Arequipa and Nazca (27 May to 2 June 2008)
This time we were not going to suffer from insomnia due to the freezing temperatures on the bus. With our -10 degrees sleeping bags in hand, we boarded the bus from Cuzco to Arequipa. A mere 10 hours later we arrived in Arequipa, as well rested as one could expect to be after a long night on the bus. A very ‘helpful’ taxi driver took us to the hostel he thought would be best for us. We were too tired to even try to argue with him and we gladly accepted his assistance.
We checked into the hostel and made a beeline for a breakfast joint. In the search for an eatery, we also had an introduction to this beautiful town. Arequipa is set in the southern parts of Peru, close to the deepest canyon in the world - the Colca Canyon, with the Rio Chili running right through town. This was the town where we were going to do some white water rafting and maybe spot some condors.
On the way to breakfast, we popped into a couple of other hostels just to find that we have been totally ripped off by our current hostel. We were paying way too much for far too little! When we arrived back at our hostel, we tried our luck to see if we could get a refund on our early payment and check out of there. But to no avail, even though our things had only been in the room for about 20 minutes, they refused to refund our payment. So we had no choice but to sleep there for at least one night. Two lessons learnt here: 1. Never let a taxi driver take you to one of his ‘preferred’ hostels. And 2. Never pay upfront for accommodation. These are two lessons that we actually knew before hand, but due to our laziness, we opted to ignore them.
To make matters worse, when unpacking our things, we realised that we forgot our laptop’s power cable in the luggage storeroom in Cuzco. A full R120 and a lot of time later, we had the cable delivered to our hostel. Because of all the time we spent on organising the return of our power cable (sounds like a Star Wars title - The Return of the Power Cable) we didn’t do much on our first day in Arequipa. So on day two, we had to make up for lost time.
Eon went on a hostel search and the charms of the lady at Casa Blanca were too strong for him to resist. This hostel was way out of reach for our budget, but we just managed to persuade ourselves that it was good value for money. So we ended up in a stunning old colonial building with ultra-modern furniture, living room and a deliciously hot shower. We even had wi-fi and cable TV! We reckoned that it was about time that we splurged a bit, seeing that we are currently on about double our budget
Because we wanted to get as much value for our Soles (Peruvian currency - not to be confused with the bottom of a shoe) as possible, we did a quick Arequipa walking-tour. We first visited the very impressive Monasterio de Santa Catalina - occupying a massive 20 square feet, this city-within-a-city dates back to 1580. We meandered through the maize of passageways and staircases and took way to many flower photos. Then we strolled around the Plaza de Armas and satisfied a long-awaiting yearn for spareribs at the Ribs Cafe. After stocking up on snacks at the local supermarket, it was off to our little haven - Casa Blanca.
We left our lazy bones in bed the following morning, because this day was going to be an excitement-stacked day! We were going to do some river rafting down the Rio Chili with its class IV rapids. For the non-rafting experts, there are basically five levels for rafting, with I being the easiest and V for almost crazy folks. So attempting a class IV was pretty scary! We set off to the river with seven other scared but excited first-timers. Eon and I were the only ones out of the entire group who have done some sort of rafting before, so the rest of the group were expecting to see some ‘moves’ from us…no pressure! Cusipata Rafting was on top of their game and provided us with a proper briefing and equipment and then it was into the freezing waters. At first we struggled a bit with the “lefts and rights” but when our team finally figured out where the real left was, everything was hunky dory and we were set to go.
Two hours later (with Eon being the only one who fell out of the raft - and nearly got crashed between a rock and the raft) we were safely on dry land. Our raft did not overturn and we sailed down the class IV rapid and three meter drop like professionals. It was an absolute thrill!
Our last day in Arequipa was a super lazy one. We took a taxi to the mall and were very surprised by the modern shops and cinema. We splurged (again!) - this time on movie tickets for the new Indiana Jones with popcorn and all! And later that evening we took the overnight bus to Nazca. For those of you who saw the movie - remember the Nazca lines they referred to? Well, these are the very same lines we were going to see in Nazca. Pretty exciting!
There is absolutely nothing to write about the dusty little town of Nazca. In short, we arrived in Nazca at 5am, hastily grabbed our things and jumped off the bus that was to continue to Lima. And in our haste, we left our brand new Lonely Planet for Ecuador (our next destination) on the bus. We realised it within minutes of disembarking and we asked one of the Cruz del Sur employees at the bus station to phone the bus driver and ask him to leave our book at the ticket office in Lima. And would you believe - the book was already missing! There went R260 down the drain 
We checked into a hostel, took a little nap and then set off to find a reputable agency for booking our flight over the Nazca lines. A full $100 later we were set to fly over the lines the next morning at 8am. And then Murphy’s Law kicked in - the weather was horrible the next morning. It was cold and overcast and the tour operator said we had to come back at 13:00 to see if the weather would clear up. It was not that we would not be able to see anything in the bad weather; it was more a safety issue. The small three-seater planes were not able to fly in bad conditions and there was a fatal accident just a month before.
The sun finally appeared and we lined up at the small airport. First we were shown a one hour video of the lines - mostly speculation on their meaning. Spread across 500 sq kilometres of arid rock and sand, the Nazca lines is one of the world’s greatest archaeological mysteries. There are 300 geometric geoglyphs and about 70 spectacular animal and plant drawings. The lines are thought to be from about 900 BC. When at ground level, it is almost impossible to see these figures and it was only when a Peruvian archaeologist flew over this area, that he spotted the figures. At first he thought that the lines were used as an irrigation system, but on further investigation all sorts of explanations came to light. The one I think is most believable is that the ancient Nazca cultures made the lines as a communication medium with their gods, praying for water in this very dry area.
Our pilot took us through a short induction - how to fasten the seatbelt, how to close the doors of the plane, how to spot the figures below….not your average safety speech Did I mention that our pilot was an absolute looker?! The flight was only 30 minutes long, but it was 30 minutes of wonder. The lines were much clearer and bigger than we expected them to be. The flight was a very bumpy one and we were relieved to be back on solid ground. Our faces may have been a bit on the white side, but we were still walking on air from this awesome experience.
Click on the image below to view the gallery for Arequipa and Nazca: