“Peru is a beggar sitting on a gold bench” - Arequipa

So said Italian Naturalist Antonio Raimondo in the 19^th century and it’s sometimes how they describe themselves.  Their pre Colombian use for gold was to create purely decorative items, it had no other use as it was too soft; ditto goes for silver.  Mining, however, is a very much part of their existing economy although as tourists we see only the periphery of it.

We travelled from the port of Matarani to Peru’s second largest city Arequipa along the Pan American highway across parts of the Atacama Desert, the driest place on earth.  They get about 200 mms of rain every 30 years at a best estimate, but most of that is in fact dew so it’s probably less than that.

Atacame Desert, Pan American Hwy Peru

It’s a rather hairy trip so I was glad Paul had the window seat.  I've seen ‘The Wages of Fear’ and many of the trucks we passed had ‘Combustibles’ written in big letters and road is littered with roadside memorials to travelers killed on the road.  This year the remodeled Paris to Dakar rally was actually held from Lima to Santiago and some of this of road was included.

Mining and Irrigation change the landscapr

There was plenty of evidence of mining and also of squatters who set up ‘humpies’ and then demand water and power and then on sell them.  Our tour guide was somewhat disparaging about this black market behaviour.

Pan American Highway

We went to Arequipa in the main to see the Convent of Santa Catalina not opened to the public until 1970 although it had been operating (and still does) as a nunnery since 1579.  

Santa Catalina convent - detail

The old city has a (another!?) UNESCO heritage listing from 2000, and the city is very proud of its literary heritage culminating with the endowment of a Nobel Laureate for Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa in 2010.

Arequipa at night

It is known as the White City not because its buildings are white (and they are), but because for many generations the Spanish did not intermarry and this kept the population up to 80% ‘white’.  Now, like most of Peru the population is mestizos of mixed race.  It’s 2330 metres above sea level and surrounded by snow-capped volcanoes – it only snows in summer as there’s no moisture in winter for the snow to fall.  It is situated on the Chili River which means ‘cold’ as it flows from the Andes.

Volcano from Santa Catalina Monastery

It is also the centre of textile manufacturing for the very rare vicuna (scarf $800, coat $8,000), baby alpaca and Guanaco.  Chanel and Armani come here to supervise the manufacture of the cloth for their finest suits.  I passed on this, but did buy a rather nice pair of earrings.

We’re now on our way to Chile – what fun!!