Part 3 --- We are back to Peru.
Email 7
We are now in the city of Arequipa in Peru, in the mid-highlands. Very comfortable weather and a beautiful city listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its well-kept medieval buildings. Arequipa, population 845,000, is the 2nd largest city in Peru.
Talking about weather, the cold in the Bolivian highlands is still in the memory. JC the retired army colonial did in fact advise that I should keep a bottle of brandy with me. A few sips before going to bed will certainly warm me up (since my wife fails to do so) and I would later sleep well. Thanks, JC, XO also can eh?
Run out of jokes for this Email 7. Try to answer a question on the tour. KT commented that she would never go for a trip like this which is certainly tough or less than comfortable. She also asked me anything to shop here.
To me there are 2 broad types of tourists. First the sight-seeing type. We travel to see things we have not seen before: archaeological artifacts, ancient monuments, modern architectural wonders, places of worship, unusual landscapes, endemic fauna and flora, etc. We try to taste the local food (might not be "gham"), see the way of life of the locals (might be very superficial), participate in their festivals, etc. We store these impressions in our brains as well as in our digital memory chips. We can recall the happy moments anytime we want. The memory never goes out-of-fashion. We might stay in less-thancomfortable RM 40-a-night cheap accommodation but when we go back to our morecomfortable homes this greatly-satisfying blissful feeling of home-sweet-home will be with us. Blessed people.
Then we have the second type of tourists who are interested only in shopping in big cities. They would check into a RM 800-a-night hotel room in a big city, sleep until 10 everyday, see nothing but shopping malls, and come back home 4 days later with a few RM 3,500 LV handbags, bought on sale. Then the misery spell starts. The on-sale LV bags go outof-fashion in 2 months. They regret buying the wrong models. Because their beds at home are less comfortable than those in the hotels, they feel miserable in their own beds in their own million-RM homes. Their feeling of misery will only be halted temporarily when they go for another big-city trip 9 months later. Poor souls.
So KT, don't worry about the short-term discomfort, it is the long-term happiness that counts. Warren Buffett the investor said that. If we have not seen the vast barren grounds of Peru and Bolivia, how could we know Malaysia is so blessed? Karpal Singh the politician said that. If we have not seen the suffering in hell, how do we know we are already in heaven? Father John the priest said that. But you will never come here, KT, Hon the sight-seeing tourist said that.
(Arequipa, Peru, 27-2-09)
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Email 8
Two days ago we came down from the mid-highlands to the Peruvian coast, to more familiar weather and elevation. We travelled for 650 km over mostly barren ground. Very dusty too. Everybody still coughed. My wife lost her voice, and, my ears gained their peace. Unfortunately the peace lasted only one day. She recovered. We had seafood for the last few meals, tomyam sotong soup, raw fish kerabu, big-head udang noodle, etc. True, the dishes are of course named differently.
Yesterday morning we saw the mysterious Nasca Lines, line-drawings of giant figures of animals and birds (up to 200 m in size) and other geometric patterns itched on the desert floor. Made between 200 BC and 700 AD. Who did these and for what purpose still remain unanswered questions. A UNESCO World Heritage site.
The best view is of course from the air. Touring by land vehicles is in fact banned. It is such a thrill to fly in a 4-seater Cessna plane. They are like dragonflies "hanging" in the air. The 30-minute "air-cruise" costs us US$ 50 each, plus about RM 24 in airport taxes.
In the afternoon, we went up a certain sand dune in Huacachina, said to be the largest in the World. We went around seated in a kind of buggy, with the 8-seater literally flying in the air, more exciting than the roller coaster rides in Disneyland! SC, our most senior member at 66, was the 1st to go skiing on the sand dunes.
Earlier today we went to some islands off Paracas, famous for their wild life sanctuaries. Saw several kinds of birds, thousands of them, sea lions, etc, and other tourists. Now we are back in Lima and ready to go back, Malaysia I mean.
My friends, this is the last part of the series from here. Hope you don't feel you have wasted your time following us.
Adios. (2-3-09, Lima, Peru)
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End of text of Part 3, now some photos.
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Arequipa
The city center is, as in other Peruvian cities, dominated by Plaza de Aramas or the Main Square, with the Cathedral on one side and 2-storey arcaded colonial buildings on the other sides. Shown a night shot of the bell tower of the Cathedral.
The most impressive building is the Cathedral. Originally built in 1612, the present version is dated to 1868. Shown the main altar and the famous giant Belgium organ.
Many of the older buildings were built with sillar, the soft white volcanic rock. Carving is easy and thus there are many decorative carved elements on the buildings. Floral patterns are most common and typical of Arequipa. Shown such decoration of the facade of the Church of La Compania of Jesus, and the facade of a bank building.
There is this Santa Catalina Monastery for nuns, established in 1579. It is famous for its buildings in the Mudejar style, characterised by its vividly painted walls. The Mudejar is a type of Spanish architecture greatly influenced by the Muslim Moorish style. The monastery is still functioning, but most part of the big complex is open to the fee-paying public as a living museum of Mudejar architecture.
Pan American Highway
Nothing special about the highway running along the coast, mostly over barren rocky ground. For lunch we had paella with prawns. For dinner we had chicken cooked in 3 ways: deep fried, grilled and barbecued.
We stayed at the coastal town of Pisco on the last day of travel along the Pan American Highway. The Great 2007 Earthquake (2 years ago) destroyed 80% of the town, including the biggest building: the Cathedral of San Clemente. We attended an evening mass at the temporary tent-like church. Full house
Nasca Lines
The small plane did have a very smooth take-off and landing, credit to the pilot. While on the air, to facilitate the passenger taking photos the pilot would tilt the plane to almost 45 degrees on either side. Those who could not take such constant left-right turns might vomit. The 1st aerial photo shows the general terrain of the area. The line figures shown include The Monkey, The Spider and The Hummingbird. The biggest could be 200 m across. Other "unrelated" lines are track marks left by vehicles before they were banned. The painted stones are souvenirs, just to show the many figures found here.
Huacachina
This is in fact an oasis and summer resort, grown around a lake fringed with palm trees, and surrounded by sand dunes. Showing the buggy we used to spin on the sand dunes, and a member sand-skiing.
Paracas National Reserve
We spent 2+ hours at sea to see the wildlife at the Ballestas Islands, barren and eroded with arches and caves. The 1st photo shows the famous "Chandelier of the Andes", a 244 m high figure of a chandelier engraved on the cliff face, speculated to be a signage to the Nasca Lines. At sea we saw pelicans, white-neck Peruvian Booby, red-neck Incan Teras, sea lions, dolphins and Homo Sapiens.
Part 4 --- Now back in Malaysia
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Email 9 (from Malaysia)
The Tour Company
This tour is marketed by YonGo Travel (www.yongo.biz). The boss, LM, led the tour.
Some Personal Discoveries
The katak - among my close friends I might be the well-travelled one. But compared to the others in the same age group on this tour I am the "katak below the tempurung". This 3+ week tour is the longest we have taken but PL said her normal trip is one month long. CK and wife have even gone to many corners of Africa and next month they are taking a 3-month trip to see all major cities along the Trans-Europe and Trans-Asia railways.
The novice - among my friends I am the keener photographer. I am even the assigned official photographer of our qigong group. We have 6 people using digital SLR cameras on this trip and I am the novice here. All the others are so familiar with features of their cameras and so fast with their adjustments. CK carried twin lenses and they are heavier than his normal luggage! And the Nikon of KC costs 4 times more than my Canon! Must resign as the official photographer of our qigong group. Malu only.
The weak - I keep healthy by walking up Bukit Kiara in KL, covering may be 20 Km each week. So I am reasonably fit, I must think positive. But of the 6 men in our age group, I am most likely ranked 6th in fitness. Not bad lah, still in the top 10. I must think positive. CK has climbed Mt Kilimanjaro before, the highest peak in Africa, while BL, from Sabah, climbs Mt Kinabalu once every few weeks. Even the ladies in our age group, PL and KK walked much faster than me in the hilly terrain of Machu Picchu. During the journey I coughed the most, needed 2 courses of antibiotic for infections. The sick man of YonGo. Aiyoyo, most humiliating experience.
Conclusion
Getting old lah, and weak too.
Fact or Fiction
Since I mixed jokes with facts of the tour, a few friends commented they didn't know which was fact and which was fiction. My friends, fact of the place is of course true, to the best of my knowledge or correctness of my source. On the other hand jokes are jokes mah, they are more likely to be untrue or wildly exaggerated accounts. Of course we were not that sick on the tour but certainly there was this effect of high altitude.
And my wife always features in my jokes. A woman friend commented that it was not the way to treat the wife. Mmmm...... may be she wrote under the secret instruction of my wife. To protest? But who should the object of my jokes be then, if not the wife? Isn't she my closest friend on tour? Jokes make the story more marketable mah! I must declare here that all my jokes on my wife are not true.
The Food
What the Peruvians and Bolivians eat is the most popular question asked. Well, my friends, the Peruvians eat only grass, they don't drink water but the juice of coca fruits, and the Bolivians eat only meat of the Bolivian dragons. Unbelievable! Yes, you don't believe them too. Hello my friends, the Peruvians and Bolivians are Homo Sapiens, just like us. And Peru and Bolivia are located not far from the Equator, just like our country. So there is not too much a difference between what they eat and what we eat. They eat both rice and noodle, corns, pork, chicken, beef, fish, squid, prawn, potato, banana, mango, what-we-have they-have loh. May be they don't have durians. They fry their bananas, together with the skin, as a vegetable, not in your roti pisang. And their chili paste is hotter than our chili padi.
A common local dish is called "the chicken soup" with a big piece of chicken, a piece of white potato, a piece of yellow potato and a piece of tapioca. Although it is called a soup, there are a few spoonfuls of rice, like a "thin" porridge. Everywhere the same. A big bowl cost about RM 3 in the coffee shop for locals, or RM 6 at the main bus station for everybody, or RM 12 in a cafe for tourists.
The novelty dish in Peru is roast guinea pig, something like a roast suckling pig. A few in our tour group tried that but we didn't because just before we left for Peru my wife received a signed two-page petition not to try that dish from her friend Angela and family. Angela keeps guinea pigs as pets.
The People
There are both ingenious people and the pendatangs in these 2 countries. There are many many tribes of the indigenous people and they live more on the highlands. Then we have the pendatangs, mostly whites, some Chinese and Japanese too in Peru. Intermarriage is common as most of them are Christians, Catholics in fact. How they look like? The indigenous people are moderately dark-skinned people, like our Malays. Most of the women in the highlands are pear-shaped, taking too much carbohydrates I think. Dr Atkins was not there for advice. The women on the lowlands? They are more like Dolly Parton, short and well-endowed. And the men? What men? I didn't see any man!
Bye bye.
(Afternoon, Kuala Lumpur, 3-4-09)
Photo Credit
Most of the photos, except those at the Carnaval de Oruro, were taken by me, with an SLR and a compact, both Canon brand. A few were from our tour leader LM and his assistant Rachel. However for photos of the dancers at the Carnaval de Oruro most were taken by LM and Rachel as we were sitting on the stands while they were with the bands. No smart phone in 2009 yet. The 2 maps were downloaded from the internet.
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(First written: 2009, major revision: 2013, this edition: December 2018)
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