Arequipa, Peru

​24th August – 26th August 2017

After breakfast, we all sat around and had a relatively lazy morning before leaving at 9 for Arequipa. While some of us were sat at a table by where the tents were, we were watching Celine paddle in the sea. All of a sudden, a bigger wave came over and as she ran back to avoid it, she fell backwards onto the wet sand. She didn’t seem bothered by it though, considering we had so much extra time.

Just after 9, we were on the truck, ready to leave. Rianne gave us a run down of what to expect on the journey because of the earthquakes and landslides – we should have been at the closed road for around 11, so we were ready for it to open at 12. She then gave us a list of optional activities to do when we get to Arequipa.

We got to the queue for the closed road at 10.50, so we had over an hour to wait for the road to open. We could get off the truck and wander around the little town if we wanted to, but there really wasn’t anything to do there so I sat on the truck for most of the time.

At 12.23, we started moving. We moved very slowly but gradually edged towards the road entrance. Within 25 minutes, we were at the entrance of the road. I was expecting that the road would be in a terrible condition like other roads we have seen but it was absolutely fine, until after about 20-25 minutes of driving on the road, we came to a complete standstill. We were sat there for a while and at about 1.15, Rianne announced that we were going to play a game to make the ride a little easier. We had 280km still to go, we still had to stop for lunch and get fuel and we had to guess what time we would get to the hotel; I went with 8.14, but the times ranged from 6.10 – midnight (I really hoped that they were wrong).

We got moving again shortly after the sheet (for guessing the time) was passed around and got past the part where the landslide was. The mountain had slid right down onto where the road was and we had to go off road, further out towards the coast to get through. We drove for a bit further until we were off the windy coastal road and at a service station for fuel. On the way, MC passed forward her tapenade that she bought yesterday because she felt sick, so I thought I would try it (even though I don’t like olives) but it tasted like nail varnish remover to me, so I left it at that.

The fuel stop turned into a lunch stop too, so we kind of saved some time there. Lunch was sandwiches and salad again, so we had that, washed our things and set back off to Arequipa with 230km to go at about 4 o’clock – I was starting to think I might have underestimated considering we had only done 50km since the game started.

We drove even further and had our next break at about 6 o’clock. It was only a quick toilet stop and we had covered 115 km in the time since lunch, so I was started to think I was in with a chance still to win the game. After we left again though, we hit a bit of traffic so that slowed us down a bit and then they guys at the back of the bus were drinking beer, so needed another toilet stop within an hour. I was not impressed with this as it was adding on unnecessary time!

We arrived in Arequipa centre but there was so much traffic, so we couldn’t really move quickly. We eventually arrived at the hotel at 8.51, so I was officially out of the game – it is only fair to give everyone else a chance though.

After dropping my bags in my room, I met a few others in reception and we went out to find somewhere for dinner. We walked down towards the main square but we couldn’t decide as a group what we wanted, so we started to wander back. Rianne had an idea of a place to take us but when we got there, it was closed – lots of places shut quite early around here. She then took us to another place she could recommend called ‘Ary Quepay’. We arrived there at 9.59 and they said that the chefs had left 10 minutes earlier – we weren’t feeling very lucky. Then, all of a sudden, they could seat us and feed us, so it was great. I ordered a starter and a side of chips and I’m not entirely sure who cooked it (as the chefs had already left), but it tasted good. Just after the food had been served, three men walked in, they walked into the back and got changed and then they came out in full Peruvian clothing with instruments to serenade us. It felt a bit awkward at first because we were the only ones in there, but they must have come in especially for us; so we went from no chef, to food and a private band, so that was quite cool.

After the meal, we walked back to the hotel; it had been a long drive day and everyone wanted to make the most of our free day in Arequipa.

To sleep in a real bed was amazing. I slept great! I woke up just before my alarm and had time to shower and leisurely get ready, before going for breakfast at around 8.15. I had signed up to go on a ‘Reality tour’ in the morning, so I was being collected for that at 9. Miguel (our tour guide) arrived a little earlier (which is strange in South America). There were eight of us going (me, Sabrina, Dan, Jonathon, Tom, Amelia, Joe and Char) and we got our own private tour with transfers.

From the moment he picked us up, Miguel was full of information and ready to tell us all the stories behind the real Peru. He said how it was nice to have tourists but lots of Peruvians hide the real side of Peru from tourism. Miguel started by talking about the protests that we have seen around Peru. How the teachers are protesting for better pay and better support from the government to run their schools. He said that police get paid over 1000 soles more than teachers a months, and he thinks the whole thing is wrong because to have jobs when you’re older you need an education, so teachers should be valued more. It takes 8 years to be a fully qualified teacher in Peru and less people are now signing up to be teachers.

Working is poorly paid in general, in Peru, therefore a lot of workers will ask their employers to pay them half of what the employer should pay the government and give it straight to the worker. Although it is illegal, it works in the favour of both the employer (who pays half of what he should) and the employee (who gets the money that they would never see from the government). It is necessary for many workers to do this in Peru as the system is not run in a way that supports the running of the country.

This led Miguel onto explaining to us about how the families support each other. Poorer families tend to have more children – not because they can afford them – because when they are older and unable to work; their children will provide much more support than the government.

After all that information already, our first stop on the tour was a cemetery. Miguel said we had to understand where he has come from, in order to understand the way Peru is today. I wasn’t sure at first about entering a cemetery where people might have been visiting their families, but it was very interesting to see and interesting to understand why the layout is the way it is. The cemetery also had a beautiful view of the mountains, so it was a good location.

He started off by explaining the layout to us, as there are lots of graves all stacked on top of each other. He said that families can pay for their place over time, but if they do not fully pay, then they will be asked to remove the body.

 

There are different layers which mean different things: in the mountains (which was where we were) it is believed that the richer people were at the bottom, so that they were closer to pacha mama – mother earth (which is what we learnt about in the Amazon). However, in the city, it is the opposite as the religious people believe that the top is closer to heaven and the bottom is hell, so the top graves are more expensive in the city.

Reputation is a big thing in Peru, so people believed that the more decoration on their families graves, the more people would think highly of them, when in reality the richer people didn’t care what people thought of them, so their graves were very plain and simple. The people that we buried in the ground were people that did not die naturally, so they are not considered worthy of a grave. These people had either died in an accident or not of natural causes, or they weren’t baptised, so they were buried under ground. Again, as reputation is a big thing, often families wouldn’t put the actual name of the deceased on the plaque, as they didn’t want to be associated with someone who was buried in the ground.

We went to one part of the grave where Miguel pointed out that a lot of the names were female names and that we were in a section of the cemetery where people had been murdered – they were still allowed a proper grave though, even though it wasn’t a natural cause. There were so many females as domestic violence is a massive thing in Peru and has been for a long time. He told us stories about his sister being beaten up by her husband but whenever she asks for help, so ends up going back to him, so families and the police find it difficult to do much about it. This is something that he said he witnessed as a child where his father beat his mother and he said most children do witness this. He said he still visits his sister and watches her shout at her son when he cries because it isn’t a ‘manly’ thing to do, so he said he fully understands where the violence come from because mothers raise their sons to think that they have to be macho. It was amazing to listen to him, knowing that he has witnessed it first hand and has turned out the complete opposite.

Miguel told us about his family. He married a Dutch woman and has two children with her but they still live in the Netherlands and he sees them only once a year, for a month. He said he likes to try to encourage his children to speak Spanish, so they will always meet in a Spanish speaking country. Miguel kept saying how much he loves his country but he just wouldn’t want to raise his children here – I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t just move to Holland and choose his children over Peru.

As we walked further around the cemetery, Miguel told us about the celebrations that happen at the beginning of November. November 1^st is All Saints Day, so a day to celebrate all the people who have died. In Peru it is a national holiday, as families go to visit their relatives’ graves three times in the day. They firstly go in the morning and take the favourite breakfast of their dead family member; they sit in front of the grave and eat breakfast together to remember them. They then do the same for lunch and dinner – each time making sure it is the deceased person’s favourite meals. Miguel said that this often causes fights in the cemetery as people end up fighting over who sits where, as they all want to be closest to their family member who has died, so different families end up fighting. With dinner, they also take the favourite drinks of the dead person: one alcoholic and one non-alcoholic and have a drink with them too. He said that the party starts then and they spend the evening drinking together in the cemetery until 11.55pm. At this time, they leave the cemetery and go outside. The party then continues on the street, as November 2^nd is All Souls Day, so it is a celebration for the living people, so they carry on drinking throughout the whole day to celebrate their life. November 3^rd is then a day to be hungover, so all three days are classed as national holidays in Peru.

After visiting the cemetery, we got back into the van and drove to a local market. On the way, Miguel talked to us about the drug industry in Peru. He said it is much bigger than the cocaine industry in Colombia but isn’t as well known, as the Peruvian drug dealers are much cleverer, and keep everything quiet. He said that the cocaine industry look after the people of Peru and this is how they get away with so much. Any large bills that a Peruvian has but can’t pay the drug industry will pay it for them, with no strings attached, because they can afford to. They know that by doing this that they are winning the vote of the local people if the government decided to act upon removing the drug industry from Peru. The drug industry also relies on tourism too. They own a lot of businesses in the city and can use this to launder their own money. For example, when checking into a hotel, a tourist is required to hand in their passport so that the hotel can claim the tax back for having a tourist staying there. Without the tourist knowing, the hotel may use their name to add extra items to their bill, which the industry will then pay for, such as 20kg laundry and 10 beers etc… I found this very interesting because you really wouldn’t have any idea if you were supporting the wrong people.

We arrived at the local market and got out of the van again. We wandered down the fruit and veg stalls (which were full). Miguel explained that they although they seemed cheap, they weren’t cheap; this was the real price and the price that should be paid for these goods. We walked through the rest of the market (which sold normal day to day items) but I didn’t buy anything. He then took us to the fish and meat section – there was so much! There was one meat stall which sold the insides of the animals – the parts that we wouldn’t typically eat, such as hearts, liver, penises etc… He said that this is usually bought by poorer families as the meat is a lot cheaper and all that they can afford.

Back in the van again, we went to a stone factory, where they make the white stone bricks for construction. Miguel said this is one of the hardest jobs in Peru and the lowest paid. We drove into the quarry, where we could see what looked like piles of rubble. Miguel told us that these were some of the workers houses. They didn’t look big enough to be a room, let alone a house to fit a family. Families chose to live down in the quarry because it was much cheaper and they didn’t have to pay for transport to get to work, but it was no way of living.

We were told that the workers in the factory were aged from 9 years old to 67 years old – I couldn’t believe it. The children were working there because their parents didn’t see the point in sending them to school and it was also very expensive – schools have regular voluntary donations, which are actually compulsory. On top of that they have uniforms and books and pens, and families couldn’t afford it, so they trained their children up early instead. Workers don’t usually live older than 67 because of the strain of the job. They will either get silicon poisoning because it has all collected up in their lungs (this is the most common), or they have problems with their eyes due to the dust; they get severe sunburn because of the reflection off the white stone, or they get hernias from the heavy tools. To say they only earn, on average, 27 soles a day (less than £8) it is not a job to be in.

We stopped and looked and the decoration on the sides of the quarry, that the workers have hand crafted themselves. They want to do more of this in the future to hopefully attract more tourists to help them out.

After looking at the decoration, we stopped by a couple (who lived in the house we saw) and got out to watch how they work. They have to climb pretty high to break off big chunks of pink stone, which they first have to clean. The man would then break the big pieces up and use a tool to measure to make sure the bricks are the standard size, knocking pieces off to make them this size, roughly. Once he has done this (which takes around half an hour per brick), he passed it on to his wife, who used different tools to chisel the brick down to make it perfect – a perfect brick is worth 4 soles. The workers don’t eat or drink anything all day, they chew coca leaves which makes them not feel thirsty or hungry so it isn’t good for their bodies. The whole process is done by hand because the stone is too fine for machinery. Also, because the poor people make the white stone bricks, rich people don’t like them or use them and prefer red brick.

Miguel explained to us that some children do not want to be in this industry, growing up like their parents, so when their parents are asleep, they sneak out and go and join the army. It is easy for them to do this, as their parents are so exhausted from work, they sleep through everything. The children know that by joining the army, they have a chance at getting a qualification.

There are around 8% of the population though, that are fake professionals. This is because they get into university, or get their qualifications by cheating and paying for the exams in advance. Miguel explained that the ‘voluntary’ payments the schools request is to also help the teacher’s salary, as that is very low. As university lecturers cannot do this, they sell the exam papers instead, so papers can be bought a month in advance of the exam and then they have time to memorise it.

Leaving the quarry, we head towards an ‘orphanage’ as Miguel described it, but it was a bit like a day care centre which helped single mums. On the way, he told us the awful stories of what happened to women in the jungle and mountain areas between the 60s and 90s. The drug industry was in high control and would go into communities to take over. They killed the men and any boy over 12 and raped all of the women. Four years later, they would go back and collect the children they wanted. Miguel said he was a soldier during this time and he said he would go in and see lists of the names of women who could have children and lists of the names of women who couldn’t. Women were obliged to tell these men when the girls were of a child bearing age, otherwise the whole family would be killed. It was a baby factory for the drug industry. Eventually women escaped and moved closer to the city, building the shanty towns we saw. Possibly because of the way these women were treated and brought up, that is why there are so many single mums in the area we saw.

We arrived at the children’s centre and went in. They were eating their lunch when we got there, so we didn’t really have much time to interact with the children. Miguel told us not to be surprised if they preferred the males in the group, because they don’t have a dad around, but because of lunch, we didn’t really notice. The children were aged from 1 – 4 years old and were left there by their mums in the day (for 4 soles) so that they could go out to work. The tour that we paid for supports this centre and some of our money goes there to help with the equipment and day to day running. The children get well looked after and have lots of toys to play with; they even have their own toothbrushes because hygiene will be so poor at home. The mums of the children range between 15 and 21 years old, so need the support that they get. On a Sunday, they are expected to go to the centre and clean it all up for the following week – this is their way of helping out. If they don’t turn up, they pay 6 soles instead of 4, the following week.

After a very interesting morning, Miguel started to take us back to the hotel. He explained that the reality tour is his own business which he runs and uses the money to help others in the community – it was nice to know I contributed to that a little bit and I loved finding out about the ‘real’ Peru. We took one final stop on the way which was a viewpoint of Chachani volcano, El Misti volcano and Pichu Pichu volcano. We hopped out for some photos before driving onto the hotel.

As we arrived at the hotel, I asked Miguel if he knew of anywhere I could get a phone screen replacement (as mine is playing up) and he told me he was going to that place from the tour and would take me if I wanted. I thought it was my best option and he was a good person, so I went with him. We got a taxi to the black market, which freaked me out slightly, but Miguel knew what he was doing. We got out of the taxi in a highly busy Peruvian place – I stuck out as the only white person around. He took me upstairs in the market to a stall where his friend worked and asked him if he could fix it for me. It would cost 300 soles to get it fixed, so I didn’t think it was worth it. Miguel was very good to me, translating and sorting everything out; he even put me back in a taxi and asked the driver to take me to the hotel.

I arrived back at the hotel around 1.30. I walked into my room, grabbed a map and head straight back out again. Sabrina joined me for a wander, but I didn’t really know where I was going.

We headed towards the main square (where we looked for food the previous night). We stopped in a few shops along the way, looking at different souvenirs but I didn’t buy anything – I was being good, plus it was quite expensive in comparison to other places. We arrived in the square and it was so beautiful – the most beautiful city I have seen in South America so far – I guess the weather helped too. We had a wander round before buying an ice cream and sitting in the square. We bumped into a few others form our truck, but they were all doing their own thing too.

After ice cream and a sit down, we decided to head back to the hotel. There wasn’t really much to do in the centre besides extra things that needed paying for, so we thought we would have a chill at the hotel.

We got back and sat by the pool, but the sun was quickly setting. We stayed by the pool until the sun had gone but it got cold pretty quickly, so I put on some more layers and moved to a hammock. I had some chill out time in the hammock (which was the comfiest I’ve been in so far), before getting ready for dinner.

For dinner, I was wearing a mix match of clothes because most of my clothes were in the laundry but it was fine, I disguised it well. Most of us met in reception at 7.30 and went out for dinner together. The majority of the group were drinking and looking for a big night out, but I was just looking for food and bed. We were originally going to go to a place that Rianne had recommended but then most people fancied a Mexican place we had seen earlier, so we ended up there.

When we arrived, we all piled inside. There were 12 of us with only one table of four free. I felt sorry for the other people in the restaurant because we were a noisy group – even I was overwhelmed by the chaos! Some people had already drunk a fair bit so were being annoyingly loud, so this didn’t help. We all eventually got seated and ordered our food. By this point, Naomi was very drunk and probably should have just gone to bed. We waited a while for our food but there were only a couple of girls working there and they didn’t complain once about us, so I didn’t mind waiting. I ordered chicken and veg quesadillas with guacamole on the side – they were good!

After dinner, Naomi had peaked and crashed, so we took her back to the hotel. Me and Hayley weren’t going out anyway, so she was lucky that no one else had to take her back instead of going out – not that anyone would have minded because everyone seems to look out for each other, which is nice. Amelia and Phoebe also decided to come back with us – not because they were drunk, they just didn’t fancy a night out. Phoebe is training to be a doctor, so we were in luck if anything happened to Naomi. On the way back we had to stop multiple times (probably around 10), for her to just crouch on the floor and get herself together. We eventually made it back to the hotel around 9.30.

Me and Amelia went back to our room because Hayley said she would be fine looking after Naomi. We chilled in the room and got some sleep, but we knew we had a lie in, so we weren’t too bothered about rushing to bed.

I finally got my well-needed lie in. We didn’t need to check out until 11 and breakfast was running until 10. I was able to wake up in my own time and enjoy the morning. I got up about 8.30 – which is the best lie in I have had in a long time! I had some chill time in a hammock, before going to get breakfast. Breakfast was full of gossip from the night before – the most gossip there has been so far on this trip!

After breakfast, I took my time getting ready and packed up (reshuffling my bag again) before check out. We checked out at 11 but still had time to chill out around the pool, in the sunshine before leaving. I was sat there for about half an hour before I got bored of doing nothing, so wandered back into the centre.

I got to the main square and it was hot and busy. I wandered around and I wanted my daily polaroid in the main square with the white stone cathedral behind me but there was no one to take it for me, so I had to take a selfie – not my thing but it didn’t turn out too bad because I had a practice on my phone first! After taking my photo, I went to leave to walk back to the hotel and a group of school children approached me (strange on a Saturday), asking for a photo; I obliged and then left.

I got back to the hotel and had time to chill for a little bit longer before leaving for Chivay at 1.

To say Arequipa is the third biggest city in Peru, I had never heard of it before this trip. Like I said it is the most beautiful place I have seen in South America and definitely worth a visit.

To travel is to live, Katie x