Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Arequipa to Colca Lodge - Wed., Oct. 18

Up a little after 7, we were on the early side for our second hot breakfast at Los Andes B&B in Arequipa before packing up and stumbling our way towards our hotel outside of Yanque, which itself is outside of Chivay, a three-hour bus ride. We took a taxi to the station, bumbled toward the terminal, and immediately found a respectable and English-speaking information booth. 

The staff member there was wonderful. He confirmed my knowledge - that a bus to Chivay was the best and cheapest way - but added something I didn't know. Yanque doesn't have many taxis. All the towns, as small as three-block Paracas, had drivers honking at us to ride with them. Chivay had more, and our hotel was not walkable, even from Yanque. 

Ok, so a taxi all the way there from Arequipa directly sounded tempting, but expensive ($90 for over three hours - expensive for Peru). We could take the bus for $10 each then a taxi for another $5 each instead. Great. 

He also worked with us to buy tour tickets to see Condor Crossing with a tour group the next day. They would pick us up at 6:40 in Yanque at the main town square, and we'd continue on with them for the day. Great - paid for and done. 

He walked us to the bus departure two blocks away, but there we discovered the next bus was full and it'd be over an hour to wait. Oma wasn't happy with that, so they called other bus companies and found us seats to Chivay on another bus in fifteen more minutes. 

The bus attendant from the second station then walked us to our actual bus, and we got two back seats after shoving our luggage in the small back compartment. The bus held 15, but had two extra seats when we left, so Oma moved up to the single window seat in front of me to let the family with a lap-sitting child spread out. 

We picked up another passenger on the way, but I was never forced to squeeze. The three-year-old (Oma asked his age, and I used my small vocabulary to translate) and his dad sang a counting song about elephants as our driver tried to avoid traffic by going down side streets full of dust and construction in a non-air conditioned bus. Not the best thirty minutes of the drive.

We stopped at a final outpost on the edge of Arequipa, and the two women in native garb (mostly just their hair and bedazzled cowboy hats) hopped out to get fruit from the stands while other peddlers poked their heads and wares in to drum up business. 

We also picked up a conductor, who found that other rider by yelling "Chivaychivaychivay" out the half open door. We dropped her off maybe half an hour later at another outpost. Maybe she just hops on the next bus for this company returning to Arequipa?

We were driving along, and I told Oma that on our side of the van was a nature reserve, according to my map. Not five minutes later, she tries to point out something to me as it zooms by - a "deer with a long neck." Ok, an alpaca, they are kind of like cows in their ubiquity in the high altitudes. 

Not a minute later I see a sign: "Zona Vicuñas" - "zone of vicuñas", which just happen to be alpacas smaller, wild cousin. Now I was on the lookout too! 

The next hour flew by as we spotted small herds of the mostly brown animal (with a cute white kerchief) off in the distance, blending into the scrub. Every five minutes or so, we'd spot another, but towards the end, llama and alpaca herds started cropping up and confusing Oma, who assumed those were sheep instead unless they had their heads up from grazing. She started asking them to stop drinking as we drove by creeks so she could tell if it was an alpaca or a sheep. 

We got to the very edge of Chivay, and someone on the bus asked if we needed a collectivo (a minibus) to the center of town. Instead, we asked about a taxi, and a local perked up his ears and offered us a ride as a taxi. His truck was not a certified taxi, but it was clean and he seemed to know where Colca Lodge was, so off we went in the back seat of some strange, old man's truck (sorry Mark).

It was not even 15 minutes to Yanque. We left the town square and headed down to the canyon. He pointed out Colca Lodge on the other side of the canyon and river - idyllic grounds, green, with round blue hot spring pools and thatched roof houses. Very excited to be there as soon as possible!

However, the way the crow flies and the car drives are very different. We headed down on a switchback the opposite direction, crossed the car bridge around the next bend, then started a jostling ten minutes on a mostly gravel road, with more rocks falling down the hill next to it to add to the gravel all the time. A few small fields, hardly more than garden patches, had stone walls built up around them, some with crops and one or two with four-legged creatures of all sorts. 

We reached the drop off area, and it was still a flight of stairs down (though some hotel workers checked our name on a list and took our bags) to the reception. And our vacation within a vacation had begun. A welcome tea, a map of the property, and a guided walk to our "habitación", on the second floor of a thatched house, with a donkey braying their hello. 

We sank into the downy covers and relaxed. Oma took a shower, because we thought the hot springs were part of the spa and not included, but during her shower I called the front desk - hot springs are free and always open! She decided not to come in with me, but we walked toward the river together. 

Oma isn't one for hills, is what I'm learning, but the added stress of being at altitude for the day means that she is extra cautious. We sidled our way down, and I hopped in while Oma took in the steam from the bench. 

A few elderly couples were scattered around speaking English and all complaining that they only had a single night at this paradise. Oma and I were extra excited about our second when we could make them envious. We got some tips on Machu Picchu (it'll take 90 minutes to get on a bus back, just deal) and I got toasty. Oma headed back, and I caught up for my evening shower and took my wet head with us to dinner in the quieter, smaller, more intimate of the two restaurants (which serve the same food, so it's more like two different dining areas for the same kitchen). 

The menu was amazing - the Peruvian specialties were dressed up, the ingredients all sounded great, and the portions were perfect - on the small side, so we could get two desserts. My chicken and her cheese curry-like dishes came with heaps of rice - traditional enough. The brownie I don't think was traditional; the apple pie was more of a savory tart, so don't know about its Peruvian heritage. 

With a wake up call at 5am, we decided to head back to the room. A phone call let us know that our tour company wanted to remind us that it was 6:40 at Yanque. We were surprised and impressed that the man we worked with at the info desk had remembered us and our hotel, but our taxi had been confirmed for 6am twice, so we were confident we could make it there by then. Comfy beds (with a heater and lots of covers for Oma) for bedtime. 

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