Checking out at 3:00 AM. Again

Hey everyone! Just wanted to give an update on Jenny and I´s whereabouts! We are leaving tomorrow morning on another trek through Colca Canyon.

We arrived in Arequipa from Cusco yesterday morning after a ten hour ¨red eye¨ bus ride.  We chose to ride on Cruz Del Sur, which is considered one of the high-end bus lines in Peru.  Sure, it was a little pricier than we initially thought it would be, but the semi-reclining seats and TV dinner image on the brochure looked appealing.  After eating our mini chicken and rice dinner and watching a Spanish movie, we eventually drifted into an awkward sleep cycle, trying to get comfy and trying to stay warm with the tiny little complimentary blankets.  When we awoke at sunrise, we paid for having closen front seats on the second story of the bus.  We were forced to watch our bus weaving in and out of curvy steep highways, honking and passing dangerously close to smaller and slower vechicles around sharp corners. For my friends who know that I get scared easily in the passenger seat (Nate) you can imagine what was going through my mind. You eventually learn to just give up control and hope the driver knows what he´s doing.   We thanked God that we had been asleep and in the dark for most of the ride.  Once the bus pulled up to the terminal, we were grateful that we went with that particular company instead of another, for we made it alive! 

After we got off the bus, we chose one of the taxi men at the bus terminal to take us to our hostel we had booked. We settled in and just walked around the city most the day.  We shopped, booked some bus rides, and also booked our 2 nights/3 days Colca Canyon trek.  The Salkantay and Machu Picchu trek was still lingering in our minds, but we knew it would be worth it. Oh yes, may I also mention that there are many fine dining options here?  There is a mouth watering crepe restaurant that we´ve visited twice already, the chicken pesto is amazing.  Selecting where to eat our next meal has become an extremely important task to me- I´ve noticed this upon our return from the Salkantay trek.  I´m sure Jenny would agree.  We both can´t wait to prepare our own meals once we get back home.

We also got to see Juanita, the famous frozen Incan mummy.  We paid for a tour, watching a short film on how they discovered this young girl and what they believed happened to her.  It was really interesting to have seen some of the landscapes they showed in the film and to have already visited some of the cities they believed she had originated from.  It is widely believed that Juanita was sacrificed in a sacred mountain to please the Gods.  She was between 12-14 years when she died, and they have determined from CAT scans that she was killed from a fracture to the skull.  Jenny and I could see the small hole in her forehead where she was hit.  It was unreal to see this famous mummy up close, kept in a cold see through freezer box.  She appeared so tiny to Jenny and I, as she was curled up the in the fetal positon so tightly. Most of the Peruvian people we have seen are also very small in stature.  We got to see some of the fabrics she was discovered in, there was darkened blood on the fabric that had covered her face.  After seeing Machu Picchu and seeing Juanita, it´s given me a good sense of how seriously the Incan empire took their beliefs.  In other words it was fun to learn a bit about the history. 

Arequipa is a beautiful place from what we've seen so far. Many of the buildings, especially around the main plaza are made of sillar, which is a pearly white volcanic rock.  Arequipa has the nickname ¨The White City.¨ From our hostel´s window, we can see the snow capped volcano that overlooks the city.  Jenny and I have visited numerous coffee shops on the balconies of some of the large buildings around the plaza, enjoying coffee and creamy cappuccinos.  It is a great place to people watch and safely observe the daily protests in the streets.  Yesterday the workers were marching around the plaza with whistles, signs, horns,  and fist pumping chants.  Jenny and I couldn´t understand what they were saying, but we are assuming it has to do with pay and/or working conditions of the workers.  Today there was a senior citizen march around the plaza.  

From up on one of the balconies, Jenny and I witnessed a transaction between two elderly men in the street of the plaza. A man  running an ice cream stand traded a cone in turn for a piece of bread to a man who was carrying a large bag around the plaza.  It happened very fast and it was humbling to see people trade like that, without money.  Jenny and I are getting pretty good at saying ¨No gracias¨ to the many vendors and people in the street with pamplets.  The people can be quite pushy at times, trying to get your attention pretty much all the time either through talking loudly in your ear, walking along side, or pushing the pamplets on you.  One man who was begging for money hooked one of his long fingers in my elbow, startling me.  Even though it can get annoying at times, I try to remember that this is what these people have to do in order to provide for themselves and their families.  Not everyone in this world is privileged enough to travel, and I have to be mindful of the situations these people are in.  

Anyways, have to head to bed! We are setting our alarm clocks for 2:30am sharp to be picked up for our trek tomorrow.  Wish us luck!