Peru Diaries - Day 9 - Lima to Calgary

Our 9th and last day in Peru started when we woke up at our hotel in Arequipa at 6 am. After getting ready and having breakfast at the hotel, we left for the airport at 6:30 am in a taxi. The flight was delayed by a few minutes and we reached Lima around 9:30 am. By the time we got our luggage and met our tour guide Edward, it was almost 10 am.

He drove us through the old city of Lima and then we explored the Main Square (Plaza Mayor) and the surrounding area on foot. The plaza has an old fountain that is in its original condition since the 16th century. Edward showed us the Moorish influence in the architecture, specially in the form of covered balconies that were used by the ladies to look outside without anyone looking at them. The number of  balconies on a building was directly proportional to the wealth of its inhabitants. We also saw the Main Cathedral, the Congress building and the imposing Presidential Palace which is still the official residence of the President of Peru. Then we stopped at an old colonial house from the 16th century. We also visited the library inside that has Latin books printed in the 16th century that are still being used by medicine students.

Then we saw the San Francisco Church. It's an old church much like the main Cathedral in Cusco. The major difference is the Catacombs or graves in the basement of the church that were discovered by excavation in 1947. Now the bones are on display and they estimate that the bones belong to 25,000 people. It was used as a public cemetery.

Then we drove through the modern financial district of San Isidro and reached Mira Flores, a modern posh area. We were dropped off at a mall for lunch. The mall is built on a cliff and has a fabulous view of the ocean. It was a great day to sit outside so we sat in the patio of the best restaurant called Mangoes. The seafood was great and the cool breeze refreshing. We explored the mall before being picked up at 6 pm.

Then we went to the famous Love Park in the Mira Flores area with modern sculptures by a Peruvian sculptor. The park's design is inspired by the Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi's designs. The next stop was a quick one at a modern artsy shop.

Then we experienced Lima traffic during rush hour and it took us about 30 minutes to get to the Magic Water Fountain park. They had laser and water fountains shows just like Sozo Water Park in Lahore. It was a decent way to pass time. After exploring the park, we drove to the old colonial area again, this time to see how it looks during the night. It was quite spectacular to see the Presidential Palace and the surrounding yellow-painted buildings during night time.

Edward dropped us off at the airport at around 9:30 pm. We killed a few hours exploring the airport. Our flight took off on time at 1 am Peru time and reached Houston after 6.5 hours. After a 5 hour layover, we took a connecting flight to Denver and then reached Calgary at about 10:15 pm on January 3, 2014. It was a memorable 9 day adventure of the Andean Highlands and one that we will always remember fondly.

Thanks for reading the updates :)

Peru Diaries - Day 8 - Condors in Colca Canyon

Day 8 (Wednesday) - the first day of 2014 - started with us waking up at 6 am. We had a quick breakfast at the hotel and our tour guide picked us up at 7 am. We drove for 2 hours to reach the Colca Canyon around 9 am.

Colca Canyon is the deepest canyon in the world (twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in Arizona, US). Apart from amazing natural topography formed by the juxtaposition of high mountains and the deep canyon, it is also home to the Condor - a bird that has a wingspan of 10 feet. In most reviews, we had read that one can see Condors in flight only around 8 am when they leave their abodes to glide over the mountains in search of prey and once they lock down their target, they swoop down and take their breakfast with them and after that can't be seen flying in the sky. We were expecting that we won't be able to see any. However, we got lucky and saw not one but three condors in full flight.

There was a hike of a couple of kilometers on the edge of the canyon with the depths of the canyon on our left side. Due to some confusion with our guide, when he gave everyone 30 minutes of free time to relax and try to spot any condors, we did half of that hike on our own - going down and then coming back. When the actual hike started, we repeated half of it with the group and then went further as well.

We saw our first condor around 9:40 am when we were waiting for our group at the meeting point with our guide. He pointed the condor to us and we saw it for a few seconds before it settled down in the mountains, probably to enjoy its brunch.

When the hike started, we spotted a wild rabbit and an eagle in flight. We saw different varieties of flowering cactus plants on the sides of the hiking trail. The area does not get too much rain so most vegetation that one can see is the kind that you find in a desert or dry area.

Towards the end of the hike, we saw the other two condors. This was around 10:30 am. We're guessing these two were up late the night before celebrating New Year's Eve so were late for their breakfast - lucky for us!

Our guide also told us some facts about the Condor. It has a typical life expectancy of 85 to 90 years. Also, it is monogamous, that is, it has only one partner throughout its lifetime. If that partner dies, it spends the rest of its life alone. The male has a crest on its head that differentiates it from the female. Both male and female develop a collar of white feathers around their necks when they become adults. Condors are related to the vulture family so they eat only meat and don't shy away from eating carrion (dead meat) either. We got a chance to capture the flight of the condor on video too.

After seeing the condors, our hike ended on the road where our bus was waiting for us. We set off for Chivay. On our way there, we stopped at the small town of Maca where we saw an old 16th century church built by the Spanish that is still used by the locals. Samia also got a picture taken with an eagle on her left arm and holding a llama by its neck in her right arm.

We had lunch in Chivay - another average buffet where all we had was potatoes in different forms. Then we set off for Arequipa in our tour bus. It was a 3 hour drive and we reached our hotel around 4:30 pm. After freshening up, we strolled around the Main Square.

Arequipa is a colonial city that was built by the Spanish. It is the second largest city of Peru with a population of over 2 million. Apart from the historical Main Square and it's surrounding area, it's a modern and advanced city. If it wasn't the New Year's Day, we might have been able to see a couple of local museums quickly but everything was closed.

We had dinner at a Turkish Peruvian restaurant and had delicious falafel and veggie sandwiches. After that, we went back to our hotel and made sure that our luggage weight was distributed according to the airline specifications. We are going to bed now since we have a flight tomorrow morning from Arequipa to Lima. When we land in Lima, our private car and guide will pick us up at 10 am and show us different areas of Lima. Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru with a population of 9 million (almost one third of the country).