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Published: February 25th 2008
Guinea Pig
Delicious...We have had a pretty hectic week since our last blog, time is flying by! After Otavalo Market in Ecuador we returned to Quito where we caught a flight via Guayaquil to Lima, Peru. We were picked up by transport from our hostel and we noticed bars along the windows around the boot and the fact the driver promptly covered our rucksacs with a rug. On enquiry he explained that the windows have been smashed in twice during the last month with muggers grabbing rucksacs but he assured us it was fine as he showed us his ´protection´- a meter long knife! Okay - 12 hours later and we were at the bus station on our way out of Lima!
Next stop was Huacachina (near Ica) 5 hours south of Lima. This is a beautiful oasis in the middle of sand dunes - a pretty unique place which our travel guide does not to justice to! There is a little lagoon and just a few hostels and cafes and then towering golden sand dunes. Half an hour after our arrival we were on a Dune Buggy racing over the dunes (real life roller coaster!) We were glad we had children
Dune Buggy
Huacachina in our buggy as we bombarded up and down the dunes with stomachs in our mouths! All good fun although Penny spent a good deal of energy trying to work out how not to break any bones if we rolled the buggy! We stopped atop some of the high dunes and sand-boarded down - a rapid, sandfilled descent that was great fun! The last one must have been about a kilometer long! Stunning views over the dunes at sunset.
From Huacachina we caught a bus to Nasca, 2 hours south. This is a small town most famous for some bizarre lines, shapes and pictures - some kilometers long - which are only visible from the air but seem to have been created up to 2000 years ago. Needless to say there are many theories as to their meaning: Alien landing strips, messages to the Gods, religious ceremonial gathering grounds. However it is hard to imagine why any culture would want to make a giant picture of a monkey, spider or bird several hundred meters long. Still, the over flight (in a tiny plane for 3 passengers) had to be done and it was quite spectacular to see the desert
covered in drawings. There is no rain in this area, hence the fact they have lasted for thousands of years.
Overnight bus (managed to avoid the road protests and fire bombings..) to Arequipa, the White City. A beautiful colonial City with wonderful main plaza, Cathedral and Monastery. Headed out on a 3 day hike into Colca Canyon which is the worlds deepest canyon at about 3000m deep - really beautiful. Hard core hiking 5 hours the first day (steeply down and up the canyon sides) - actually we were so keen we did it in 3 1/2 hours but it was hard work! We hiked with Conor (Irish) and Jeung-Mi (Korea) and enjoyed some natural hot springs in the valley floor to relieve our aching muscles. Basic bamboo and stone huts and fresh trout caught minutes before in the river made this a unique experience. Second day was 7 1/2 hours hiking up and down both sides of the canyon which was pretty exhilarating and made all the merrier by the fact that Penny was pretty ill with upset belly and Darryl was suffering man´flu - oh, and it rained for 3 hours on our final uphill ascent! Still,
Astronaut
Nasca Lines great fun and made the beers taste even better! Darryl had no dry clothes so had to go to dinner in his swimming trunks and wrapped up in the blanket from the bed... Such a trend setter.
So back in Arequipa now, Darryl is very proud to have eaten Guinea Pig, Alpaca and Llama in the last few days! Penny is just hoping she can manage some lunch today! Last night we played our first poker game of the trip with Conor and Tom & Meredith (Australians): Penny won.
Off to Cusco and Machu Picchu tonight.
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Jo
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One way to get out of YPQ....
Greetings from Pompey! 7th in Premiership... sitting doing YPQ sifting through e-mails (all those DNAs) and found your link. Then became deeply jealous and morose recalling fab Peru - did you see a condor at Colca? Guinea pig is delicious - just like chicken that has been steam-rollered? Give my love to the Inca Trail and Cusco - laugh as you think of us slaving away for the NHS! Jo