The Sunday after our hike in the Colca Canyon we woke up at 8am, stiff and just a little sore in the quads unsurprisingly. Steps up and down were a little challenging. Over the course of the day we ran into our fellow trekkers and learned that despite their youth they were similarly sore and hobbled.
After our usual breakfast of rolls and coffee we headed down to the bus station to buy our tickets to Cuzco. We took one of the literally thousands of Daewoo Tico taxis that swarm the streets of Arequipa for the 15 minute ride through the back roads of the city. We bought our tickets from Chromotex, picking seats 4-6 on the sleeping deck!
Another 15 minute taxi ride later we were at the Mercado de Santa Camilla, the locals market that was heaving, it was Sunday afterall. The market was wonderful, avenues of chicken, fruits, cheese, meat, fruit juice squeezed to order (we had mango, melon and papaya in descending order of deliciousness). We lunched at a wonderful, tiny in-market restaurant on the second level. We indulged in adobo (heavily spiced pork stew), a lamb soup (local specialty apparently) and what was billed as chicharrones but in reality was big hunks of meaty pork, fried to a crisp served with potatoes, yucca and a salad. Now bear in mind this was 12:30pm and we had our cooking class at 3pm!
We wandered around Arequipa trying desperately to work off our lunch but all too soon it was 3pm and we found ourselves at the cooking school where Maria was quite impressed with our timeliness. Our chef, Lourdes, gave us each a copy of the recipes we had chosen along with a history of each. She and Maria were laughing as they told us this was a tasting menu locally known as an Americano since it was a little bit of everything and yet “everything” is unrelated from a local point of view,i.e., they would never be served that way.
We spent the next happy four hours cooking our dishes (ceviche, rocoto relleno, quinoa batida and chaufa de quinoa and cuy). The class was a lot of fun, all in Spanish which I translated for the most part so Graham could be included. As we were working we had this sinking feeling that there was going to be an awful lot of food by the time we were done and we were right. There was enough food for 8 people and we were only 3 plus our 2 teachers. The food was delicious if I do say so myself.
Waddling home at 7pm we came across the the Norwegians stuffing themselves with crepes in preparation for their trek the next day to the top of the local 6000+m peak, Chachani. Graham and I had beers while chatting with them, of course. They looked longingly at the beers but since their trek was the next day and going to serious altitude there was a strict no alcohol rule, lol.
Monday was a casual day, packing, eating yet again: very nice locals restaurant with enormous portions as usual – how the locals aren’t enormously fat is beyond us. Darcie had developed an abscessed tooth so she went back to the hotel to call her dentist back in the US and Graham and I took up a lounging position at a wine bar looking over la Iglesia de la Compania. We happily whiled away the rest of the day, drinking a locally produced cabernet.
We arrived at the bus station at 8pm, joined the milling throng of mostly locals waiting for the various overnight buses to places like Lima, Nazca and of course Cuzco. We piled on, checked out our comfy seat-beds and inhaled our dinners provided by our stewardess and turned in for the night. The ride was essentially uneventful except for a 3am visit by the police. We assume they were police anyway since we weren’t robbed but merely admonished to keep a close eye on our stuff since it was very easy for someone to sneak into our cabin and rifle our belongings if we were asleep.
6:30am saw us blearily stepping off our bus and taking a taxi into town. Our hotel, Suecia 1 was a few steps off the Plaza de Armas turned out to be shut for renovations, a notice not put on their website nor communicated to me when I had phoned the day before. We were directed to Suecia 2 around the corner which turned out to be a rundown, dusty dive (but the beds were comfy and clean). We stayed for just one night and relocated to Rumi Punku, a swank hotel up the hill a ways. So swank they have a spa.
We spent the rest of the day wandering around,sorting out our Machu Pichu trek, enjoying the sights, the amazing views out over the city from various high points and periodically shopping. The local co-op shop has really fantastic weavings, all made by hand in various local communities with alpaca wool dyed with natural dyes.
Friday at 4am we head off for 5 days of hiking in the mountains on the Salkantay trail with United Mice! The highest point of our hike will be Day 1 with a pass at 15,000ft (4600m). Wish us luck.
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