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Lifes a beach!
Our beach camp at Puerta Inca. Well it has been a few weeks since we updated this blog which means that we now are at least 7 weeks behind, aaagh, where has the time gone?
As we are using this blog to keep in touch and also as a diary for our own benefit (you see not just to brag to our working class friends) we will endeavor to catch up. Bear(no, not the naked kind) with us as you may receive the catch up blogs over the next week. This will certainly be a walk down memory lane for those who have been luckily(or unlucky) enough to be sharing some of these experiences with us. To catch up we will also leave out all the trivial detail and just mention the places that made an impression.
After all our physical exercise in the footsteps of the Incas we headed north, still in Peru of course and eventually into Ecuador. Our first beach camping night was at a majestic little place called Puerto Inca. Damn can't get rid of these damn Incas. It is well placed in a protected cove and because of this the Inca leaders turned it into a port which supplied
Another one bites the dust!
Nick, the expert sandborder in action. Cusco with fresh fish.
The next stop was the infamous Nazca lines. The Nazca Lines are a series of geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert, a high arid plateau that stretches more than 80 kilometers and can only be seen from the air. Our flight on a small 5 seater plane was very interesting to say the least. Wayne(alias 007 - nieb, nieb, zeben) are these the type of planes that you are now flying? They were created by the Nazca culture between 200 BC and 700 AD. There are hundreds of individual figures, ranging in complexity from simple lines to stylized hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys, and lizards. Now you try and find some of these in our pics? And of course there are all the conspiracy theories as since their discovery, various theories have been proposed regarding the methods and motivations underlying the lines' construction. These range from the Nazca people made the lines using simple tools, surveying equipment to heir apparent connection with underground waterways to the bizarre aliens landed and constructed them. What were they smoking?
Another place we stopped at worth mentioning is a little gem which features on the 50 Solly notes(the local currency)
Mad as a Hatter!
The famous Panama hats nicknamed "oasis of America". The palm-tree lined, tranquil desert oasis is called Huacachina. Surrounded for miles on all sides by huge sand-dunes, it's a little world unto itself and is the perfect place to get away from it all and relax. However(here she comes again.....) as we were only there for one night there was no time for that! The dunes had to be conquered. Thank goodness it was in a dune buggy with a sand board in toe. Unfortunately Wendy opted out as we were afraid that it may affect her sensitive back, it never stopped her before did it??. The driver of our dune buggy was insane as he never slowed down for anything as he raced up and down the dunes at maximum speed. Every now and again he would stop for us to get a breath back just in time so that we could attempt to sand board down the mountains of sand. There was allot of tumbling, somersaulting and bum sliding. Oh and occasionally we even looked the part. I ended up getting sand in every nook and cranny possible. It was an absolute blast, excuse the pun.
Hey Nick you complained there were no
Cool or what?
The Panama Hats again. pics of you on the last blog well check here, yes...... it is the one of you pulling off one too many stunts and well eating the sand!
After all that action it really was time to find a place to relax and catch up. We ended up at a secluded seaside resort, Punta Sal. We were supposed to beach camp but decided to upgrade to a little shack on the beach, see the pics. Some reading, lounging in the hammock, a few walks on the beach, copious amounts of beer and a little football(well the table kind) we were recharged and ready to go.
From here we crossed the border into Ecuador to Cuenca. This is were we hopped off Mo, the Big red truck(see Blog 7th May'07, " And now life on a big red truck"). After almost 5 weeks we had made some great friends and shared some amazing and interesting experiences that will be fondly remembered, Hey Richard "Looky Now"! We could not leave Cuenca before visiting the Panama hat factory and yes we could not resist buying one each. The other "to do" was to sample the local delicacy, guinea pig! Yes guinea
Who's eyeballing who!
"house pet" becomes "house specialty" pig! It is along that blurred line where "house pet" becomes "house specialty". It is served whole (head, paws and all) on a platter with potatoes and vegetables. It tastes a little like chicken, but with a gamey flavor all of its own and lets just say that our nephews pets are safe when we return. Apologies to the squirmish as we could not resist the pic eyeballing the house specialty(probably Rob's warped sense of humor).
We did encounter some long drive days in Mo, the Big red truck. The most interesting was the first 200km from Lima. We were stopped five times by the local police demanding cash because apparently we were speeding. The first time was a bit intimidating as they were very serious and carried big guns. Fortunately our driver was experienced in the wicked ways of the world and demanded an official receipt. As they were looking for cash bribes and could not produce a receipt a stale mate was reached and every time we were eventually flagged on our way. The other long days were less eventful so we found other ways to entertain ourselves....see the pics!
Chow
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Shane, Casey & Charlotte
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WOW
You guys look like u're having soooo much fun. Not much to say here except that we've been working , working , working..and it's Charlottes 1 year birthday next month. If you don't have u'r dictionary nearby, 'working' is the activity some of us need to do to earn money to live ...lol ;P