Day 1: Peruvian Adventure

Our first foray into South America!  Wait... no jet lag??  Long on our bucket list has been the Incan wonder of Machu Picchu, and because it’s an odd year, we will he joined by the Versly!   Alex, Kim, Geoffrey and Matt met us in Borneo in 2015 and we co-tripped (?) again in 2017 on our African Adventure, so it only seemed fitting to team up again in 2019 to get our first taste of South America together.

After lots of research by Alex and I, we decided to keep the jumping around to a minimum... Peru, like the other giants of South America, is quite big.  With just over two weeks, and a required week or so doing Machu Picchu and related activities, we didn’t want to bite off more than we could chew.

So... Wednesday afternoon, the Tyndall’s were off, via Montreal for a late and brief stopover in Lima (well, at the airport Holiday Inn).  We landed at around 12:30am and efficiently got through customs and grabbed our bags.   We could see our hotel from the front Taxi area of the hotel, but it wasn’t totally obvious how to get there.   We were getting bombarded by taxis, touts and guys that said they were airport security.... but who knows?  We finally made our way group the parking lot and across a quiet, large boulevard, led by a couple of guys that seemed quasi trustworthy.

Our flight to the second biggest city in Peru, Arequipa, was to depart at 8:50am  so the lan was to have a couple of nice clean beds to get some decent sleep in.  It turned out to be a good move as we all had a solid 5 hours of sleep and were quickly back out front of the hotel waiting for the shuttle to the airport.  I guess we could have walked, but there were now zillions of honking cars filling up the roads all around us.   

The domestic Latam flight was uneventful and smooth.   The last half of the 90 minute flight had great views of the Andes mountains out the left side of the plane.  

Before we knew it, we’d hopped in a cab to the hotel, taking in all of the sights of the suburbs of Arequipa on the way.   It’s always strange, having travelled so much, to see a landscape or cityscape that is really so alien to anything you’ve experience live before.  Our natural tendencies are to try and compare it to something else we’d seen... the kids said it kind of felt like a cross between Jaisalmer and what they pictured of Mexico... not a bad comparison.  

Arequipa sits at around 2400 meters above sea level.  One of the reasons we deceived to start here, beyond it being a great destination in its own right, was to use it as a stepping stone to acclimate to the higher elevations we will be seeing next week.  Altitude sickness is a real concern (have you met my wife??) when hiking the Inca trail, and getting a solid five days in Arequipa should help a lot.

Our little taxi driver was professionally dressed a sported a wide brimmed white hat.   He didn’t speak any English but got instructions from the airport clerk we’d spoken too.  When we got out of the cab at Casa Andina Standard, our hotel, it seemed a little unfamiliar to me as I knew it was supposed to have views of the main square in town, Plaza des Armas.  True enough, we were unable to check in because we had reservations at Casa Andina SELECT!  A short, additional cab ride quickly rectified that situation.... we were soon strolling through the beautiful Plaza and checking in to the correct hotel.

We got our rooms and soon hit the surrounding roads to find a quick bite to eat.   Our initial impression was that Arequipa was a very chill, relaxing place to stroll that had tons of little boutique restaurants and coffee shops, and lots of people watching opportunities.

After lunch, we all had a really good nap.   Beth and I could feel the elevation, particularly when you sat up quickly or walked up hill or up stairs.   You couldn’t feel the thin air just when breathing at a stand still, but something was a little different.   We agreed to take it easy, walk slowly and stay very hydrated.

Abby and I did some research on some restaurants we wanted to try, so in the early evening we walked twenty minutes to Il Fornellino, a small, four table restaurant run by a half Italian half Peruvian man.   The food was fantastic, but even more fun was watching the chef/owner/Co-waiter make the pasta and pizza dough from little premade balls of pasta and dough from his fridge.   I had a nice white artisanal beer - Arequipa is known for fantastic food and delicious local beers.  What a great way to start our Arequipa food experience!

We tried to do movie night in our room when we got back, which sent pangs of longing for our Big Trip, but it didn’t last long as we were all pretty tired.   Tomorrow we will likely take it slow again, but so far, I’m pumped to be in Arequipa and can’t wait to see the Versly who arrive on Saturday morning.