Arequipa and the Nazca Tower
Arequipa was breathtaking. Literally. We couldn’t breathe. At 7661 feet, Arequipa was the perfect place for Jami and I to begin acclimating to the high altitudes we we’re going to experience in Peru. We weren’t expecting to have any issues considering that in a few days we would be doubling that altitude in Puno but we struggled. Hauling our heavy packs up to our fourth floor hostel room nearly killed us. The lack of oxygen in the air made it feel like you couldn’t breathe. We decided that day that we would spend our time in Arequipa taking it easy, relaxing, and acclimating. Also, it was about time we did laundry!
To get to Arequipa we took our first overnight bus in South America. During our twenty hour bus ride, we had a brief stop in Nazca to visit the tower overlooking the Nazca lines. From the top of the tower we could see the large geoglyphs carved into the ground. After the entire bus got their turn on top of the tower it was time for a quick dinner before getting ready to “sleep” on the bus for the night. We were told that to avoid motion sickness we should fall asleep before 11pm before we got to all of the windy roads. Jami and I tried hard. We managed to partially fall asleep. But once the clock hit 11 we were woken up by the rocking back and forth. It was a long night.
Our hostel was on a street lined with optical shops. We counted fifty of them in a row! How does anyone choose one? The garbage trucks blasted the Little Mermaid’s Under the Sea on their loud speakers all day and night. After a couple weeks in Peru, I finally realized that there was great Peruvian chicken everywhere! We ordered half a rotisserie chicken around the corner, took it back to our hostel, and ate the entire thing on our rooftop. We spent our days wandering the streets, taking photos, and playing with alpacas at Mundo Alpaca. We ate lots of crepes, tried a few coffee shops to find our favorite, and drank Peruvian ciders on a balcony overlooking the street.
Once we acclimated to the elevation in Arequipa it was time to climb higher and get acclimated all over again. Off to Lake Titicaca.
