First few days in Pisac

From Iain: July 26-31 - The morning after we arrived in Pisac, Carron kindly showed us around a few possibilities for places to stay, including the hostal where she was staying, the Pisac Inca Hostal.  We inquired about a long-term stay and, fortunately, a room was available that included a double bed and a single bed, a private bathroom with a hot shower, a small kitchenette with a double gas burner (and access to a fully furnished shared kitchen), and wireless internet!  And all this for about 30% less than Hospedaje Beho were going to charge us.  After awkwardly extricating ourselves from Beho (the only injury we sustained was having to pay an exorbitant rate for our one-night stay), we happily settled into what we hope will be our home for the next three months.
The next few days we explored Pisac further, including a quick trip up to Kusi Kawsay, the school that Bethany and Sierra will be attending from August 6.

View of the Sacred Valley from  Kusi Kawsay school

Cusco - Pisac

From Iain: July 25 - We spent a little time walking around the historic district of Cusco before catching a combi to Pisac (elevation 2715 m or 8900 feet) in the Sacred Valley north of Cusco.

Cusco Plaza de Armas

After climbing up and out of Cusco our combi ground to a halt as an alarming knocking noise sounded from the engine.  The driver quickly determined that we were going no further, so all the passengers had to get out and wait by the side of the road for another ride.  Fortunately a regular public bus going to Pisac came by after a short while and we all managed to squeeze on.  On reaching Pisac we made our way to Hospedaje Beho, our accommodation for the night.  We'd made an informal arrangement for a long-term stay at Beho, but as we surveyed our room none of us were too excited about the prospect of staying here more than one night.  The room was cold and a little grim with a lukewarm shower and a flimsy padlock for securing the door.  The final straw was the grubby shared kitchen, which I couldn't imagine using to prepare anything more extravagant than a cup of tea.
To raise our spirits we went to explore Pisac and, as fate would have it, we bumped into Carron Mulligan, Tanya's friend and colleague from the Nelson Waldorf School.  We'd known Carron was in Pisac and so we'd hoped to connect with her.  She was able to reassure us that we'd almost certainly be able to find a better place to live in Pisac, so it was with uncertain hope that we spent an uncomfortable night's sleep.

Puno - Cusco

From Iain: July 24 - We traveled by public bus from Puno to Cusco, passing through some pretty high country along the way.

Puno to Cusco bus rest stop

The journey was supposed to take six hours but ended up taking longer because our bus was stopped on several occasions by protesting teachers.  We were a little alarmed the first time this happened since we did not know what was going on.  A large group of men had blocked the road on the outskirts of a small town forcing the bus to stop.  They then surrounded the bus and began painting slogans on the sides and front and back of the bus.  When the bus started up again some of the protesters became angry (perhaps the bus was moving towards those still blocking its path) and as the bus finally pulled away some of them hurled their paint cans at the bus, hitting the upper windows where we were sitting.  For some reason, when a Peruvian man in a seat across the aisle from us told us they were teachers we didn't feel quite so anxious.  How violent could a teacher get?  After enduring a few more such attacks the remainder of the journey passed without incident, although Tanya chanced a riot inside the bus when she covered up the TV in our section so Bethany and Sierra would not have to endure any more of an appalling, ultraviolent Mel Gibson movie (as it happened, none of the other passengers seemed too fussed about watching this).
On arriving in Cusco we caught a taxi to our accommodation for the night, a most impressive large family room in the WalkOn Inn.

Taquile - Puno

From Iain: July 23 - After Bethany and Sierra each bought a woven headband from our host family, Delfin walked with us to the boat dock on the west side of the island.

On Isla Taquile with Delfin

We then traveled on a collectivo boat (essentially a taxi-boat carrying about 30 passengers) back to Puno, where we got a taxi to Hotel Italia, which we'd been upgraded to since Hostal Pukara was full for the night.  Thankfully, Bethany was doing a lot better by now, so after I'd made a quick trip to the bus station to buy onward bus tickets for Cusco, we all went out to eat.

From Tanya: Our trip to Llachon and Taquile were both possible thanks to the help from each person we met.  One week of Spanish lessons along with some practice at home meant that our Spanish was very basic.  Luckily, Yvonne at Hostel Pukara in Puno was incredibly helpful.  She called a tour company she knows and booked us on to the tour to Uros. She also called the number given in the Lonely Planet for Senor Valentin in Llachon.  After the tour boat dropped us off in Llachon I was able to ask Senor Valentin if he knew someone to call on Taquile Island, where we wanted to stay the night.  He called his friend on Taquile but his house was full so that man called another friend, Delfin.  It all wasn't very hard on our part, just a bit of faith that it would all work out.  It is really not a stretch as most everyone we have met has gone out of their way to be helpful and friendly.  Take Delfin...  Bethany was quite sick and we had to walk very slowly from the boat to Delfin's house, what with carrying Bethany and when Bethany walked it was very slow as she had to stop often.  What could have been a 30-minute walk stretched on to probably an hour and a half.  The whole time Delfin was showing us the local attractions, plants, etc. and was so kind.  He kept offering to carry our things and even offered to carry Bethany.
Taquile, what an experience...  Taquile reminds me of this perfect little Mediterranean island a few hundred years ago.  All the people wear their traditional clothing, not for tourists but because that is their clothing.  It is very quiet on Taquile because there are no dogs.  (This may not seem like a big deal but packs of barking dogs all night is not pleasant.)  There isn't, that I could see, anything motorized, so this also adds to the silence.  Delfin explained that most houses on the island have no water, so all water would be carried from the lake twice a day.  The island is very steep and if you are at the top this would be quite a task.  Delfin also explained that it rained three months of the year heavily and for the rest of the year little or no rain.  Delfin, his mother and sister lived by farming potatoes, quinuoa, corn, and beans.  All the food they grow they eat.  They also have a few chickens.  (There were cows and sheep on the island but Delfin's family do not have any.)  I asked how they got the vegetables and sugar and tea they served us.  Delfin said that all income, cash, came from having tourists stay in the two lovely rooms built for this purpose on the upper floor of their house.  Delfin said that he had about two tourists per month stay at his place.  We paid something like $40 U.S. for the room and meals for the four of us for the day.  So his family's income was about $80 U.S. for maybe six months of the year, the tourist season.  So if you want a bit of a rest in your busy trip to Peru you might consider calling, or having someone call for you like we did, and stay a night with Delfin's family. The views are amazing and you'd be hard pressed to find a more kindly host. Telephone: 958629944 or 983943308. He has email too but has to go to Puno to check it: delfin18an@hotmail.com.

Llachon - Taquile

From Iain: July 22 - Before we left Valentin and Lucila's guesthouse, they wanted us to dress up in some local clothing.

Dress-up time with Valentin and Lucila

We then traveled in a small fishing boat with two local women to Isla Taquile.  The journey was slow and long, and unfortunately Bethany had come down with a slight upset stomach so she wasn't able to avoid losing her breakfast (Sierra too since we'd left her sea-bands in Puno with the rest of our luggage).  Fortunately, the kindly Delfin (a local man whom Valentin had contacted on our behalf) was at the dock to meet us and escort us to his home, where we were to spend the night.  We had to walk about three or four kilometres, mostly uphill, and Bethany was in pretty poor shape by this time.  Eventually we made it after many stops and carrying Bethany for part of the way.  Sierra and I went exploring while Tanya and Bethany rested, and we were again treated to a simple, nourishing meal for dinner in the evening.

Puno - Llachon

From Iain: July 21 - After an excellent buffet breakfast in the glass-enclosed rooftop cafe of Hostal Pukara in Puno, we joined a mostly French tour group going to the Uros floating islands.  After a short trip by boat, we docked at one of the reed islands and were treated to an hour-long guided tour by the guide and one male and three female inhabitants of the island.  We'd been lead to believe that the islands now suffer from excessive commercialization and, yes, there were swarms of tour boats all over the forty or so islands, but the tour we enjoyed seemed respectful and well-done.  Tanya and the girls couldn't resist taking a short ride on one of the large reed boats, while I remained on the island to take a bunch of photos.

Uros Floating Islands

After leaving our reed island, we continued on with the tour boat that was going to Isla Amantani, but instead we arranged to be dropped off at Llachon on the Capachica Peninsula, which is more off the beaten track.  There we checked into a guesthouse owned by locals Valentin and Lucila (which Tanya had prearranged through the Hostal Pukara in Puno).  This included a really good lunch, dinner, and breakfast, which Sierra enjoyed too (despite the following photo caption).

I thought I was getting a grilled cheese sandwich

We spent the afternoon exploring the surrounding area and hiking up to a lookout above Llachon with incredible views of Lake Titicaca, including across to the 6,000 m (20,000 feet) plus Cordillera Real in Bolivia.

Arequipa - Puno

From Iain: July 20 - After another hearty breakfast with Virginia, she drove us to Arequipa's bus station and we boarded a public bus to Puno.  During the journey of five hours we saw plenty of llamas and alpacas and vicunas (although no guanacos, the fourth type of camelid found in Peru).

We See Llamas (and Alpacas and Vicunas)

There were no dire movies to endure on this journey, although we stopped numerous times for various merchants to board the bus and hawk their goods.  One chap was attempting to sell (rather unsuccessfully) various kinds of natural remedies from the jungle and he remained on the bus blathering on and on for more than an hour.  He only stopped once we reached Puno, 3830 m (12600 feet) above sea level on the shore of Lake Titicaca.  We checked into Hostal Pukara, where I had a bit of a lie down (to ease the effects of the altitude) while Tanya went out and about to research our options for touring the lake.

More buses back to Arequipa

From Iain: July 18-19 - We made our way back to Arequipa over two days.  Before leaving Cabanaconde, we went to the lookout again hoping to see condors.  We managed to spot a couple, but they were quite far off and so I couldn't get any photos.  I took a nice picture of a local senorita in her festival dress with the girls, however.

The festival had been going on in Cabanaconde for the whole five days we'd been on our Canon del Colca trip.  Every day, bands of thirty or so local men with drums and brass instruments and large hats would roam around the main square and narrow streets of the town, playing the same few tunes over and over and demanding chicha (a fermented corn drink) from obliging households.  The festival culminated in a bullfight attended by what seemed the whole town.  We watched the preliminary stages from a hill overlooking the bullring, but moved on before things turned too unpleasant.  Lest anyone forget, later on when we walked back to town past the bullring we had to step over a large pool of blood draining from a dead bull lying sprawled on the ground with its belly sliced open,  Of course the girls found this fascinating, although they did wonder why the bulls were tortured to death like this (why indeed?).
After taking a public bus from Cabanaconde to Chivay, we stayed at Hostal Estrella de David again and went out to the hot springs once more.

Chivay's La Calera Hot Springs

We took another public bus from Chivay to Arequipa and stayed with Virginia at her comfortable house again.  Next destination - Lake Titicaca.

Hiking in the Canon del Colca

From Iain: July 16-17 - Hiked down to Sangalle, known as the oasis, at the bottom of the canyon, about a 1400 m change in elevation.  It was tough going on the knees as it was extremely steep and rocky, but given the scenery a pretty good hike.  Nonetheless, we were very glad to reach our accommodation for the night, a basic "bungalow" at Paraiso Las Palmeras.  After the bare rock and cacti of the canyon walls, the lush plants and trees here are a surprising contrast.

Relaxing at Sangalle

We spent the rest of the day swimming in the chilly pool, lounging on the enormous rock around which the pool is built, lying in hammocks, playing a bit of volleyball and footy, and exploring.  In the evening we were provided with a simple soup and pasta meal.
We hiked back up to Cabanaconde the following morning, which was pretty tough going given the altitude but seemed easier than hiking down the previous day.  Since Pachamama's was full, we checked into the more expensive La Posada del Conde  but this turned out to be a blessing as they provided towels (something we neglected to pack) and we were all much in need of a hot shower.

Combi to Cabanaconde

From Iain: July 15 - After breakfasting and packing up, we went to the bus station to get a bus to Cabanaconde on the south bank of the upper Canon del Colca.  As we waited we noticed a combi (minibus stuffed full of passengers that provides an alternative to public buses) getting ready to leave.  We were told that this would be direct (as opposed to stopping along the way like the bus) and when a couple from Quebec said to us, "We'll go if you do," we jumped aboard.  It probably would have been a quicker journey too, except our driver was detained by the police for half an hour as soon as we left Chivay, so that when we rolled into Cabanaconde the public bus was right behind us.  Oh well, it wasn't a bad journey actually, with our driver going at a reasonable speed so that we could enjoy the scenery without losing our lunch,  On arriving (3,290 m or 10,800 feet), we checked into the Pachamama Backpacker Hostal, which again we'd pre-arranged.  The hostal owner, Ludwig, was very helpful with information about hiking in the canyon and he arranged accommodation for us in Sangalle at the bottom of the canyon the following day.  Before dinner we walked out to the edge of town to a lookout over the canyon.  Not a bad view really ...

View of Canon del Colca from Cabanaconde lookout

Getting higher

From Iain: July 14 - Our gracious host in Arequipa, Virginia, ensured a smooth transition to our onward travels by keeping our luggage for us as we went on a 5-day trip to the Canon del Colca, going to the bus station the day before we left and buying our tickets for Chivay, and driving us to the bus station to catch our bus.  After she ensured we were safely ensconced in our bus, we left Arequipa for Chivay, passing through 4800 m (15750 ft) on the way.  In an attempt to reduce any effects of altitude sickness, we'd consumed copious quantities of mate de coca and taken some sorojchi pills that were recommended to us (not the girls though since they contain aspirin, and probably ineffective since they appear to contain just aspirin, caffeine, and something called salofeno).  We all managed fine, however, despite having to endure quite possibly the most inappropriate movie for speeding along narrow, windy mountain roads - The Fast and the Furious.  Once we'd left the scrubbly outskirts of Arequipa, the views during the journey got increasingly more spectacular as we passed volcanoes and approached the canyon.  When we reached Chivay, we were met by David, owner of the Hostal Estrella de David, where we'd arranged to stay.

Chivay Plaza de Armas

After exploring the town a little, we walked to La Calera hot springs.  Walking there wasn't perhaps the wisest choice given the added exertion of walking at 3630 m (nearly 12000 feet) and we misjudged how far it was, so this took a while.  The hot springs were glorious, four or five different pools, some under cover, others in the open air, and all different temperatures.  The pools were fairly busy with tour groups, but we stayed until after dark and then took a taxi back to town.  There we had our best meal so far in Peru, including trout for me and Bethany and hearty soups for Tanya and Sierra.  Then to bed and a rather cold night in our spartan room - lucky we'd brought extra blankets with us.

Spanish lessons with Fabricio and Pedro

From Iain: July 9-13 - Five days of Spanish lessons at Escuela de Espanol Ari Quipay (EDEAQ) in Arequipa.  We'd pre-arranged Spanish lessons and a homestay before we left Canada, so when we reached Arequipa we phoned EDEAQ's Max, who had kindly offered to pick us up.  He found us at the bus station and then drove us to our homestay.  During the drive our car was stopped by a traffic cop, but there was no need for us to be concerned because Max very calmly suggested to the cop that this unwarranted inconvenience for some innocent visitors from Canada would not reflect well on the Peruvian authorities and he promptly let us on our way.  This was but one example of Max's impressive organizational abilities.  He also gave us a thorough "security briefing" to ensure our stay in Arequipa would be as pleasant and trouble-free as possible.

Our homestay was better than we'd dared to hope - two bedrooms in a comfortable upper middle-class home in the Yanahuara district - and our host, Virginia, was extremely friendly and was to prove very helpful during our week here.  We walked into the city centre on our first night to find somewhere to eat dinner but left it a bit late getting back to Virgnia's home.  Darkness descended rapidly as we were trying to locate the right street and we soon became irretrievably lost, what with the maze of similar looking streets, buildings and small parks - we knew the house was near a park, but which one?  Eventually we ended up being escorted back to the house by a small squad of policemen - we rode in a car with one, while two others lead the way, one on a motorbike and another on foot.

We managed the rest of the week a little more efficiently with each day following a similar pattern.  After enjoying a filling breakfast prepared by Virginia and her maid, Juana, we walked to the language school in the city centre, then had two hours of lessons with Fabricio, followed by a refreshment break, then another two hours of lessons with Pedro.

With Fabricio and Pedro at the language school

For the rest of each day we walked around Arequipa, found places to eat or bought food at a grocery store, did our Spanish homework, and went to see some of the sights, including the 430-year-old Monasterio de Santa Catalina and the Museo Santuarios Andinos, which contains La Capaccocha or Juanita the Ice Princess (the frozen body of an Incan girl sacrificed on a nearby volcano more than 500 years ago).

This week in Arequipa was a perfect way to begin our stay in Peru.  The language lessons, the homestay, and the city were all very enjoyable.  And Virginia, as well as everyone at the language school - Fabricio, Pedro, Max, and Juana, were all incredibly kind and friendly.

No chickens on this bus

From Iain: July 7-8, overnight bus from Lima to Arequipa.  We took a Cruz Del Sur bus all the way from Lima to Arequipa, partly for reasons of economy but also to allow our bodies to adjust more gradually to the moderately high elevation of Arequipa at 2350m (7700 feet).  It turns out that this was a good decision as the bus, despite taking 16 hours, was the height of luxury.  Think of those wide, heavily padded, nearly fully-reclining seats you gaze at enviously as you shuffle past them to get to your horribly cramped seat on an international flight.  Then add a comfy blanket and pillow, dinner and breakfast brought to you by a kindly attendant, and even a bus-wide game of bingo in Spanish.  And, despite prior warnings, chickens were not permitted on this bus (at least not that we could see in the downstairs compartment where we were - perhaps all the chickens were upstairs).  Also, as we were soon to discover, violent, wildly child-inappropriate movies are de rigueur on long-distance buses in Peru, but for the last part of the journey we were treated to Disney's Beauty and the Beast, which Bethany and Sierra appreciated.  Finally, we'd been concerned about travel sickness while traveling on buses, but Tanya, Bethany, and Sierra all wore sea-bands during the journey and coped just fine with the bus zipping round tight bends through the night and into the morning.  Who would have thought that such an innocuous-looking piece of elasticated fabric with a hard plastic button acting on an acupressure point on the inside of your wrist could be so effective?

Quick stop in Lima

From Iain: After an epic multi-day journey we've stopped in Arequipa, Peru's second largest city, for a week of Spanish language classes.  Our flight from Fort Lauderdale to Lima was majorly bumpy - enough to earn the pilot a round of applause when he landed - and arrived at about 1am.  Despite the hour, immigration was packed so we were fortunate to be ushered through a preferential line for families.  When we emerged like blinking, new-born puppies into the main terminal, there must have been a few hundred people waiting for new arrivals, half of whom were waving signs with people's names on them.  Bethany managed to spot the sign with our name on it within a few seconds and we gratefully followed our kindly driver out to his waiting van.  A short drive along the beach then up into Miraflores and we were deposited to our accommodations for the night, the family-run Miraflores Inn.  Never has a bed been more welcome.  It was a struggle waking up the next morning for breakfast, but we managed it and then spent the rest of the day pottering about Miraflores.  We ate some giant corn in a busy park full of cats and also walked down to the cliffs overlooking the beach.

Choclo corn in Lima

Strange to think we'd been by the Pacific Ocean two days before (in Victoria), then by the Atlantic Ocean yesterday (in Fort Lauderdale), and now by the Pacific Ocean again (albeit in the same time zone as Chicago).  We'll post an update of our 16-hour bus from Lima to Arequipa shortly ...

Waiting for our flight to Lima

Tanya, Bethany, and Sierra in Fort Lauderdale Airport

From Iain:  After three flights yesterday (starting in Victoria, then stops in Calgary and Chicago, arriving in Fort Lauderdale around 12:30am), we've got a relatively light travel day today, just the one flight to Lima.  Everyone's overjoyed to be waiting around in another airport:

We had a little panic earlier today too (well I had a little panic).  I was just checking our U.S. bank account online and noticed that the funds from a large cheque I'd recently deposited - money we were relying on for our trip - were nowhere to be found.  After some frantic phone calls I figured out what had happened, but this was the last thing we needed minutes before we were to leave from our hotel for the airport.  Luckily (!) our flight to Lima has been delayed by 2 hours, so it has all worked out for the best.  Next stop - the Miraflores Inn in Lima, who are obligingly sending a van to pick us up from the airport when we arrive after midnight.

From Sierra: It has been a very long day today waiting around in this airport.  I'm not looking forward to getting off another plane at midnight.

From Bethany: Yesterday during the last flight before we landed, it was really pretty when I looked down at all the lights in the city - it looked like they were all in a pattern.

From Tanya: We had a nice relaxing time on Vancouver Island with Catherine, Brian, and MaryAnn.  It was good to have a vacation before our vacation.  We washed off our travels so far in the hotel pool today.  Now, we're about to leave on our last flight for a while.

Gentle beginnings

From Iain - We've left Nelson although we're still in British Columbia.  We've spent a wonderful week and a half on Vancouver Island with my parents, first in Vancouver for a day, then at a beach house in Parksville for a week, then with Tanya's great friend, MaryAnn, at her home in Nanoose Bay, then in Victoria for Canada Day.  Here are the girls in Stanley Park in Vancouver.

Sierra and Bethany in Stanley Park

After months of frantic planning for our trip it has been a very welcome chance to relax.  And I got a chance to watch some footy too, with Euro 2012 fortuitously coinciding with a period when I was able to watch cable TV for a change.  The four of us watched the final - what a game - in our Victoria hotel before walking down to the harbour front for the fireworks.  We dropped my parents off at the ferry this afternoon and we're now back with MaryAnn for a couple more days before we head to Peru later this week.