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.

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.