After the floods in Cusco helped us decide to change our plans, Matthew and I have been seeing our fair share of beautiful Peru via bus, the most popular and inexpensive method of travel here. Matthew already described the most lovely bus trip we took, and as my mom said, nothing can get worse than that. However, it´s not our favorite thing to do.
The most recent trips to Nazca and Arequipa (where we are now) were full of stomach turning twisty roads, but highlighted with fields full of alpaca (!!!), an eight-year-old girl who was amazed that Matthew and I spoke English and requested to take our photo ("un sol, porfavor"), her mother who gave us 10 pounds of salty cheese made earlier in the day, and a movie with werewolves. We also got to see how the food they serve on the bus is prepared- by a 6 year old boy who doesn´t wear gloves. Some things are better left unknown.
What we have noticed in our short length of traveling is that every city in Peru has its quirks. Lima was intense-so many people, shops, cars and combis, litter. Noisy all the time. Curahuasi was cute, peaceful. There were hardly any tourists, except for all the folks stranded from various bus tours headed to Cusco. Nearly everyone nodded or greeted us, always asking us if we were going to Cusco, talking about the weather. (I hope Oropesa is like Curahuasi.) Abancay was bigger than I imagined, and I felt productive there with our new friend Nikola. We did our laundry, got food, she took her boots to get repaired (for only 2 soles!), did internet things, bought bus tickets, bought a cell phone. phew. Short stay, but productive. Nazca was tourist city, all focused around the famous Nazca lines. Everything in the city is themed around the lines. And it was hot.
Here in Arequipa, it doesn´t even feel like it´s still Peru. We arrived atound 6 a.m. and walked around the city before there was room available at the hostel, and it was so quiet. In all the other cities, things are going so early-street vendors, food carts, taxis, people everywhere. Here it was really peaceful. We got some coffee this morning, there are coffee shops everywhere, when we never saw them in other cities. It is so touristy. We never saw any other gringos in Lima, but there are travelers everywhere.
We´ll be retiring from bus travels for the next two weeks, as we enroll in language school here. School starts Monday. With a better handle on the language and a consistent living situation, maybe soon we won´t feel so lost.
Hi Guys!
ReplyDeleteArequipa sounds like a lovely place. You can rub elbow with the rich! I cut and pasted an article I found on the internet. Enjoy your stay and when school starts, remember, as Paw-Paw told me every day as I left for school..."learn something!" (I hope you get a long recess!)
Love,
Mom
AREQUIPA:
An active city, some 2400m above sea level, and with a relatively wealthy population of over three-quarters of a million, AREQUIPA maintains a rather aloof attitude toward the rest of Peru. Most Arequipans feel themselves distinct, if not culturally superior, and resent the idea of the nation revolving around Lima, and with El Misti, the 5821-metre dormant volcano poised above, the place does have a rather legendary sort of appearance. But besides its widespread image as the country’s second biggest and arguably, after Cusco, most attractive city, Arequipa has some very specific historical connotations for Peruvians.
Be well!Enjoy the lost.You'll have pleanty of time for the found! ;o)
ReplyDelete-KP
It sounds like you're having an interesting trip with plenty of adventures so far. You're keeping ME entertained, anyway! I'm sure you'll be glad to stay put for awhile. Enjoy you're time in Arequipa!
ReplyDelete