Colca Canyon
Today didn’t work out quite to plan. We were up early at 06.30. Tourist buses arrive around 07.30, so we wanted to up before they arrived. Our deserted camping spot, soon became a hive of visitors. Everyone lining up at a viewing point over the canyon, waiting for the condors to fly.
Lines spread all along the canyon side
Finding a comfortable rock to sit on beside the canyon, we waited patiently. By 10.00 we had seen just one sole condor soaring on the thermals in the distance. Many English voices were heard passing our rock, some we interacted with. I have now seen precisely two condors, better than none at all. Although the one this morning was further away, with binoculars it could be easily seen. We had planned to get to Arequipa today and to arrive by mid-afternoon, so we couldn’t wait around any longer hoping more condors might turn up. We will never know if more appeared after we departed. There is no set time for them to fly.
The drive to Arequipa took us up high. Almost up to 5,000 meters. We stopped at a viewing point which overlooked a number of volcanoes, some of which were well over 6,000 meters. The scenery could only be described as desolate. Extremely dry and barren.
Traffic Jam.
After stopping for some lunch, we hadn’t been back on the road long before traffic came to a full stop. A complete surprise as our ascent had been traffic free. We could see ahead for several kilometres and there was a continuous queue. Traffic coming towards us was just as endless. Mostly trucks, tourist minibuses and buses. We were still about 70 Kms from Arequipa.
It was a horrible ride. Stopping and starting with crazy overtaking, once there was a break in the heavy incoming traffic. A variety of causes, some road works, an accident and just the volume of heavy trucks crawling up the steep gradients or crawling down around the hairpin bends. Very slow going.
Arequipa
The population of the metropolitan area of Arequipa is just under a million. It seems a vast, sprawling, dusty city with the worst traffic we have come across. So far, in South America.
It was 16.40 before we arrived at the Mercedes Hotel. iOverlander advised the hotel had a garden and allowed overlanders to camp there. It’s the only camping in Arequipa. Pulling up at the large gates it looked very promising. I rang the door bell and the gate was opened automatically. Inside was a large, grassy area, enclosed behind walls providing shelter from the traffic noise. Great, I thought.
A gentleman was watering the gardens and I went and asked him if we could camp for the night. No camping he said, very adamantly. I asked him why not, but couldn’t understand his response. He directed me to the receptionist, who advised that a group of campers had reserved the space for the weekend.
I asked if we took a room could we come in and be securely parked. She, somewhat reluctantly, agreed. Again, once we had Poki inside, I asked if we could camp as we would be gone in the morning, but no she was equally adamant that we could not.
The hotel is an old, characterful building. We have a large, very high ceilinged room with creaky floor boards and shuttered windows. It is all very quaint and old fashioned.
We were feeling exhausted after such a tiring journey. Being located only about 10 minutes walk from the Plaza de Armas, the main square, we decided we would walk there and find a restaurant. All the old colonial towns have a large central square, usually called the Plaza de Armas.
The outskirts of the city were certainly not remotely attractive, but the square was lovely. Surrounded by old, colonial buildings. Just getting dark the lights were coming on and it was very pretty. Finding a restaurant with a typical Peruvian menu, we had a quick dinner and then back to the hotel to catch up with the blogs.
Yesterday, while talking to the Brazilian couple, Debora and Emerson, on the way to Colca Canyon, they advised us they had avoided Bolivia because of its current problems. Protests, road blocks and diesel shortages, it only being available on the black market.
I put a request for current information on the Pan American Overlanders Facebook group page. Responses confirmed there are issues in some areas and there are fuel shortage problems. These are due to the Bolivian government running out of foreign currency reserves to import fuel and maintain the subsidy system. We have to plan how we visit Bolivia very carefully.
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