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Published: January 5th 2007
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Lima´s Coast
Lauren took this picture while I was passed out in the back seat. Apparently it was really beautiful! So after saying my sad goodbyes to Venezuela, it was back on the Gringo Trail to see and do as much as possible, for as little as possible, in as short of time as possible!! It´s pretty easy to do here as everything in Perú appears to be set up for day-trips, multi-day trips, overnight buses and conveniently spaced hostels! It´s a traveller´s paradise here and makes poor Venezuela look like an obstacle course just to get around. (dont get me wrong, I loved the challenge and often it wasn´t THAT hard... ít´s just not laid out on a platter like it is here!).
I arrived in Lima late on the 27th of December - spent the first night in a great hostel, the TamboPacaya. The owner was so incredibly friendly and ended up acting as our tour guide the next day all around central Lima. We saw all sorts of Parliament Buildings and museums, old hotels, parks and military bases. I took a few pictures (ok, more like 50!) and we ended walking around for about 2 hours. I don´t know if it was the lack of sleep, the heat, or the impending bug I must have picked up
New Years Eve
Our chilled party on NYE. Nothing beats counting down and being able to feel the sand between your toes! in the orphanage but at one point I just about fainted. Im not a fainter. I made a bee-line for the hostel and slept for about 4 hours until Lauren made it to town.
Lauren knows a girl from Perú who went to school with her little brother at Saint-FX in Nova Scotia. She sent a taxi to pick up Lauren, swing by and get me, and then take us to her house in MiraFlores (the posh-rich area of Lima). And by ´house´ I meant to say ´mansion´. These people are RICH!!! They have 2 maids and a ´guy´ who does stuff around the house. I´m pretty sure you could have called him a PoolBoy, unfortunately they didn´t have a pool!!
We had some great typical Peruvian food and just relaxed in the peace and quiet and beauty of their home.
The next day we ended down to the beach. There´s something to be said about knowing someone who knows people!! We spent the first night at a beach house RIGHT on the water - a large group of us (mostly English speaking Peruvians) just hung out and chatted. I wasn´t exactly the best of company as the
The Candelebra
See what I mean? It´s odd... and no one really knows what it´s for! faintness from a few days ago had turned into a sore neck, pounding headache and serious tiredness. I thought I´d get over it soon, so headed to bed early and tried to sleep it off.
Not so much. I woke up with it being even worse, and after another hours drive to Cerro Azúl where we were to spend New Years, I really felt like I was going to keel over and die. It was horrible. I spent the next 2 days in bed, barely able to move my head without using my hands to help lift my neck, not eating much of anything ´cause it hurt too much to swallow, and just nursing a water bottle. What a way to spend New Years, hey? I guess it´s charma for bragging to everyone about how much fun I was going to have on the beach!
Lauren managed to drink enough for the both of us (hehe) and the night before New Years they were up until about 4am. It would have been just fine, but the speakers were RIGHT under my window, and the music was farrrrr from quiet! It was a rough night of VERY little sleep
4 Boats all in a Row
Leaving Paracas to the SeaLion Island and MUCH pain. To top it off, Lauren and I were sharing a single bed - EW!
I dont think I mentioned that the guy´s beach house we were at in Cerro Azúl was a rugby player from UBC. It was so random how Christi (the girl from St.FX) invited us to a party of a guy who happens to play rugby with Mike at UBC, and with whom I have taken a few classes with in University! Such a small world, isn´t it!?!
December 31st rolled around and I STILL was feeling like I´d been run over by a car, or two. Finally the mom of the house insisted I go to the hospital. Turns out I had tonsilitis and some serious swelling in my throat! oops! I was given a prescription for some anti-biotics and swelling-reducer (yes, that probably is the technical name!) and told I should be better in the next 48hours. Wow, had I done that 3 days before I actually could have enjoyed the beaches!! haha, Im such a stubborn ass!
New Years turned out to be okay - I carried around my waterbottle, and much to everyone´s surprise didn´t TOUCH a
Lazing or Mating?
Sealions doin´their thing! drink! I even made it to midnight to see the crazy guy run around in the firework covered paper-cow suit that ended up lighting on fire (hence that it was made out of PAPER) and he had to throw it off while the fireworks continued to explode!
The first day of 2007 saw a serious improvement in my health! Thank goodness, as I was getting pretty tired of being in Peru and only seeing beds and bathrooms! We made it to Pisco, the namesake of the infamous Peruvian drink, the Pisco Sour - a mix of liquor, lime juice and raw whipped eggwhites!! Eww, I know! Luckily our hostel that we paid about $8 each to stay in, came equipped with a pool, and we warded off the intense afternoon heat with a lovely dip!
The next day we visited the Ballenas Islands - a large protected sea lion colony (that happened to be right fresh in the middle of mating season!), and also a small population of PENGUINS!!! It was a great ride and we got within a few feet of some of the sunbathing lions. They are such a beautifully ugly animal! The snorts and roars
A pretty rock and a pretty ocean
We were able to climb down and explore the cave that the water has carved into the rock... Personally I think the view is better from up here! and grunts they let out are enough to have everyone giggling with delight, and they love to play in the water, splashing around and seeming to play ´who can get closest to this strange floating thing´ with each other. I enjoyed myself incredibly!
On the way out to the island we passed the Candelebra - a mysterious image of either a Candle holder, or a Cactus cut into the side hill. They aren´t sure what its purpose was - whether to direct people to the Nazca Lines, to act as a navigational image, or whether it was just something the local Paracas people did while under the influence of hallucinagenic drugs (something that apparently isn´t that abnormal!)...
After our day in the sun and on the ocean we headed to Huacachina - a tiny oasis in the middle of the desert with a swimming hole, a few hostels, some restaurants and nothing much else! We were surrounded by dunes and spent much of the day lazing by the pool (pretty sure we´re getting spoilt with all these pools in our cheap hostels!!!).
Yesterday we took the dune buggy and sandboarding tour. WHAT A RUSH!!!! There were 8
Rock´O S.Lions
Everywhere we turned there was an orgy of Lobos everrrywhere people per buggy and an insane driver. For 2 hours we ripped over the dune, getting torn apart by the flying sand and trying not to scream too loud as he jumped over the peaks and sent us careening over the next dune.
Four times we got to go down the dunes on our ´boards´. They call it ´sandboarding´... but really it´s like ´laying on a board and ripping down head-first to the bottom´--- soooo much fun!! There were times that the dunes were so enormous that we couldn´t really see what was at the bottom. Fearless, we jumped on the boards and headed down anyway. It was such an adrenaline rush I couldn´t believe it! The last was the worst- it was soooo steep and was probably the biggest one we had seen. The other group had gone down the less-dangerous looking one... but we felt like pros, so we tackled it with gusto. EEEEK!!! What an amazing yet sooo scary thing to do! I went first´cause no one else would - and believe me when I tell you I was too scared to scream!!! At the bottom I just laid there looking up at the top and
Walking to the Cave
The group walking along the white ´sandy´ beach... it was actually a beach of broken rocks and shells with barely any sand. wondering WHY THE HECK I JUST DID THAT!!?!?! Oh what good times!
We planning on heading on into Chile tomorrow... not too sure what the next few days hold, but I´ll keep everyone posted! Hope Christmas and New Years was amazing for everyone!
Much Love!
Callie
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