Port of Matarani, Arequipa, Peru. Excursion: Jewels of South America: Galapagos & Machu Picchu - Day 7

Our wake-up call was very early - at 3:30 am.  We had pre-packed our luggage before heading to bed and it was collected from outside our rooms late last night/early this morning, transported to airport ahead of us and tagged.

At an unearthly hour of around 4:15 am we hit the road to Cusco Airport.  I think most of us slept during the journey to the airport.  Juan said his goodbyes to us at the security gate but Manning continued with us on the flight.  Again I think that most of us dozed during the 2 hour flight to Arequipa, too tired to even think.  It didn't help, either, that our lovely tour was coming slowly to an end.

Julia, our next additional guide, joined us at Arequipa Airport and was to be our local guide for the day; along with Manning (poor chap - he wasn't let off the hook just yet!).  As we drove towards Arequipa we managed to wake up and Julia talked about the history of the city, what to see and do.  She also briefed us on our day’s itinerary.

Our first stop was at Mundo Alpaca to see alpacas and to feed them, including a baby alpaca.  We were given some insight into rearing of alpacas, shearing, cleaning the wool, making it into wool skeins, the dyeing process using natural plant products; and the various uses for the wool.  There was a woman on the site doing some weaving by hand.  It's quite an arduous process but that is the life of many woman here.

We spent a bit of time walking around Arequipa: stopping at Saint Francis Plaza with its surrounding buildings, cathedral, church and museum.  The square itself was a nice place to relax with its fountain and palm trees.  We also went to Pozo House to see the art gallery where there were lots of photographs reflecting life in Arequipa, past and present.

Our last stop for the packed morning was at the Jesuits Church (Iglesia de La Compañía Church).  It was very pretty inside with its artwork on remnants of plaster that covered the church walls before it fell off during an earthquake.  The paintings and plaster have not been restored.

Lunch at Sol de Mayo Restaurant was a delicious 2 course lunch with various options, including a local delicacy:  guinea pig (yes, you read correctly, a guinea pig - see a photographs as proof!).  Some of us were brave enough to try it.  Admittedly the small portion we had was delicious.  Street musicians came in and played Peruvian music for us (with panpipes, guitar & other instruments), the aim of which was to promote their CD.  I ended up getting one of their CDs to support their efforts.

There was one more place to visit before we headed back to the ship.  This was the Yanahura Plaza a short enough walk through the streets with a stop for photographs at the plaza and to see the views.

Sadly the time came to start heading back to the ship.  I wanted to stay awake during the journey but I was so tired that I nodded off, waking up about an hour before reaching the port of Matarani.  By then the scenery was very different from where we had been.  The area was dry and barren, desert-like, but yet people still lived in the region.

I updated Paul and let him know how far we were from the ship and when we would be arriving, more or less, according to the satnav app on my mobile phone.  Not everything went to plan.

When we arrived at the port Julia did the paperwork and a dog came to sniff our luggage in the bus' hold.  Then we were told that we had to enter the port via a different gate.  so... we went around to the other gate.  No problem.  Yes, a problem.  We had to get off the bus, collect our luggage and go through port security.  In the meantime our now empty bus would have to go all the way BACK to the first gate we had stopped at, go through the port and collect us at the entrance that we had been dropped off at.  A few bags were inspected by the port authorities without many hiccups and by the time we had all been scrutinised and checked, our bus had arrived.  So we had to re-load our baggage into the bus hold and re-board the bus for a short drive inside the port to the ship.

By this time Paul and various heads of departments had been waiting on the pier for over an hour;  champagne glasses full and getting warm by the minute.  I had tried to keep him updated with text messages throughout this time but it was still a matter of .... "are they ever going to get here???".  We had a very warm "welcome home" reception committee from the staff who lined up on the pier to greet us.  Paul, who had missed me tremendously (and I him) swung me into a big hug, much to the delight of the staff and watching passengers.

I was tired and glad to be back 'home from home' but yet elated from such a wonderful time with a delightful group of people.  I couldn't have wished for anything better.  Our guides, themselves, had become friends by the end; and it was a bit sad to say goodbye to them.

The memories of that trip are the most important thing.  If you have an opportunity to explore - grab it with both hands and don't look back.  Life is short, it is a journey.  Savour it.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Mundo Alpaca

 

Arequipa

 

Jesuits' Church

Sol de Mayo Restaurant

Guinea pig for lunch

 Yanahura Plaza & Surrounding Areas

Heading back to the ship

The Rest of Our Week at Warp Speed.

Without too much ado, this is a very quick overview of the rest of this week - with not much rest in between!  

We drove to chunnel via Belgium and France at midday and caught our chunnel train (er... also called Eurotunnel) without any hassles.  Usually the Eurotunnel terminal is heaving, more so during term time but fortunately it was somewhat quieter when children are back at school.

We arrive in England and stayed at Meon Valley Hotel, Golf & Country Club.  On the way to the hotel we were hungry so we stopped to pick up a salad which we were able to eat in our hotel room.

Paul had business to attend to in Southampton on Thursday and left me in the hotel to continue catching up on my blogs.  I could have gone for a swim in the hotel swimming pool but decided not to.  

That evening we had dinner at Samuel's Rest, a pub/restaurant.  The meal was delicious - fish pie.  It was very filling though!

On Friday we drove up to Wales to pick up our post and stayed with our friends:  Sue, Ian and their daughter Lindsay.  It was really good to see them again - more so because they are an extension of our family by marriage.  

Unfortunately we couldn't stay any longer in the UK because Paul has a course to attend on Monday so we headed back to Rijsbergen via the chunnel on Saturday.  We arrived back at Paul's mum's place quite late in the evening but it was good to be back.  

Back in Rijsbergen.

When it was time to board our flight in Toronto there was chaos.  Two flights were being boarded at gates side by side and it was difficult to hear announcements and people were getting confused.  There was an electrical thunderstorm in Toronto and lightning strikes stopped cargo loaders from loading cargo into the aeroplane's hold because it was unsafe.  Passengers had boarded the flight but all other operations stopped until the thunderstorm had passed.

We finally arrived at Schiphol International Airport about an hour later than expected.  It seemed as if all flights had landed all at once.  There were long queues at Passport Control and then there was chaos at the baggage carousel.  There were at least 3 flights that had all their luggage on one carousel.  Luggage got stuck on one belt that was trying to take baggage up to our assigned carousel so it caused a delay until a luggage operator cleared stuck item.  Then then another flight landed and its baggage was unloaded to our carousel to add to the chaos.  So it took a while before our luggage appeared.

We finally escaped from the airport terminal and made our way to the underground train station and caught an express train to Breda.  At Breda station we caught a taxi to Rijsbergen.  The taxi driver had just picked up someone from the station but was agreeable to take us as well, dropping his first passenger off first. 

Our route from the airport to Rijsbergen.

It was good to get back to Rijsbergen and, first things first, we had a shower.  Oh bliss!

We are tired and at this rate we are going to have an early night to try and get over the jet-lag.

Farewell to Moorea.

This morning I could have murdered the rooster that woke me up at 4am.  I was so tired and wanted to sleep.  I knew we had to get up at a reasonable hour in order to tidy up our rented accommodation before we left but 4am, to me, is unreasonable....

During breakfast we fed the hen and her chicks one last time.  The previous day a bit of ham thrown to mum and her brood went down a treat but today a bit of leftover burger chicken didn't go down as enthusiastically as the ham.  This time the hen allowed other hens and roosters to come for a bite rather than chasing them off as usual.  We will miss our feathered friends.

On the way to the airport we made one last stop at an ice cream shop.  It became our favourite stop during our stay on the island and Sunday was the only day that we didn't go in case the shop was closed.  We said farewell to the ice cream shop owner whilst there, her smiling face turning a bit sad at the news that we were leaving.

At 1pm we boarded short flight to Papeete and were met at the small airport by a driver organised by Paul's company via the port agent.  On the way into the town centre it became apparent that we were being taken to the harbour.  There seemed that there was a misunderstanding about transport arrangements - our driver was told pick up Paul from the airport and take him to the harbour rather than a pre-arranged hotel.  The cruise ship only arrives late tonight or early tomorrow morning.  Paul ended up showing our driver the paperwork that he had, stating that the travel arrangements were from the airport to the hotel and then in the morning, at 9am, - hotel to the harbour.  She believed Paul after that.  Shame, it wasn't her fault.

Eventually we arrived at the Intercontinental Resort Tahiti (http://tahiti.intercontinental.com/), dropped our luggage off in the room and set off to explore the hotel and grounds.  The hotel/resort is beautiful.  I say no more.  We ended up going for a swim in one of the infinity pools and later on we got our mask, snorkel and fins and headed to the "lagoonarium" to do a bit of snorkelling.

We had dinner in one of the  hotel restaurants that looked out towards one of the swimming pools.  There was a bar next door that had live music which was pleasant to listen to as we had our meal.  The whole area was lit up when the sun went down and was very pretty.  The dining room staff encouraged us to stay for the show but we were tired and wanted to head to bed.

Tomorrow we join the Maasdam and Paul's work begins.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Mo'orea Airport (this was actually taken when we arrived on Mo'orea)

Pape'ete is somewhere down there.

Our luggage is being offloaded

 Intercontinental Resort Tahiti