birds, sand and bodies

Hey all,

Arrived in Arequipa yesterday at 5, wasn´t a bad journey even managed to get a lie in by leaving at 9!!

After leaving Lima (at 6 instead of 5 which was still painful but more acceptable), we headed down the coast towards Paracas, sleeping all the way!! We had a speedboat tour of the Ballestas Islands all lined up, which are renowned for their bords and wildlife. We saw the Candleabra etched in a cliff, a preview of the Nazca lines, before heading across the water to the bigger islands. It stank!! There were hundreds upon hundreds of birds flying around, from common Seagulls, to Pelicans and native Peruvian Boobies. We even saw small pengiuns on the rocks- the Humbolt Pengiun native to this area. And in the caves and on the beaches rested huge sprawling colonies of sea-lions, honking and fighting. It was all really cool to see, despite the small which came from the tons of poo everywhere. It is called guano and is a very valuable fertiliser, so every 7 years people come to the islands to collect the guano and export it.

We were supposed to go sandboarding afterwards but it got moved to the next day, so after lunch we made our way to our hotel is Pisco. Pisco is where the Pisco Sour (peruvian national drink) comes from, but the town was devestated by an earthquake back in March, and rubble still lies everywhere. There was nothing to do and we didnt really want to go outside, so we stayed in the hotel all day and got to know Qamar (Kaymar) better, he is really dead on.

We left for Huacachina the next day, which is a small village and hotel which has sprung around an oasis in the desert. We went dune-buggy riding and sandboading was was great craic!! The dunes were absolutely massive, and we were speeding and swerving all over them getting airborne a right few times!! (we were strapped in and driven by expert dune-buggy drivers I hasten to add!!) The view was stunning, huge clean dunes, with the green valley below, and the towering misty Andes in the background. Sandboarding was great, we law on narrow pieces of wood,holding onto straps, legs apart to act as breaks and were pushed down the ever growing taller dunes.

After all the adreneline it was back aboard Jack (the big yellow fun truck) for the trip to Nazca. We pitched tents in the lawn of a hotel, and then 7 of us went to see the Nazca lines. Have to say I wasn´t that impressed, we were just given a map and flown over them in a tiny 5seater plane. The pilot didnt point out any of them just banked around so that both sides could see them. I got a bit sick around line no 8 (of 12) and had to close my eyes for a while!!! I just expected them to be bigger or more impressive, it looked like someone went down in the morning with a big stick and got busy!! Mary was happy though, she was up front with the pilot and he let her take over the controls for about 20seconds!! She takes flying lessons back home.

Had a quiet camp as we couldnt have a fire. Next day we left to camp at Puerta Inca on the coast. We stopped at Chauchilla Cemetery on the way. They had opened up graves to show the perfectly preserved bodies below, which was incredibly creepy. The bodies were mummified, put in the foetal position, and buried facing East- believer to hasten the transition to the afterlife. It was from the Nazcan culture. We sawlots of mummified babies too- everyone got the treatment, although the royalty had their own sectioned graves. They only practiced human sacrifice on two occasions; if they took over another tribe they sacrificed the tribe leader, and if babies were born deformed they sacrified them and replaced their heads with pumpkins. Lovely. The guide, Jorge, was full of information and even shared throries on the Nazcan lines, which was far more interesting!!

We made it to Puerta Inca around 5, pitched camp and started dinner. My group made pork sewwt and sour stir fry with noodles and rice- very yum. Had a big night that night, didnt get to bed til after three!! Next day was total relaxation, went for a walk to see the nearby Incan ruins. It was once a port which sent fish and other materials to Cuzco using a succession of couriers to bring the products up. We had a BBQ that night which Wes (driver) spent most of the day preparing!! It was lovely but we were knackered and didnt last past 10!!


So we are in Arequipa, which is a beautiful city and I could happily spend a week here!! Leaving for Cuzco tomorrow, start the Inca Trail on friday!! All getting exciting and busy at last!! Been too relaxed for a long while!!

More news later,
Chao!!

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