Vendors in traditional clothing selling souvenirs

A condor flies over the high cliffs

We were brought to a restaurant for lunch, then to our hostel in Chivay. At four oclock we assembled again to walk less than an hour down the canyon valley to the Thermal baths. There were two large pools that were about 35- 37 C, fed by local hot springs. We all had a good time just relaxing in the warm waters. After our soak we were driven back to town to change and get ready for a late supper. The service was a bit slow at dinner, but the entertainment made up for it. The restaurant caters to all the Colca Canyon tours and has local musicians play traditional music all through dinner. They were excellent and played for more than two hours without a break. One local couple performed several dances, dressed in traditional costume. Several of the towns have festivals in early February that include several days of these dances so it remains popular with the locals. For two of the dances, audience members (not me) were asked to participate. They were taken out and dressed in costume and performed the simple dances very well to their obvious enjoyment.

The next morning we were herded into the minibus shortly after 6 AM to drive to the Cruz del Condor, home to about 35 Condor families. The most opportune time to see these huge birds fly is between 7 and 9 AM. On the ground they are not that attractive, as they are a vulture variety, but in the air they are king. They are the national bird of Chile and were revered by the Incas as symbols of the upper life. The skies were cloudy when we started out and our guide, Cesar, said we might not even see any Condors as they don't fly into clouds. We arrived at 8:15 to quiet but clearing skies. Soon the first Condor was spotted heading out over the canyon. We got lucky. There were not many Condors about, but they were riding in drafts that brought them low enough for us to see their white ruffs and huge black and white bodies.

This is where Ray and I said goodbye to the main tour group. We joined a young French couple, Damien and Charlotte and took off in a local bus with our hiking guide, Marcial. We drove about 1/2 hour further down the canyon to the town of Cabanaconde. Colca Canyon extends 100 K between steep mountains with a swift, muddy river running along the bottom. We had planned a circle walk of the canyon, down past several small towns on the north wall of the canyon to an Oasis at the bottom where we would spend the night. The next morning we would climb up 1200 M on the south wall of the canyon back to Cabanaconde. Again, the best laid plans go astray. Rains had caused a landslide wiping out part of the trail leading to the villages and damaging the bridge across the river at the bottom. That meant we walked up and down the same trail. It turned out well. It was a beautiful sunny day and stopping several times for photo ops, we were down at the Oasis in 2 1/2 hours. On the way, Marcial pointed out several of the medicinal plants and picked off some fruit from a cactus plant that is a main crop in the area. I think it is the same as a prickly pear and was juicy and delicious.

We found our home for the night, a simple bamboo hut with a comfortable raised bed. There was a refreshing swimming pool for us to cool off in before a late lunch. Marcial promised to take us for a walk after lunch up the opposite side of the canyon so that we could see the view further up the river. At 4:30 PM, after the hot sun had left the hillside, we set out. Charlotte was having trouble with her boots so Damien returned with her not far from the top. We continued on with Marcial until we were on a plateau looking down on the towns on the sides of the hills. It was worth the climb and good practise for the next day.

Oursimple but comfortable hut

We even had a swimming pool

At supper we joined several others at the communal dinning table set outside in the trees and traded travel stories. We all went to bed early as we had to get up before 5 AM in order to hike up before the sun baked the trail.

We did get away at 6 AM and the walk up was fine. We didn't stop for photos this time as we had taken many the day before. Instead our breaks came whenever a donkey or mule train passed us. There were many of them, most heading back down the valley after delivering their crops of fruit grown on the valley floor to the town above. We were very pleased with our walk and thought we did very well, reaching the crest in 2 1/2 hours, although the locals do this every day. From the crest it was only another 10 minute walk across corn fields to the bus stop in town, where we got the 9 AM back to Arequipa.

It took 3 hours to reach Chivay, where we had spent the first night. It can't be more than 50 K but the bus stopped continually to let locals off and on. We had an hour break at the bus station, and then it was an easier three more hours to Arequipa.

We got a taxi back to our hostel, Cacique, and settled in once more, however briefly. We leave tomorrow afternoon to fly to Lima and catch another flight to Piura, just south of the Ecuador border. It is far cheaper to take a domestic flight than to fly from Peru directly to Ecuador, so we will travel across the border to Guayaquil by bus. From Guayaquil we will get another flight to the Galapagos islands for an extended visit. I have heard nothing but glowing reports of the islands, so we are looking forward to this trip.

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