Colca Valley and Condor Crossing

Colca Canyon is located in southern Peru, about 100 miles outside of Arequipa. While different sources share different information, it appears that Colca Canyon is twice the depth of the Grand Canyon at 11,150 feet, though the walls of the canyon aren't as vertical as those of the Grand Canyon. Some say that the Colca Valley is one of the most scenic areas in all of Peru. One Peruvian novelist named it the "Valley of Wonders." We decided to take a two-day tour to see for ourselves.

We boarded our tour bus at around 8:00 am, and then picked up about 10 other people before we began our 4 hour drive up to the Colca Valley. The roads were dusty and bumpy as we began the climb, but I had a Skype call to some kids at Ivy Hill to look forward to early in the journey. Although my Internet connection wasn't as strong as I would have liked, it was wonderful to see so many familiar faces in the garden at Ivy that morning. It's amazing to think that we were able to video-conference across two different continents while I traveled by bus through the Andes!

As we took the long route through the National Park Reserva Nacional Salinas y Aguada Blanca, we passed some of the gorgeous snow-capped volcanoes that the area is known for, though I believe most of them are now dormant. They are quite a sight!

We got out of the bus along the route when we saw vicuñas grazing on the short dry grasses alongside the road. They are pretty little animals, known to graze around the area, and illegal to kill due to their decreasing numbers. The fur of the vicuña is said to make the softest and best wool in the world- a scarf made of vicuña wool costs approximately $1,500!

Shortly after, we stopped to use restrooms and I grabbed a cup of mate de coca to try to combat altitude sickness. (It appears I have an allergic reaction to the altitude sickness medication I got in the US, as it was causing my hands and feet to tingle.) The coca leaf acts as a mild sedative that one can chew on or drink before and while in high altitudes. I'm not convinced it works for me, but thought I would be better off to try!

Unfortunately, the mate de coca didn't help me soon enough, and altitude sickness got a hold of me while continuing our journey. With a raging headache, horrible nausea, and a good bout of hot and cold sweats, I was able to fall asleep for a bit. Besides headaches that lasted for the rest of the trip, I felt much better after my nap, but I know I missed a lot of incredible scenery along the way.

Feeling pretty sick, but didn't want to miss an alpaca picture!

We passed through several small towns on the way to and from Colca Canyon. They are apparently 14 of these remote traditional colonial-era villages- quaint dusty towns (several without electricity), that are only distinguished by their beautiful white stone churches. Many women and men wear traditional dress in town, and several are now making a living selling handicrafts to the tourists coming through the area.

The views along the route were incredible! There are terraced agricultural slopes that predate the Incas,  desert landscapes and vegetation, and then the mountains. And lucky for me, I had my new camera from the Ivy Hill community to capture some of the views!

We spent the night in the village of Chivay, which is the main town in the valley. It sits at an altitude of nearly 3,600 m (11,800 ft.). It's a sleepy little town, but had its own beauty nestled in the mountains.

Prepared for the cold evening in Chivay

Pozo del Cielo, a great little hotel in Chivay

In Chivay, we walked around town enjoying the views and the people and animals that were out and about. I decided to hike up to the top of a foothill to see the views from this watchtower. 

Cindy and the Running of the Sheep!

We spent the evening at a great little restaurant that served mostly Peruvian fare. Cindy tried alpaca (which I tried two years ago) and I had spaghetti! (I do attempt to try traditional and local foods, but as a former vegetarian, I still have a few quirky food habits that don't make all the menu items very appealing to me!)

Cindy preparing to try the alpaca. No thank you!

I couldn't eat the alpaca, but I did enjoy a nice

hot local beverage with coca in it, preparing for

the next day's journey to the Condor Cross.

We enjoyed some traditional Peruvian music...

... and Peruvian dancing!

We visited another few villages on the way up to Condor Cross the next morning and made a few new friends along the way!

And on to the grand finale! Cruz del Condor (aka Condor Cross) lookout point is 3,937 feet above the Colca River. We gathered with others at around 9:00 am to look for the Andean Condors that take flight from their cliff perches in the canyon. The Andean Condor is a national symbol of Peru. It is an enormous bird with a wingspan of up to 10.5 feet and it can live for up to 100 years. Incredible! We watched the canyon and ended up seeing condors taking flight about 5 times. They were just beautiful. Here are a few of my favorite pictures!

We hiked around for awhile, exploring the immense canyon, enjoying the views, and breathing in the fresh air.

And to finish off the day, I tried my first cactus fruit- tuna!  I was expecting something bitter, but it didn't have as much flavor as I thought it would have. 

I can't wait to go back and spend some more time hiking through the Colca Valley. Other than the small bit of altitude sickness, it was a great trip!

Being Peruvian

This week, the facilitators of a workshop I was in shared this with us. I had seen it once before, over a year ago, when I had no idea that I would be moving to Peru. The video was great when I first saw it, but it’s even better now that I understand it more and have “been” Peruvian for a few months!

Being Peruvian

Arequipa, the White City

We had a long weekend as a result of the 3^rd annual Summit of South American and Arab Countries group (ASPA), which was held in Lima on Monday and Tuesday. The political leaders of 34 countries gathered in Lima during the Summit- 12 from South America and 22 from Arab nations. About two weeks ago, we learned that Peru's government was shutting down the capital region for the Summit, closing schools, banks, government offices, and financial markets for two days. I can’t say we were too disappointed by the long weekend, and my friend Cindy and I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to travel a bit!

So, we hopped on a plane and took the 1.5 hour flight to Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru, known for its white sillar (porous white volcanic stone) buildings. 

We spent the day walking around the center of the city, with its beautiful colonial style buildings and the Plaza de Armas. 

Not being a bird-lover, I was careful not to get in the way of those who were feeding the masses, but I can appreciate the experience from a distance!

Arequipa is apparently the #1 place in Peru to buy items made from the fur of baby alpaca, vicuna, and other woolen goods. 

Cindy and I each purchased some goods, as we had heard that the area gets very cold in the evenings. 

Making new friends in Arequipa!

We went to the market in search of some type of cucumber extract drink that a colleague had recommended. While we couldn't find that, we did find hundreds of types of Peruvian potatoes and the biggest strawberries I have ever seen. Mmmm!

We also had a chance to order the river shrimp that are so popular in Arequipa. I can't say I enjoyed them too much, but I gave them a try!

We spent a sunny afternoon exploring the beautiful Monestaria de Santa Catalina, a Convent in Arequipa that was founded in 1579 under the Domincan order. It is similar to a small Spanish village in the middle of the city, with its narrow cobblestone streets, buildings of orange, brick red, and cobalt blue, water fountains, etc. Parts of the convent were damaged in an earthquake, but it is restored and even has a small group of nuns who still live there today. 

The trip to Arequipa was a good one, but the highlight was our two-day trip to the Colca Canyon, which our hotel arranged for us. I'll write more about that in another post!

Mistura

Yesterday, I went with a group of friends to Mistura, which is an annual food festival in Lima. Mistura showcases Peruvian ingredients, traditional dishes, etc. from over 350 different parts of Peru, with 54 different restaurants, 70 food carts, and 14 different rustic kitchens. I think Mistura must be similar to Taste of Chicago, which I avoided attending for the 14 years I lived in Chicago. However, I enjoyed Mistura, particularly the bread corner, chocolate corner, and the Pisco and coffee salon. There was a great market area to buy grains, potatoes, veggies, etc. 

 

We didn't try any of them, but you could buy and taste cuy (guinea pig), anticuchos (beef heart), alpaca, and more Peruvian "delights"at Mistura. The line for some type of pork was very long, but my friend and I enjoyed churros and veggie burritos instead!

The official adult beverage of Peru is called the pisco sour. There were hundreds of piscos for smelling, tasting, and buying at Mistura. I even got a tutorial on how to make the very best ones! All of the people working and selling food at Mistura were eager to talk with us and to have us practice our Spanish, etc. 

      

Some people ate a traditional Peruvian food called Pachamanca. It is a mix of meat (beef, pork, chicken and lamb), vegetables (potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans and corn) and other extras like humitas (corn tamales and cheese pastries) that is buried under the ground (dirt) and cooked over hot stones during certain months to celebrate the harvest. The flavors of the warm earth/soil are supposed to make the ingredients even more flavorful.  Pachamanca is typically made in the highlands of the Andes and is reserved especially for religious and community festivities, as well as social celebrations like weddings and birthdays.

There are many, many varieties of potatoes in South America. One website says there are over 3,800 different types in Peru alone. http://preview.tinyurl.com/94ax8ou One of the cool things to see in the markets, and especially at Mistura, were all the different potatoes. 

My favorite food to try at Mistura was a hot drink that tasted like peanut butter... dangerous!

I wish I knew who these people represented, as they were part of the opening ceremony of Mistura 2012. I enjoyed them anyways!

Rubbing Elbows with the Rich and Famous

This evening, I attended a music performance by our Suzuki violin players that was held at another private school in the area. Our students were the second group of performers, and during the intermission as they prepared to play, we heard some people mumbling that the President of Peru was in attendance at the performance. One of my colleagues, who is Peruvian, leaned over to me to let me know that I was sitting in the same row as the President. I laughed, but turned to look, only to discover that President Humala was sitting six seats away. (It turns out, his daughters were also performing in the music festival.) One of the presenters welcomed the President and the audience clapped as he stood to wave. Following their performance, many of our children were able to have their picture taken with the President. Can you imagine having your picture taken with President Obama?! Of course, I couldn't pass up the opportunity either! 

The Big Screen

I went with friends to see a movie tonight- the new Woody Allen Movie, To Rome with Love. It turns out, most of the movies are shown in English here, with Spanish subtitles, which is a great convenience for me! Unfortunately, this movie has some parts in Italian, with Spanish subtitles, where in the US the subtitles would have been in English. I used my minimal Spanish knowledge and the context of the story line to make sense of the movie, and don't think I missed too much!

Riding the Bus

Our school has 20-25 school buses that bring kids to and from school each day. The entire parking lot is filled with them, and kids have about 10 minutes to find their buses and to take a seat on them. I think this board was a great idea. The numbers of the buses are placed on the board in the order of their place in the parking lot line.

Most of the buses are smaller than those we have at Ivy, but students are going to many different locations around Lima. On certain days, the kids ride different numbered buses, based on their after-school activities. There isn't a Park District, so the school community provides activities such as gymnastics, soccer, martial arts, dance, swimming lessons, gardening clubs, arts groups, etc. We have buses that are ready to pick up kids at 2:30, 3:30, 4:30, and 5:30 almost daily.

Here's the great part. There's a bus that can take me home too! Teachers have the opportunity to ride the staff bus at around 4:30 daily as well. Yesterday was my first bus ride home from school. It wasn't too bad, though I will probably end up sticking with the taxi rides to and from school on most days. That trip only costs about $6 each way or $8-$10 for a pre-arranged car ride.