You Go Nate!

SOUTH AMERICAN ADVETURES - Week 2

On Monday we enjoyed another relaxing day in the beach resort town of Arica, on Chile´s northern border. We went to the beach, played in the water and made sand castles.

On Tuesday we took a train (one of the few still running regularly in South America) to the Southern Peruvian town of Tacna where we promptly caught a six-hour bus to the town of Arequipa, Peru.



Arequipa is Peru´s second largest city and somewhat better off than most other Peruvian cities. It´s a very pleasant city at the foot of the great Misti Volcano (which we never saw because there was always a thick haze in the air because of the climate.) It had a very nice main square.





The next day we began our two-day tour of the Colca Canyon region of Peru. We boarded a bus full of Brazilians, Germans and a few other Peruvians and drove past some interesting rock formations and I got touched by a giant hand.





We passed small herds of wild vicuña. Once almost hunted to extinction for their fine wool, they are now a somewhat common site in the Peruvian countryside.


We also passed herd after herd of llama...

...And alpaca.

That evening we were able to visit the hot springs, which was nice for relaxing.

That night we had dinner and a show with live folk music and dancing.

The next day we boarded the bus again and headed deeper into the Colca Valley. We stopped at a small town where they put on a small dance number and sold stuff.

I got to hold an owl and a hawk. It was my lucky day.

We continued on into the valley where there were beautiful farms and terraces against imposing cliffs and snow-capped mountains with the great river running deeper and deeper below us.

Finally we made it to the famous lookout point into Colca Canyon. This canyon is the second deepest canyon in the world. (The first is just a few miles away but much less accessible.) It is over 10,000 feet deep.

We ran into several chinchila-like animals whose name I´ve forgotten.

And of course, this place is most famous for being an excellent location for spotting the great Andean Condors in flight. We were fortunate enough to see four of them flying righ over our heads.

We returned that night to Arequipa and the next day we were able to have a pleasant brunch out in the town square before heading off to the airport.

We took a plane to Lima where we waited for eight hours in the airport before catching a plane to Iquitos, Peru´s largest city on the Amazon. It is also the world´s largest city that can´t be reached by road. Only planes and boats carry people and goods to the city (making things just a little bit more expensive). Our hostal isn´t far from the Great River and it´s fun to look out and see this massive waterway named after the famous website.

Iquitos is quite different from Cusco or any of the other places we´ve been. The people here are very friendly and treat you like they´ve known you for years. Now, this is Latin America and Alana and Tammie have always had to put up with occasional cat-calls and "elevator eyes" from the men, whether in Cusco or La Paz. However it is exceptionally bad here. I even got a couple of cat-calls from some girls! That said, I still enjoy the easy-going "river attitude" of this place.

There are a great variety of buildings and architecture here, including another church designed and built by Gustav Eiffel.

Great run-down mansions left over from the days of the rubber-boom around the turn-of-the-century.

And of course, poor shacks built on stilts along the banks of the Amazon itself.

That night while the girls stayed in the room and watched TV I went off exploring the town. It was like a carnival in the Main Square and along the plaza next to the river. There were small shows being put on all over the place, including this one involving a small dog and a spider monkey.

Also... the Amazonian snake dance!

This guy was out juggling fire on the crosswalk in front of the Eiffel Church.

On Sunday we went to church nearby. Iquitos actually has a large population of LDS with 16 meeting houses.

After church we went to one of the most peculiar restaurants in Peru. It´s called the "Famous Texas Rose" and it was started by a rich Texas businessman, Gerald, who, after traveling the world, decided to settle down in Iquitos and start a Texan/Amazonian restaurant. As we walked over to check it out Gerald was there and invited us in and started to tell us all about his restaurant. There are trinkets and knick-knacks of all kinds hanging around like a museum - everything from Texas license plates to huge crocodile skulls.

Of course I just had to order the Alligator Nuggets made from real Alligator brought in by the natives. It was excellent.

He also has a game room in the back with shuffleboard, darts, a plasma screen TV showing ESPN and this South American game called "Frog" where you try to throw coins into a frogs mouth and various holes around the frog.

On Sunday I also got to hold this sloth. It´s a great animal because it feels like the animal is always giving you a hug.

So that´s it for now. This week: more jungle fun!