Michael Creasy's Blog

Arequipa was my first stop in Peru that was any significant distance above sea level.  I didn't really notice it until I tried climbing several flights of stairs to reach a rooftop restaurant to see this view:

Arequipa is Peru's second most important city and located at the foot of a giant volcano called El Misti.  During the Inca times El Misti was worshipped as a god and there's now evidence that human sacrifices were carried out on the volcano.  The most striking evidence is the well preserved body of a young Incan girl that was found on the mountain.  The body and a number of artifacts were recovered and are now preserved in a museum in Arequipa.  The frozen body has been examined and shows signs that she died from a blow to the head.  The body is now kept frozen and on display for curious tourists.  There's not actually much to see as the body is covered in ice and behind several layers of glass in a dimly lit room making it almost impossible to see. 

I spent my afternoon in Arequipa white water rafting on a nearby river.  I hadn't been rafting before so I was excited to try it out.  The setting was perfect, high mountains all around and a perfectly clear fast flowing ice cold river.  I was given a safety briefing and told all the various instructions that would be used to get us down the river before we jumped in the raft and got on our way.  It wasn't long before I found myself in the river.  Everything happened very quickly, the shock of the ice cold water was perhaps the worst and finding myself under the raft didn't help, somehow as I fell though I managed to keep hold of the rope on the outside of the raft and was able to pull myself from under the raft enough that the rest of my team could pull me back on board.  It was actually pretty refreshing! 

Navigating down the rapids was a lot of fun, most of which was relief after surviving each section.  About half way we took a break and walked down the river bank to get a look at the biggest rapid on the river - a level 4 rapid that was a sharp drop in the river bed into a narrow canyon causing the water to pick up speed.  It looked pretty nasty.  We stood and watched the first team go over it and they hand no problem which gave us all a lot more courage and we went on our way.  We picked up speed as we approached the rapid and it looked like we were going to make it.  We went over the edge and landed...  It looked like everything was ok, but we'd got the angle wrong and were took close to one of the sides of the canyon.  The water pushed the raft up against the wall and tipped us into the water.  As I hit the water I remembered what I'd been told during the safety briefing, I floated on my back with my feet in front of me so I could avoid any rocks.  I grasped the rope on the side of the raft and the wall on the other side of the canyon was now fast approaching.  I pushed off the side of the wall to avoid hitting it and carried on floating with the raft while the crew got back on the raft and helped everyone else back on board and then helped me back on as well.  It went really well, nobody was hurt and they easily could have been.  We carried on down the river without incident and had a great time doing it.  The whole experience was a lot of fun and I'm really glad I did it.

Back in Arequipa I spent the evening exploring the Santa Catalina Monastery.  The monastery, built in the 16th and 17th century is enclosed behind a high wall is a small town on to itself with a maze of streets to explore.  The monastery is still home to twenty nuns, but is open to the public during the day and one evening a week to the public.  In the evening the monastery is very quiet with few tourists and little more than candle light in most places.  Unfortunately there's not much to see, most of the rooms are the same, sparsely decorated with the essentials and lit by candle.  It's an interesting place to walk around though and the art collection is quite extensive. 

Unfortunately I didn't get to see much more of Arequipa after that evening as I picked up a case of food poisoning and spent the next couple of days in bed.  It wasn't so bad though, as I meant I'd be well for the next stop - Cuzco and the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

Leaving Pisco it's a long drive to Nazca through the desert landscape.  Thankfully there are things to do on the way.  We stopped at an oasis in the desert and had lunch at the restaurant which being entertained by a man who described himself as the "Peruvian Tommy Cooper" and then performed an embarrassingly bad selection of magic tricks.  The food though was much better and surprisingly cheap. 

Outside huge sand dunes were all around us so I took the opportunity to go out in a dune buggy to explore.  The seat belts had ripped at some point at had been tied back together again but even so it seemed relatively safe.  The buggy left the restaurant at high speed, stopped at a checkpoint to record the number of people on board and then sped up the side of one of the dunes.  As we reached the top I realised just how big the desert was - sand dunes in every direction.  There was no time to enjoy the view though as the driver sped us over the plateau and then suddenly sharply downhill.  The seat belts did their job yet I maintained a firm grip on the metal bar in front of me.  We continued up and down dunes with the wind in our hair and a growing sense that we probably wouldn't die.  That was until the driver took aim at a seemingly vertical wall of sand and started accelerating straight at it.  Faintly in the sand I could see the tracks of previous victims and a sharp turn at the top of the dune, so not only was he going to drive up this wall at high speed, he was going to turn around while doing it and then drive back down it.  There was no time to worry though as we were already climbing the wall and for a second it looked like we might just reach the top, but we were slowing down and the driver executed a sharp u-turn and we were hurtling down again. 

We stopped at the top of another steep dune and got out to admire the spectacular view.  The driver went to the back to the dune buggy and re-appeared holding snowboard-shaped bits of wood with velcro straps on them.  He pointed towards the slope and motioned in a downward fashion with his hand.  We were going sandboarding.  Well almost.  We weren't going to be standing on the boards, which was probably just as well as I would have broken at least one ankle I'm sure.  Instead we were going to lie on the boards, holding on to the straps and slide down the dune.  I had the dubious honour of going first.  Lying on the board I couldn't see the slope of the dune beneath me so I had to slowly push myself over the edge in to the unknown.  The board picked up speed quickly and I hurtled down the slope.  Behind me I could hear the driver shouting "Break!  Break!" and I remember thinking that yes, I probably would break something.  The dune leveled off though and I came to a stop at the bottom.  I jumped up from the board and gave a victorious wave to my nervous looking companions on the top of the dune and one by one the followed me down. 

We continued driving around, stopping now and then for more sandboarding.  At one point the driver said "Oasis?" and we responded in the affirmative - we did want to go back there rather than staying in the desert.  That wasn't what he meant though.  As we went around a corner we caught a glimpse of a real oasis in the desert.  Below us was a small lake surrounded by lush vegetation.  This was the real oasis and not the tourist trap that we'd had lunch at. 

All good things much come to an end though and we had to return to the restaurant.  The driver stopped at the checkpoint again to confirm he hadn't left anyone behind and I rejoined the rest of traveling companions and we got back on the road to Nazca.

Beyond the rock formation we sped through the desert to get to a viewing tower to see our first glimpse of the Nazca Lines.  The geoglyphs were created by the Nazca people sometime between 200BC and 700AD.  Popular opinion is that the lines are carved into the ground, but this isn't accurate.  The surface of the ground is covered by dark stones and pebbles which when removed contrast with the light coloured earth beneath.  The Nazca people moved the stones to reveal the earth beneath them to create the lines and thanks to the constant dry and windless climate of the area the lines have survived.

The viewing tower by the side of the road gives a good first glimpse of the lines, which can't be seen from ground level at all thanks to their size, but from it you can only see a couple of the geoglyphs.  The best way to see them is by air, but first I had to go to a cemetery.

Outside the modern town on Nazca is a distinctly un-modern cemetery.  Here numerous remains of Nazca people were discovered, most either on the desert floor or close to it. 

The first stop was the museum to see some of the best preserved remains that had been discovered.  It always a little creepy to look upon human remains in a display cabinet, but it's equally amazing to see how well preserved the bodies were after almost two thousand years thanks to the dry climate.  Outside the museum a series of pathways lead to small covered pits that were built recently to help preserve the remains.  The landscape is barren and lifeless.  One on side in the distance are mountains and on the other side there's a hint of vegetation on the banks of a river.

This pit contains the remains of a child (front) facing the adult in the rear.  All the remains were in a fetal position and wrapped in numerous layers of textiles to create this unique shape.  The rest of the photos from the cemetery are in the gallery.

Leaving the cemetery we went to the local airport to arrange a flight over the Nazca Lines.  The small planes seat just six people including the pilot and leave on a regular basis on a fixed route over the lines.  While flying the pilot banks left and right to give everyone a chance to get a good view of the lines.  This has the unfortunate side effect of making everyone feel sick, but it's worth it.

The first glyph I saw was also one of the strangest.  The Whale.  How could a civilisation that lived two thousand years ago in a desert know what a whale looked like?  We'll never really know for sure, but it's speculated that this is evidence that the Nazca had contact with other groups living on the coast.  Next were the triangles stretching far into the distance.

The Astronaut is different from the other lines - first it's a human figure instead of the animal or geometric shapes and second it's on the side of a hill instead of on flat ground.  Some people see this figure as being a sign of alien involvement in the creation of the lines, which is where it's name came from, but I think it's just a person, perhaps a representation of an important leader, a Nazcan Mount Rushmore in a way.

Like the whale glyph, this glyph of a monkey is evidence that the Nazca people had contact with a civilisation that inhabited the jungle areas of Peru.  The next glyph is that of a dog, one of the more complex images - note that like the rest of the glyphs this is created by one continuous line.

This picture of the viewing tower next to the glyphs called "The Tree" and "The Hands" really gives a sense of just how big the images are.  The rest of the photos taken from the air are in the gallery.

There's a lot of debate over the purpose of the lines, some think they are alien landing strips, some say they point to water sources and others say they were part of religious festivals and used as a calendar.  Discounting the alien theory, the others seem plausible.  The Nazca people did create a complex underground irrigation system and some of the lines do point towards water sources that are still in use.  Some of the lines do point to certain stars on the horizon during the soltices/equinoxes, but if you draw enough lines on the ground some are going to point to stars on the horizon.  We'll probably never know what the lines were really used for, but that doesn't make them any less impressive.

After a few hours on the bus from Lima I arrived in Pisco, the home of the grape brandy of the same name and it's most famous cocktail the great Pisco Sour. The one thing you must do in Pisco is drink a Pisco Sour or three, because really this small town has little else to offer. Thankfully though nearby are the Ballestas Islands which are sometimes described as the "Galapagos for the poor". I took a boat out and around the islands to see what there was to see. The islands are not inhabited and it's forbidden to land on them to protect the wildlife and to protect the guano that builds up on the islands from the birds which is harvested once a year to make fertiliser.

The most common bird on the islands are the Peruvian Boobies as seen above.

There's a variety of other birds as well though, including penguins. Closer to the water's edge sea lions can be found, but not in the numbers you see them on the Galapagos Islands.

When sailing to and from the Ballestas Islands this 128 meter tall geoglyph is visible carved in to the hillside. It was created by the pre-Columbian civilisation called Paracas and serves as a reminded that you're not far from Nazca and the famous Nazca Lines. Back on dry land I went to visit a Pisco distillery and learn how the grape brandy is made. It's produced much like wine is produced all over the world, but instead of using barrels to store the wine in, these large stone vessels are used instead:

Once the wine is ready it's distilled and becomes the grape brandy "Pisco". Having learnt about the process I headed to the tasting room to try a few varieties. First the undistilled wine, which was pleasant enough, but not really what I was looking for. Neat Pisco was strong and not really to my liking so I tried a different drink that invovled Pisco and milk which tasted not unlike Bailey's. The best was saved for last though, the refreshing Pisco Sour:  

Pisco Sour:

Ingredients:

• 2 fl oz (8 parts) Pisco
• 1 fl oz (4 parts) Lime juice
• ¼ fl oz (1 part) Simple syrup
• ½ Egg white
• 1 dash Bitters

Founded in 1535 by the conquistador Francisco Pizzaro, Lima is the capital of Peru.

In the heart of the city the Plaza de Armas (main sqaure) is the cathedral.

The interior of the cathedral is light with a beautiful ceiling. I took a guided tour of the cathedral and was lucky that nobody else had requested an English speaking guide at the same time so I had the guide to myself. The first stop on the tour was to see the tomb of Francisco Pizzaro.

The authorities are now sure that the coffin on display does contain the remains of Pizzaro. Up until recently what was on display was a different body that is now thought to be that of a soldier. Pizzaro's body was discovered after an earthquake damaged a wall in the crypt revealing a metal box with an inscription indicating that it held the head of Francisco Pizzaro; excavations into another part of the same wall in the crypt revealed a decapitated body and after a barrage of tests it was determined that the head and body matched. The body that was previously on displayed was removed and Pizzaro's remains put in it's place. The rest of the cathedral is typical of what one would expect in a Latin American Catholic church - lots of figures of the Virgin Mary, but it's really the extensive art collection that is most interesting. Over the years the church has acquired a great deal of religious art and my guide was happy to explain much of it to me. What I found interesting was the efforts that church had taken to combine elements of the native religions into Catholicism so as to appeal to the native population. The Virgin Mary is often depicted wearing a triangular dress so as to appear like a mountain to correspond to the native belief of mountains as holy places. The sun often appears (sometimes more than once) in the paintings to provide a link to the native Sun god.

Leaving the cathedral it is just a short walk to the Franciscan monastery. Viewing the monastery's religious art collection is interesting, but what people really go to see is the catacombs beneath the building. Here the remains of hundreds of monks are stored in narrow short passageways. A guided tour leads you through the passeways so you can see the neatly organised piles of bones (sorted by type of bone rather than keeping the bones of one body together).

My final stop was at the Museo del Banco Central de Reserva del Perú so I could view the collection of Inca gold stored in the old bank vault.

I had an amazing time!

I'm catching up on my email at work and working though my photos, so over the next few days and weeks I'll be posting about my trip.

 I hope you all had a good June!