Chapter XI: The Southern Railway—arequipa

From the charm of the Rimac Valley and the City of the Kings it is
difficult to escape, but on a four months’ tour not more than ten
days can be spared for this region, fourteen at the outside. To
Mollendo, the next place of debarkation, the voyage may be pursued
by any one of the three lines of steamers previously mentioned. If a
through ticket to this port or to Valparaiso has not been purchased,
one may elect to go on one of the Kosmos boats, a very comfortable
German Line which in 1911 afforded an especial advantage to tourists
with heavy baggage, going up to Bolivia. These boats lie over two
weeks at Antofagasta, taking on freight at near by ports; so that
leaving one’s heavy baggage on board, one may make the trip from
Mollendo to Arequipa, Cuzco, and La Paz, rejoining the same ship at
Antofagasta two weeks and three days from the time of going ashore
at Mollendo. Persons patronizing any of the three lines from Panama,
may by especial arrangement with the purser have their baggage
checked through to Valparaiso, to reclaim it at the Custom House
there when they arrive.

The express steamers south from Callao arrive at Mollendo on the
second morning after sailing. As the daily train for Arequipa leaves
at 1.30 p.m. there is ample time to disembark, have the baggage
examined, take breakfast, _almuerzo_, price one _sol_, at the Hotel
Ferrocarril just above the railway station, and perhaps look about a
little before going aboard the train. A through ticket, price 40
_soles_, to La Paz should be purchased, as this saves considerable
bother, permits stopping off at Arequipa, and for the trip to Cuzco
at Juliaca, and saves a trifle over the local tickets. All hand
baggage may be taken into the car without charge, but there is a
heavy tariff on trunks or anything that is checked, so much so that
two heavy trunks will approximate the cost of one ticket. Most
persons will be able to manage with hand luggage only, not
forgetting, however, that wraps and warm clothing will be needed on
the plateau above.

=Mollendo= is a busy port, in Peru second to Callao in commerce,
though far behind in other ways. It has really no harbor at all, in
spite of a small breakwater recently built; the rollers and surf
often look a bit awesome and the barrel is frequently called into
requisition. Rarely the sea is so rough that passengers are carried
on to the next port, whence they may return at their own expense.
Seven or eight miles north is an excellent quiet haven, among the
best on the Pacific, Matárani, to which there is much talk of
transferring the port, especially since most of the business portion
of Mollendo was destroyed by fire, April 2, 1912. From the Matárani
Bay the railroad journey would be nearly twenty miles shorter and
the ascent to the top of the bluffs would have a one per cent lower
grade. It is hoped that the transfer will not long be delayed.

The tariff for disembarking at Mollendo is higher than at other
ports, four-oared boats being generally used. For one passenger it
is S.1; if there are more than three in one boat, 60 _ctvs._ each:
children under twelve, 30 _ctvs._ Parcels of ordinary size or small
trunks are 50 _ctvs._ each to the mole, and as much more to the
station: large trunks 70 _ctvs._ and 60 more to station. With much
baggage for several passengers a bargain for the whole may be made.
The boatmen are liable to ask double what it is worth or what they
are willing to accept. Peruvians generally pay one-half or one-third
as much as strangers.

Mollendo is not an attractive place, between May and November
subject to a fine mist or drizzle, and having little sunshine. It
is, nevertheless, a health resort, but the most melancholy one it
was ever my lot to visit. Yet many persons are benefited by coming
from the greater altitudes of Arequipa and La Paz, even though the
place be damp and cheerless. With an hour to spare one may stroll
around the town or along the beach where the waves are rolling in
from Australia or other remote region, or may climb the rocky
promontory to watch the high breaking surf.

After leaving the station the train for several miles hugs the sandy
shore, then turning away soon begins to climb the bluff, here about
3000 feet high. The face is irregular with steep slopes cut by many
cañons. The road winds along up one of these, then on the face of a
projecting slope, the car having first one side toward the sea, then
the other, and heading in turn towards all points of the compass. At
_Tambo_ Station about 1000 feet up, there is a pretty view down into
the Tambo Valley, its level floor green with sugar cane and other
agricultural products. Women from below stand by the car windows
with fruit and other edibles to sell. The ever changing prospect is
a continual source of pleasure, especially near the close of the wet
season, when the upper half of the slopes is quite green, mostly
with bushes of heliotrope all in blossom. At other times there is
only sand, not a particle of verdure, but many black sticks, some
day to be rejuvenated into glowing life. It is a long and devious
way to the edge of the plateau, where a sudden change is
experienced. The green if any is left behind, a sandy desert is
before, though the dampness, in the winter, continues. The gradual
change from the gray mist to the bright desert sunshine if observed
is most interesting, and then to look backward upon the gray cloud
from which you have emerged. Here, perhaps, you have your first view
of an absolute desert; no wells are useful, and for the stations
along the track, even for Mollendo itself, water is piped down from
near Arequipa, 100 miles distant. The plateau is covered with deep
yellow sand and scattering stones, some as black as coal. Here is
the desert you have dreamed of: no sage-brush, no blade of grass
relieves the burning sand. Not that the sand burns here, but in some
sections it is hot indeed. The monotony is relieved by graceful gray
sand dunes from three to twenty feet high, crescent-shaped, moving
slowly along at the rate of sixty feet a year. In the distance are
variegated hills, gray, red, yellow, brown, and white, and the great
mountains, El Misti and Chachani, with snow caps varying in
dimensions according to the time of the year and the character of
the season, Pichu-Pichu, a long range slightly lower. Some of the
stations have a glint of green, a small oasis in the desert, others
not a sign of verdure. Vitor is quite a little place with a hotel
kept by an ancient Belgian, a neat, comfortable little
establishment, used as a health resort for persons with weak hearts,
for whom Arequipa is too high or Mollendo too damp. It is a starting
point for those who would ride across the desert to the Vitor Cañon
close by, the Sihuas Cañon beyond, and the Majes Valley still more
remote, at the head of which Mt. Coropuna, 21,000 feet, is situated;
ascended for the first time, July 16, 1911, by Miss Annie S. Peck
and party. A railway is soon to be constructed between Vitor and the
Majes Valley, which will open for increased traffic a fine
agricultural and mineral section, the products of which are now
brought by trains of burros across the desert. A little above Vitor
the train enters the hills and presently passes along the edge of
the fine Vitor Cañon, the floor of which is 500 or 1000 feet below.
Trains of llamas may be seen, ancient ruins, a suburban town, Tingo,
then if darkness has not fallen comes an enchanting view of Arequipa
on the verdant slope of the great volcano El Misti, with Chachani
and Pichu-Pichu also in the background.

AREQUIPA

HOTELS. Morosini Parodi, Grand Hotel Central, Royal Hotel, Hotel
Europe.

ON THE SOUTHERN RAILWAY OF PERU
]

RELIGIOUS PROCESSION, EL MISTI AT THE RIGHT
]

At the bustling railway station, at the car windows, if not within,
boys and men will appear who wish to seize your baggage and carry it
to the trams. Hotel runners perhaps have previously entered the car.
Behind the station a long row of tram cars drawn by little mules was
formerly found, already probably superseded by the promised
electrics. Before taking a car decision should be made as to what
hotel will be patronized. The Morosini Parodi is by many called the
best, but I was never so fortunate as to find there a vacant room.
Their table is particularly commended; the main building containing
the restaurant Venezia is on the west side of the Plaza de Armas,
and there are several annexes. The Grand Hotel Central and the Royal
Hotel, the first on the left, the second on the right of the calle
Mercaderes a block or two from the Cathedral and Plaza are both
fairly comfortable with perhaps a slight preference for the former,
where electric lights and bells are in service and hot and cold
baths announced, which does not mean private baths en suite. None of
those will be found, so far as I am aware, after leaving the Maury
until you arrive at Buenos Aires. From some of the upper rooms of
the Central a fine view of Misti may be enjoyed. The prices at all
three hotels range from four to six _soles_ per day, according to
room and bargaining ability. This includes everything but bath,
which is with difficulty had at all. Hotel Europe, 67 Mercaderes,
serves coffee and supper only. A block or two from the station is a
clean and respectable hotel of lower price, convenient for one
leaving by the early morning train; but for the few days desirable
here, one of the hotels in the center of the city about a mile from
the station is to be preferred.

_Arequipa_, at an altitude of 7549 feet (we are still within the
tropics), has by day a climate of perennial June, by night one of
October or November. The evening air in winter is chilly enough to
make many men, even natives, wear a light overcoat and some ladies,
furs; at the same time others appear on the street in thin summer
clothing. The city, the second in Peru in size and in commercial
importance, has a population of about 40,000. It was founded in 1540
by the Spaniards, though there was a pre-existing Indian settlement,
a natural location on account of an ample water supply from the
river Chili. A garden has been made here in the midst of the desert,
in a spot sheltered from winds by the mountains, enjoying a
delightful climate, and a very beautiful prospect.

Sight-seeing begins with the principal plaza which has the
_Cathedral_ on one side, and on the other three the finest stone
_portales_ in South America. Behind these are many of the principal
shops, dry goods, confectioners’, etc. The Cathedral is a fine
structure, with an interior more imposing than the outside view.
Begun in 1612, it was constructed with great elaboration and
contained many costly treasures. These with the interior were
largely destroyed by fire in 1844. The rebuilding which consumed
twenty years was hardly over when the great earthquake of 1868
occurred. Fortunately the work was too substantial to be overthrown.
Splendid columns support the great arches of the three naves,
producing an effect unusually noble and impressive. From the lower
side of the Plaza, in the wonderfully clear atmosphere, the
beautiful cone-shaped Misti presents an admirable picture with
Chachani a trifle higher on the left and Pichu-Pichu a little lower
on the right, in the moonlight a scene of rare loveliness.

Other noteworthy churches are those of _Santo Domingo_, and the
Jesuits’, the latter, _La Compañia_, near a lower corner of the
Plaza, having a noticeable carved stone façade and, an uncommon
feature, an altar in the open air. The people are noted for their
culture and for their devotion to the church, the city having the
reputation of being the most bigoted in South America, a reputation
shared by several others. There is no objection to one’s practicing
his own religion in an inconspicuous manner, but there has been
serious opposition to proselyting. Nevertheless, the Evangelical
Mission of England is now carrying on a work, especially among the
Indians, in which personal hygiene and sanitary modes of life are
taught in connection with moral and religious instruction, with less
friction on the part of the higher classes than formerly.

The fine new _Public Market_ occupying a whole square, about two and
a half acres, deserves a visit. The building which cost $280,000 is
of a pink and white volcanic stone locally called _sillar_, with a
roof of corrugated iron arranged to give good ventilation. At the
four corners are four buildings, one a hotel and restaurant, the
other three for storage of surplus stocks of fish, meat, and
vegetables.

Some tourists may like to visit the splendid new hospital of
Arequipa, called the finest of its kind in South America, named
after the Goyeneche family, Arequipanians now resident in Paris, who
have devoted the sum of $625,000 to the buildings and their
equipment. The grounds embrace about eight acres of gently sloping
land, with the main entrance at the head of a broad avenue. In front
of the gate is a beautiful Gothic chapel, with Gothic administration
buildings at each side of the entrance. Beyond the chapel are the
wards, the men’s on the left including a military section; the
women’s on the right, together with the residence for the nurses,
who are Sisters of Charity. There are especial apartments for paying
patients, with and without baths. Also there is a hydro-therapic
building equipped for every sort of bath, available for use by
outsiders: operating rooms, kitchen, laundry, morgue, disinfecting
stoves, electric lights, and ample water supply. All the buildings
are of stone, well ventilated, and a fine clock adorns a tower. The
hospital was inaugurated January 20, 1912.

The _Garden of Señor Leopoldo Lucioni_ is a picturesque spot to be
visited by every stranger. Vine-covered walls, arbors of grapes,
heavily laden fruit trees, an avenue of fine cedars, flower-bordered
walks, roses, and carnations adorn the place; almost every variety
of fruit and vegetable seems to grow in this delightful climate, and
plants, seeds, and cuttings are yearly sent by the owner to
European, and to other South American cities. Planted by the owner
26 years ago, it is now one of the attractions and benefactions of
Arequipa.

Near the city, about two miles from the center, is a spot which is a
strong reminder of home, the name Harvard being familiar to every
American. This is the Observatory, one of the most important and
best equipped in South America, established here in 1891 after
considerable study of various locations along the West Coast in
search of a site both fairly accessible and favored with clear
skies. In addition to various other instruments there is a 24-inch
Bruce photographic doublet, the largest and most powerful of the
kind in the world, and a 13-inch Boyden telescope, which may be used
for either visual or photographic work. More than 100,000
photographs of the Southern Heavens here made are now in the Harvard
Observatory at Cambridge, many new stars have been discovered and
magnitudes determined. Meteorological observations are taken twice
daily, and were made for some years in other places, the most
notable, on the summit of El Misti, 19,200 feet, the greatest
altitude where a long series of observations has ever been recorded.
The dwelling of the Director is a very homelike structure, from the
veranda of which there is a beautiful view of Misti close at hand,
of Chachani a little more distant, and over the city of Arequipa and
the great desert beyond. Visitors are welcome in the afternoon, but
the evenings are devoted to work.

Six miles beyond the Observatory, following the Chili river, is the
Power Station of the Electric Society of Lima, a pleasant ride; but
in the plant, only the specialist would have great interest.

=Ascent of Misti, 19,200 feet.= A unique possibility which may
appeal to a few, to those who say that they like to climb
mountains as far as they can ride, is presented by the beautiful
Misti. For, years ago, when observations were to be made on the
summit, a road was constructed, _i. e._, a narrow bridle path, to
the very top of the mountain, and a stone hut was erected at about
the altitude of the summit of Mont Blanc, where the observers
might pass the night on the way. While it may not _look_ very
distant, the top of the mountain is 11 miles in a straight line
from the Harvard Observatory, and 39 miles around by the road,
which from there makes the complete circuit of the mountain before
reaching the top. One desirous of making the trip should consult
the Director of the Observatory, which may be done by telephone,
to know if Francisco is available as guide and if he can provide
mules. Having made the ascent more than 100 times Francisco may be
relied upon. He may charge S.8 for each animal and as much more
for himself, or he may have doubled his prices within the last ten
years. He may indeed be dead, in which case probably there is
another who may serve. Setting out by eight o’clock, with plenty
of wraps and provisions, one will not be likely to arrive at the
M. B. hut much before dark. The way goes to the right of the
mountain up to the Plateau of the Bones, 13,300 feet, between
Misti and Pichu-Pichu, where passed the ancient highway to Cuzco
and Bolivia; then it turns directly towards the summit, to the M.
B. hut at an altitude of 15,700 feet. One sleeps on the floor if
at all. Some persons are here so affected with headache, fever,
and nausea, the usual symptoms of _soroche_, mountain sickness,
that they are unable to proceed. But if not too badly off, one
with good grit is likely to feel better by day, and in the fresh
morning air may pursue the journey. Some persons suffer no
inconvenience whatever. One should set out for the summit by
daylight, as the ascent requires four hours or more and it is a
long way down to the city. From the summit there is a splendid
prospect of mountains near and remote, of the beautiful city and
green valley just below, and of the desert stretching away to the
ocean, which, alas! however clear the surrounding atmosphere, is
likely to be hidden from view by the almost perpetual cloud of
mist which overhangs the shore. Still more striking is the view of
the great crater at one’s feet, a gulf half a mile in diameter and
800 feet deep, enclosed by almost vertical walls. In 1903 a lower
cross wall separated the old from the new crater and it was
possible at one point to the right to descend to the bottom of the
former, climb up the cross wall and look down into the new crater,
which was smoking slightly; then to continue along this wall to
the edge of the crater above the M. B. hut, and to slip and slide
down thither. Some changes have occurred in the crater since then
and doubtless most persons will be satisfied with reaching the
summit. Nowhere else in the world can so great an altitude be so
easily attained: Misti is 5000 feet higher than Pike’s Peak and
surpasses every mountain in North America save Mt. McKinley,
possibly Mt. Logan. If the season has been unusually stormy and
the mountain has a considerable covering of snow, the ascent on
muleback might be impracticable. In 1903 there was but a small
patch of snow on one side and not the slightest difficulty. The
reason for the lack of snow at this altitude, when it is found on
other mountains in Peru much lower down, is the slight
precipitation which here occurs, varying with the year but always
less than on most other mountains. No real eruption from this
volcano has occurred since the Spaniards in 1549 founded the city,
but El Misti is somehow held in a measure responsible for the
earthquakes which from time to time have devastated the city, and
the affectionate admiration with which the mountain is regarded is
not unmixed with awe. Hence the two crosses which have been
erected on the summit, standing near the little shelters for the
Observatory instruments. Those of a self-registering character
here placed were for a year or two read by an observer, not always
the same person, who came up every two weeks. The effects of the
severe earthquake of 1868 are still visible in the city. Slight
shocks are common. For this reason dwellings of a single story are
generally preferred, and few buildings have more than two.

Not far from Arequipa, as is natural in a volcanic region, are
springs of great reputation. One situated about a league from the
city produces an excellent table water, called the _Agua de Jesus_
or _de Misti_, highly recommended for general use, good also for
several ailments. It is a pleasant ride with a fine prospect all
along the way, and with opportunity at the end for a bath in a
clear, effervescent pool, where the water, charged with carbonic
acid gas, rising from the gravel floor, seems to have a highly
exhilarating effect.

In the opposite direction, 15 miles from Arequipa near the railway
leading to Puno, are the _Baths of Yura_, a watering place of
growing fame, with baths of sulphur and of iron. These may be
enjoyed free of charge, as the Government has erected suitable
buildings over the various springs; though in order to profit by
them, unless camping out, one must pay a moderate board at one of
the neighboring hotels. The _Gran Hotel de las Termas_, in a pretty
garden, supplies comfortable quarters and food (bathing suits,
etc.), at S. 2.50 a day. The waters are said to cure stomach
troubles, skin diseases, rheumatism, etc.

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