Arequipa Panic - to the US we are aliens

As usual spent an hour or so of “chill out time” skyping, blogging and emailing. An email popped up from IIE our exchange sponsors to ask if we had submitted our final reports and documentation. Luckily we had, we confirmed our final plans and thought that was the end of that BUT NO!

A calmly phrased email asked “How do you plan to get back into the USA without a VISA!” Mmm PANIC! We had a 30 day grace on our J1 Visa when it ran out on 31 December, and we knew we could leave and return to the US three times in the year. So we felt quite calm about holidaying in Peru, leaving our luggage in LA and planning our return ticket to Sydney from US. “Oh no” the Lima Consulate told us “Your J1 visa was cancelled when you left US!”

So we were stuck in Peru with no way to get our luggage or to get on our plane in LA… I suppose they could always deport us…mmm a bit too embarrassing and expensive that one.

Yeehah! for the internet, within 10 minutes we both had transit visas, and life was looking good once more!

(OK so haven’t used them yet but if we get arrested in LA at least you know why!)

Food glorious food

The food here is fantastic – more nouvelle cuisine than anything else. Breakfast is usually juice, freshly baked breads, scrambled eggs, tea. For lunch or dinner we will often choose the menu touristica – any thing from 10 – 20 soles ( 10 = about $A3.80).

Of course Guinnea Pig is a favoured delicacy - haven't tried it yet but the alapaca was delicioso! We have also discovered Munya... basically a fine leafed mint which is soaked in boiling water. Great for those tummy upsets that we don't seem to be immune to. Also cocos leaves which help with altitude sickness - yes at 14,000 ft we get that too!

Nuns with attitude

Arequipa was a great place, with a huge central square where people in traditional dress would come to chat, sell their wares or in some cases beg. Watching the bargaining, romantic trysts and general hubbub was great fun. Lovely textiles there and we succumbed to buying a couple of nice things.

Of greatest interest though was the Convent of Santa Catalina. This had been founded in the 16^th century for the 2^nd daughters of the wealthy, who traditionally became nuns. These were nuns with a difference though… they had servants and slaves, invited musicians to play and generally spent their time gambling and having a great time. The local shops sold outrageous trinkets showing drunken nuns playing cards.

This went on for about 300 years until the pope decided to bring them into line. The community there however, is still the most emancipated, owning all the land and taking the profits from tourism. It really was a town within a town and we were grateful to have a guide to show us around.

La Casa Malagar Arequipa

Our bus trip back to Lima was so good, we now understood the landscape and the four hours went by in a flash. Arriving at the bus station in Lima we were inundated by people calling “Taxi! Taxi!” “Quanta costa?’ “Cuarenta” “No… veinte” “Done” and we were on our way for half the price. Mind you the cab was held together by pieces of string and we nearly took out half a dozen cars and people on the way.

Lima airport is efficient and modern and we were soon through to a clean waiting area complete with wifi…we had a couple of hours and so we could skype family and friends and catch up with emails. Always a good feeling to hear from people . Must admit feel that I am living in about 5 different realities at the moment!

As it was only a 2 hour flight we were able to see all the scenery below us. The desert with its paths leading over the hills and dunes, the occasional settlement .. estupenda! A quick snack of tea and sandwiches, complete with cake and chocolate (Roger did well that trip!) and we were there.

We walked across the runway where two large statues of indigenous people, framed by the amazing view of Mt Misty welcomed us with open arms to Arequipa. Mt Misty a stunningly beautiful and supposedly dormant volcano dominates the town. Wondered how on earth anything would survive if it erupted which it could do at any moment!.

We had been told that we would be met by a guide and a sing… by which we assumed there would be a sign… and there it was “Miss Julie”

An hour later we had driven through a medieval landscape of strip farming, mud and daub houses with thatched roofs, cows, pigs and sheep all hobbled and colourful shepherds silhouetted against the sky.

Down a backstreet, honking all the way. Most of the houses here look unfinished, there is no sense of making the outside of a building attractive. We pulled up next to an old looking place made of huge blocks. Suddenly we were into a quiet world of courtyards and gardens.

Our room was huge, with a sitting area and tall doors that opened out onto a lovely private garden.. a real oasis. At $40 per night one of the more expensive hotels, but well worth it!

Nazco

After spending a day meeting quite a few characters who have "got lost" in Peru decided that we needed a bit of a tourist hit. decided to fly over the desert to see the Nazco lines. We didn't really know what to expect. There were at least a dozen options which had been touted to us by many of the tourist operators in Paracas. In the end Miguel from the hotel got it all sussed.

He would organise a taxi to the airport in Pisco - mmm didn't know that they had one! Fly over the desert, take a quick tour of Pisco and then back to the hotel for dinner. Now my Spanish is lousy but I did realise that he was telling me something important about the price.

It wasn't until we got to the airport though that I realised what it was. No credit card payment! Mmm could we pay in dollars - sure. Only problem was that every dollar had to be absolutely pristine! The dollars we had were straight from US and had tiny tears, fold marks and marks. No possiblo! Ok what to do now. Give me half and your driver will take you to ATM at end of flight. Then through security. Basically we had to put anything metal into a container and then we were scanned before going through the gate. They then handed back to us everything in the container that had not been scanned! interesting. Gradually the other 10 people arrived who were sharing the flight with us. We chatted with a Japanese couple. He was extremely nervous about flying but she was full of enthusiasm. The airport was sparklingly new, the previous one having been flattened by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Outside the vast windows we looked across rubble and mess as far as we could see. Looked like something from Spike Miilligan. Out of the dust and chaos came two pilots, meticulously dressed looking for the way into the airport - I kid you not!

In Paracas we had been aware of the wonderful busy port but behind the hotel was a desert where occasionally women in traditional costume wandered out to the road, or we saw a lone figure walking off into the distance. What was out there? It fascinated us. We wandered out to the plane across the debris. Brand new plane, zappy looking young pilots greeted us and gave us the lowdown on the flight and brand new plane. Off we went , it was amazing, out in the desert were huge irrigated oasis with grand houses with swimming pools, surrounded by long sand dunes - and always people and animals somehow surviving in this desolate landscape...and then we were over the lines... the pilot swooped down... below us even smaller planes shot down into the valleys only to to swing out of the dive at the very last minute. Our pilot, keen to make sure that everyone got a good view would go into a stomach wrenching turn first to the left and then to the right and then down, down, down to get a better view and up once more and on to the next spectacular view. Our Japanese friend Miko was decidedly green by this stage while her boyfriend was positively enjoying it. The rest of us were all really quiet!!!

It was a stunning flight though and we just loved it. You can check out this sight to get an idea http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlp1frj_thM.

On our return to the airport we were met by two grim officials who would not accept our dollars and who insisted that we go to the bank to change more dollars. Evenutually they let us leave when we promised to pay the hotel. When we got to the hotel we just handed over the old crumpled dollars and they were happy as!

What a day... tomorrow 4hr bus trip back to Lima and flight to Arequippa... Should be a long but interesting day!

Islas Ballastas

Can't describe how fantastic it was to see the mist rise and then suddenly we were in another world. The air was thick with cormorants flying and every rock and crevice was filled with seals, sealions, pelicans, penguins and hundreds of other species.

The boat rose and fell and great waves of water rushed through arches through which we could see more and more colonies of seabirds. An amazing two hours.

at the Mirador, we discovered a rather nice pool complete with bar... mmm Pisco Sour could become a habit!

Islas Ballastas

Wow! what an amazing day! Got up to our usual breakfast schmozzle of "What would you like?" We inevitably asked for omelette or scrambled eggs and would wait in anticipation for what would arrive, sometime boiled or fried or even scrambled!

The morning was hazy we could hardly see the ocean, but there at 8.00am was our taxi (minibus). To our amusement another couple who had also been waiting were the docks before us they too had had their own private minibus!

The docks were crowded with tourists of all nationalities. We met our guide who spoke fantastic English. We wandered around the dock watching huge dirty looking pelicans land majestically on the water or dive smoothly into the water catching fish in their huge bills. Cormorants lined up on top of boats shaking their wings dry.

Most interesting though was the swarm of people who regularly rushed up to a small hut which had a tiny window. Not pausing for a minute from speaking on their mobile phone, they pushed and shoved their way into the little hut.

"What's happening"? we asked.........our guide explained that the coastguard would not let them take their boats out because of the heavy mist. We were happy to wait for an hour watching this fascinating world but others were not so keen.

We watched as the boats were unloaded and loaded. Fishermen were paid in fish which no doubt they traded for other goods. Men and women carried huge nets, large containers of fish and barrels of water up and down the pier.

Finally we were off... the ratbag line of tourists was suddenly orderly and eager to go. We hopped into quite modern motor boats, donned lifeboats and we were off. Our guide pointing out birds as we went. Past the commercial boats and the battered local fishing boats, the islands were suddenly right there before us.