Mi Primer Viaje al Sur! My First Trip to the South!

Wow! I have not blogged in awhile! Where to start... How about my trip to the south of Peru?! With the other Rotary exchange students (there are nearly 40 of us), I visited Arequipa, Colca, Tacna, and Arica-- all departments/ cities in the south of Peru and in Chile. This trip was absolutely beautiful and fun! Since the trip is the bulk of news I have to share, I will give a day-by-day layout of the trip!

Friday, September 28th
At 5pm we boarded buses to take a 16-hour ride to Arequipa. That was a pretty long night! I felt sick as we winded up mountainsides! My stomach was in my throat and my ears were clogged! I could feel the altitude change! Because Arequipa is located in the Andes Mountains, it has an altitude of 2,335 meters (7,661 ft)! But finally, we arrived in Arequipa! Before my trip I was unsure what to pack because I did not know what to expect. One of the trip supervisors told us what to pack, which included hiking shoes, winter coat with mittens and a hat, swim suits, and mid-year season clothes. Not to mention, we had to bring all of our toiletries including towels and toilet paper. On top of all this, we were told not to pack big suitcases! You should never give a girl a limitation on how much she can pack! My host family told me it would be very cold in the south since we would be in the mountains. So naturally, I packed mostly pants and sweaters, a couple pairs of capris, and one pair of soccer shorts (just in case). The second I stepped of the bus in Arequipa I felt that I had packed incorrectly for the trip. The sun was beating down and it was so hot! I immediately started sweating, of course because I was wearing pants! As the day would go on though it would cool off. By night Arequipa was pretty chilly. Fortunately, we were only in Arequipa for a could days, long enough for my capris to last me! But I found that I changed several times during the day just to feel comfortable according to the weather.

Arequipa!

Saturday, September 29th
We arrived in Arequipa around 9:30 a.m. We didn't waste any of our time! We dropped our things off at a hostel and started our day right away! Here are some snapshots of what we did!

Tour of Santa Catalina Convent!

Plaza de Armas (Downtown)

We also visited the Museum of Juanita's Mummy, but we were not allowed to take pictures. There we saw the remains of an Inca sacrifice to the mountain gods. This sacrifice was a 14-year-old girl whose remains were found on the mountainside of Volcano Misti (Volcano in Arequipa) and have been well-preserved due to the snow and ice of the volcano. The mummy has been named Juanita. I really like visiting the museum. We not only learned about a mummy found in Arequipa, but learned about Inca culture, too! 

Sunday, September 30th

We took a big tour of the city all day! We also got to try queso helado (cheese ice cream). This is a specialty of Arequipa. The ice cream is delicious! It doesn't actually taste like cheese, it only looks like it. I could really feel the altitude this day as we climbed stair after stair. I felt so exhausted after only a flight of 20 steps! I couldn't even take a complete, deep breath! 

These are three of my closest friends from exchange! I love these girls! 

Monday, October 1st

We made our way to Chivay, Colca. I started my day off taking high-altitude sickness pills because I knew it would be worse in Chivay (altitude = 3,635 m or 11,926 ft). We drove to Chivay through the mountains. We got a closer look at three major mountains: Volcano Misti, Chachani, and Pichu Pichu! We even passed through a higher point of altitude of nearly 5,ooo meters! We also got to see many llamas, alpacas, and vicunas (related to the llama). I would say I'm an expert now at distinguishing between the three haha! In Chivay, we swam a naturally heated bath, too! 

Alpacas!

The beautiful mountain landscape! 

Las Termas del Agua Caliente! It was like a big bath haha!

The music from the mountains is so pretty! Guitars, flutes, and drums are incorporated in the music, and an interesting, but beautiful sound and rhythm is produced! We got to listen to this band while we ate dinner. We also saw the traditional dances that went along with the songs!

 Highest point of our travel! We weren't allowed to run around haha! 

 Mate de coca (tea made from cocaine leaves). In the mountains this is drank as a remedy for the high-altitude sickness. 

We saw many stacks of rocks like this on our way to Chivay. These little rock towers are made for the Inca mountain gods as an offering. People often make wishes while constructing the rock towers, too. 

My packing had finally paid off! I was glad I packed cold-weather clothes because it was very cold in the mountains the next couple of days!

Tuesday, October 2nd

We woke up at 4a.m. for breakfast! We had to get up early in time to see condors flying through a canyon in the mountains. After seeing one condor... we got on a bus and drove for 9 hours to our next town, Corire. 

All the American kids at the top of the canyon/ condor crossing!

Wednesday, October 3rd

Oh, Wednesday... I will always remember this day. On Wednesday we went to Majes River (a river in Corire) do to white water rafting. First, we went to a lodge where lunch would be served. The lodge was owned by the company that did white water rafting for tourists. Usually, the tourist company would take groups of eight down a mountainside by vehicle to the river where the rafting was done. The rest of the group would wait at the lodge where water, food, and shade was available. The company created this system because they only had one raft for everyone to use. I am sure they are not used to getting a group of 40 foreigners at once. When we arrived at the lodge, it was very chilly and the sun hadn't even come out. So of course, no one thought to put on sunblock. We had no idea how buggy it would be at the river, so repellent was ever so lightly applied. We were also told to wear sandals since we would be in a raft in a river. Our tour guide (separate from the rafting company) had the bright idea to take all of the students down at once, thinking it would be faster. So here were 40 students without sunblock, bug spray, water, or food descending down a mountainside by foot in flip-flops! As you can imagine, this did not start of my day too well. When we got down to the river our tour guide then realized that there was only one raft. All of us coming down at once was a major mistake! There were five groups of eight kids. And of course, I was in the last group. Every round of rafting took a good hour to hour and a half. As the day went on the sun came out and was shining bright. The amount of bug bites my friends and I had seemed to exponentially increase by the hour too. Long story short. My friends and I had spent a total of 7 HOURS in the sun without sunblock, bug spray, water, or food! I could feel myself getting sick from dehydration. So I finally stepped up and said something to one of the trip supervisors. I demanded that my group get water! At this point, it was just my group down at the river while everyone else who was finished was eating lunch and relaxing in the shade at the lodge. After explaining and arguing many times in Spanish with the tour guide, I finally got water for my group. Many of the other exchange students were very generous in donating money for me to buy water for me and 9 other people as well as providing sun block and bug spray! When I returned with water to the river one of my friends could barely stand she felt so sick! After we rehydrated a little it was finally my group's turn to raft. It was really fun!! But I'm not sure I can say it was worth the wait. This day had many outcomes: sunburn, generosity of friends, and learning how to solve problems (especially in another language). I still look pretty sunburnt to this day haha! All of my classmates continue to ask me what happened!

My group of friends after a very long day in the sun!

Finally getting to raft!

After rafting, we were rushed through eating lunch and barely had time to change out of our wet clothes. We had to get to a bus terminal to make our way to Tacna. We left around 6p.m. and arrived at our hotel at 5a.m. We had to wake up in four hours to start our next day!

Thursday, October 4th

Thursday we had entire morning of free time, so my friends and I checked out the market! We got to see a lot of cool clothes, hats, scarves, bags, and other cool mountain merchandise! Afterwards, we had a city tour. We visited an archaeological museum where we saw ancient inscriptions on rocks!

Friday, October 5th

We spent an entire day in Arica, Chile. Arica is a department that Peru lost to Chile in a border war. For this reason, Peru has a lot of tension towards Chile. While in Arica, we visited the downtown, some churches, and the beach! It was a very beautiful day in Arica! 

Arica!

The beach!

Plaza de Armas! (Downtown)

Saturday, October 6th

We woke up early to head to other small towns (comparable to just communities) in Tacna. We visited Tarata and Ticaco. We got to see how simple life is lived in the Andes mountains. We also hiked an Inca Trail. We stayed the night in Ticaco. Unfortunately, I don't have many photos for this day. 

Sunday, October 7th

We swam in another thermal bath in Ticaco. Afterwards, we headed to another city in Tacna for our bus terminal. We were homebound. 

Monday, October 8th

After 26 hours in the bus, we had finally returned home in Lima at 8p.m. After dinner with my family and unpacking, I went right to sleep! I was exhausted!!

I had an amazing time on the trip! I saw some of the most beautiful landscaping ever! I also made great memories and friends! My next trip is to Cusco, Puno, and Madre de Dios. This is the trip where I will visit Macchu Picchu! This is coming up very soon-- November 8th! I cannot wait! I know it will be a blast!

Well, that's all I have for you for now! Until next time, chaufa! Besitoooos!