Beware! Contains nudity (sort of): Toyota HiLux and Yura thermal baths

Today was the day that we picked up the car that will hopefully get us around Southern Peru for the next two weeks. We have learned from bitter experience that it pays to get the biggest, sturdiest 4WD available. Suzuki Jimnys are simply not up to the job. So, off we went to Europcar and picked up a beautiful, huge Toyota HiLux.

The pick up of the pick up had to be planned with military precision. Basic things need to be known like whether it is diesel or petrol, how to open the petrol cap and, most importantly, where is the spare tyre. (See last year's entry for Christmas day.)

Also we had to plan the route from the hire car office in central Arequipa back to the hotel. We had already done a partial recce yesterday as Peru, like Chile and Argentina, operates a bewildering one way system in town centres that has no apparent logic. (Actually the same can be said of one-way systems in England sometimes, particularly in Sheffield.)

Just trying to get off the kerb was bad enough as no one wants to give an inch and let you out. But a HiLux is a beast to be reckoned with and Kevin skillfully asserted himself. Leave a metre spare and a Daewoo taxi will be in there like a shot. At junctions we let the mad taxi drivers block the way and dodged out alongside them. We used Daewoos as a kind of human shield. Still we made it back to the hotel, but then had to negotiate the vehicle in to the hotel's "cochera" (parking garage) with a couple of centimetres to spare.

After a cooling off period, we decided to do a short run to get the hang of driving - or rather Kevin did the driving whilst Joan navigated. The destination was the thermal baths at Yura, some 25 kilometres out of town and a "must do" experience.

Miraculously we made it out of town, avoiding crazed cab drivers, mad minibus drivers et al who stop without warning, don't indicate and are a bit horn happy. (Italy comes to mind.) The road rose out of Arequipa. It had tarmac on it, which was a plus! (See Ruta 40, Argentina last year.)

The outskirts of Arequipa were vast swathes of scrubland with half built houses all along the road. The odd suicidal dog would wander out but we're used to these by now.

Towards Yura the roads quietened, and were more relaxing. Yura itself was a small settlement with only one road, yet somehow we missed the baths. A Peruvian granny directed us back to the only hotel in town where the famed baths were.

On arrival, we had to shoo some baby llamas out of our parking space.

At the reception desk we asked for two adults, but the lady insisted that we saw the baths before we paid.

The baths were a rather run down affair. A man showed us in the door only to come across three senior Peruvian ladies in a state of undress in what was meant to be a clothed area! A hasty retreat was made whilst they covered themselves. The ladies thought it was hilarious.

The baths

Inside the baths were four small pools. Each was a different temperature, and had alleged different curative properties.

Pool one shown above was 32 celcius and could help rheumatism, arthritis, obesity (!), skin problems, problems with veins, digestion, respiratory diseases (!), and urinary infections.



Other pools could help with diabetes, nerves, infertility, psychosis, anaemia, as well as fortifying the body and strengthening children.

A genteleman sharing a pool with us advised us that the pool adjacent would help our eyesight.

Actually, to us, there was just a sulphurous smell that went with us when we left the pool. Also whatever was in the water meant that you could float without paddling. Weird.

Eventually we were advised by an attendant that we had stayed too long, so we walked down the stream which fed the baths and found another closed pool. The water in the stream was warm to touch and originates from Volcan Chachani.

On the way back we found what looks like the Peruvian Formula 1 circuit, laid out in the desert.

Puente Fierro, Arequipa

Blogging in the garden

Today was our final day of resting before setting out of the city. Apart from visiting Alpaca World or seeing the "Ice Maiden" - a mummified Inca girl slaughtered on the top of Volcan Ampato - we'd seen much of what there is to see. And those two options didn't seem that appealing,

So we decided to go and look a bridge designed by Gustav Eiffel. To get to it we walked through relatively affluent suburbs, with green clipped lawns and gated gardens.

Crossing roads in Arequipa always poses a challenge as cars seem to come from random directions, but there are controlled crossing points and they tell you how many seconds it will be before you can safely cross.

Another distinctive feature of the city is the old buses and minibuses that drive round the street. Unlike in Santiago de Chile, where they have recently been regulated, these buses are usually ramshackle affairs, with painted signs and conductors hanging out the side doors, calling out where it is going. Usually inside them there is a world record breaking number of passengers crammed in at all angles. The guide book suggested that you could catch one to see some of the sites outside the city, but we passed on that.



Walking down the banks of the River Chili we came across this newly constructed bridge that went nowhere. There was no sign of a road to link up with it. There again, I think there is a flyover that ends in mid-air on the Mancunian Way. Or at least there was in 1985.



Gustav Eiffel's bridge was built in 1882, and at the time was the longest metal bridge in the world at 488 m long. Originally it was a railway bridge but now is used for one way traffic. Joan's dad always describes the top of the Eiffel Tower as being incredibly flimsy. As you can see below, the handrails on this were delicate, to say the least.

Panorama of the bridge

Walking along the bridge was nervewracking as it shook under the weight of traffic.

On the other side there was a truck with a huge loud hailer which we heard a good ten minutes before the vehicle came in sight: "Naranja, manzana, mango, papaya!" It disappeard before we could get a good photo.

After seeing the bridge we walked back to the hotel and ate lunch in the garden with the tortoise. We drank sweetened pineapple juice because you can't get it without sugar and ate teeth-shattering deep fried sweetcorn. In the same shop they were selling biscuits made with coca - that were advertised as a cure all for tiredness, rheumatism and altitude sickness. As we don't fancy getting arrested in Miami for drug smuggling, we left them on the shelf.

Briefly we went into town to fetch provisions, and walked around the Plaza de Armas where everyone congregates. The focal point was a fountain colonised by drinking pigeons.

An ultra restful day was whiled away reading in the garden - a luxury that we never seem to have at home - and a pre-prandial nap. This was nearly a mistake as it was nine thirty when we awoke. Luckily restaurants stay open till late, and we headed back into town. Looking for a Hindu inspired veggie restaurant we ended up in an Italian - Camerones - which was a lot more like a restaurant at home, i.e. not rustic with rickety chairs and dodgy table cloths.

We ate Tocones, which is cheese in a spring roll type pastry, with guacamole, followed by canneloni stuffed with spinach, tomatoes and Jerusalem artichokes. Definitely the best meal by far. Wine in Peru is quite expensive, both in the supermarket and in restaurants. It is higher than prices at home, so we're sticking to bottled lager.

On the way back, loads of bars in windows seemed to have suddenly appeared. They were invisible by day. One had a dummy of Che Guevara in the window, smoking a cigar. But we weren't tempted and went back to bed at midnight.

Arequipa - Yanahuara - Sa Catalina

Flowers in the Monasterio

Entrance to Monasterio Santa Catalina

It starts to get light in Arequipa about 5am, but gets dark about 7pm, even though it is the equivalent of June here. This is because of the proximity to the equator.

We woke up early partly due to the light and partly due to our bodies still being on GMT. Our room is situated on a courtyard, surrounding a lush garden. Like many buildings in Arequipa it is only two storeys high, due to the history of earthquakes in the region. But saying that there are plenty of old buildings about, so they must build them well.

Breakfast was continental style: rolls, jam, very sugary fruit juice and coffee. We took it sat on the lawn in the sunlight. Also on the lawn was the hotel's mascot - a huge tortoise who zooms around the place.

For the first day, we decided to visit the Mirador at Yanahuara, which is said to avail good views of the city's three guardian volcanoes: Chachani,Misti and Pichupichu. Misti is a classic Strombolian volcano, perfectly conical and gives Mt Fuji a run for its money. It's the type of volcano a child would draw.

You can just about make out El Misti

We walked up the busy road alongside the River Chili up to Grau bridge. In a park by the bridge an alpaca was tethered, being used as a lawn mower. You could see perfectly round circles of short grass where she had been tethered on previous days.

The Mirador was not too far, and by it there was a church, again carved out of sillar. Unfortunately we have come in rainy season, and though it was bright and sunny in Arequipa, up in the mountains clouds were gathering and we could only get tantalisingly brief glimpses of El Misti and Chachani through the murk. (This happened last year in Chile too - until one day the cloud broke and there were volcanoes everywhere!)


Behind the Monasterio

We walked back down to the city and decided to visit the Manastario de Santa Catalina. This is a Dominican nunnery that is a city within a city. It still is home to nuns who live in isolation, but the most part of the site is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and open to the public.

Model of the Last Supper

The majority of the site is made up of a labyrynth of nuns cells. These were not single rooms, but three and four roomed dwellings with open kitchens and stairs to the roof.

Seemingly some of the nuns who lived here were rich and had servants, pianos and fine furniture. In a way, the way the nunnery was lain out reminded us a bit of Pompeii with its low buldings and narrow streets.

There was no electricity in the rooms, but all were light with light chimneys in the rooves. The streets were lined with potted geraniums.

We ate lunch in the coffee shop in the middle of the nunnery - omelette and more cheese laden crepes.

In all it took about three hours to explore the site, and its rooms and shaded streets gave some respite from the midday sun.

Exhausted we retreated to the hotel to have a rest and catch up with the blog. In the garden, Kevin managed to catch a brilliant picture of a humming bird as it darted between the flowers.

Once it went dark, we headed back into town for dinner. We ate at Mirador Misti, a rooftop restaurant behind the Cathedral. Kevin opted for pizza whilst Joan chose Rococo vegetariano, which was described as a typical Peruvian dish. The English translation of the dish gave no clue as to what it would be. It tuned out to be a spicy red pepper,filled with carrots and french beans in a bed of strange egg-like sauce and sliced potato. Interesting. It might have been a variation of Papas a la Huancaina which is in our guidebook ("an excellent and ubiquitous snack") and seems to be a staple sauce in Peru.

www.southamericanfood.about.com/od/saladsidedishes/r/huancaina.htm

Monday 27th December - Madrid - Lima - Arequipa

Real ale!

The journey here was pretty straightforwards, though there was a lot of waiting in airports to allow "go wrong" factor.

The flight from Madrid to Lima took twelve hours on quite an old plane so there wasn't the "at seat" TVs to distract us. But we landed in Lima on time and, amazingly, with bags. As we had a five hour wait for our flight on to Arequipa, we ate breakfast in the food court. It was a wheat pancake with cheese, basil and tomato.

Breakfast at Lima

We caught a taxi down to our hotel which is just on the edge of the city centre. Casa da Evila is an old colonial hotel based around a beautiful courtyard, lush with blooming plants and trees.

Our hotel

After freshening up we went on a recce of the city centre. Many of the buildings are made of white volcanic sillar, a feature Arequipa is famed for.

Palace of Justice

Iglesia y claustros de la compania

Sucre Street

The heart of the city is the Plaza de Armas, dominated by the cathedral.

The square was buzzing with people, and we were bemused to see so many apparent families sat on benches holding old typewriters. None of the guide books tell you about this.

Daewoo cab

Also a distinctive feature not mentioned is the huge number of yellow taxi cabs - all the same make - Daewoo - and in different states of repair. They were like bees round a hive, buzzing in and out and narrowly missing each other. The road junctions were chaotic, with no apparent give way. A bit like Rome! We adopted the method of crossing where locals crossed.

Shops

Around the Plaza there were many streets,narrow and filled with shops. In one area there must have been over ten opticians all next to one another. They were all small without windows and cave like inside. Other shops sold chaotic piles of books, and a myriad of strange things, like a specialist spring shop.

Everywhere that you walked there were delicious smells. Fruit shops piled high with some of the biggest pineapples and papayas that we have ever seen could be smelt doors away. In the restaurant streets, there was a mouthwatering perfume of spices and herbs. (Hopefully not the local delicacy of roasted guinea pig on a stick.)

On every street, vendors hawked their wares - sweets, Andean art, a lady pushing the skeleton of a child's pushchair selling cigarettes. There were stands selling local food. And, as we said, there were the strange groups with typewriters!

Being vegetarian always poses a challenge when traveling, but in Arequipa there seemed to be plenty of restaurants offering meat-free fayre. Crepes, risotto, pasta, pizza, curries, goulash. We stopped in a passageway at the rear of the Cathedral, and Kevin was delighted to find that Old Speckled Hen was on the menu. We could not resist!

Joan had the national drink - a Pisco Sour, made with Pisco, lime, egg white, sugar and nutmeg. Divine!

Pisco Sour

After a short rest back at the hotel, we ate out early. The locals don't begin to eat until way after nine, but our body clocks were telling us it was midnight at 7 in the evening. We ate more crepes, filled with spinach,brocolli and cheese with papas fritas (chips to you). It was in a small courtyard with umbrellas. The evening was cooler but still warm enough to sit out with a cardigan.

About 9.30 we walked back through the still busy streets to our hotel. Below is a video of the Plaza de Armas.