Colca Canyon and Nazca Lines

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Forgot to mention that on our last day in Cusco, we went to see a footy game between the local team (3rd in league) and Lima (1st in league). It was really good fun, simply becasue there was so much action. 5 sending-offs, 6 goals and 2 massive stadium fights where riot police (and army?!?) got involved. There was a slightly worrying 'kerffufle' outside at the end where the police on horses got involved (which did scare me a bit), but apart from that, it was sooooo good. Much better than the game in Rio where nothing happened at all.

Anyway, we had a seriously tedious journey to Arequipa on the bus. It was during the daytime (11 hrs) and was boiling hot (even for me!) and all the Peruvians on the bus were in fleeces and wouldn't let me and Jon have the ceiling window open. It wasn't pleasant at all, but our destination, Arequipa was a lovely place to arrive to. It is beautiful and there's a few things to see/do. It's also a good place to have a few drinks too. Whilst there, we decided to go trekking in the Colca Canyon (one of the deepest in the world and twice as deep as the Grand) for 3 days. It was totally worth all the pain it caused me!!!! It was seriously hard work walking all the way down to the bottom of the canyon, but oh my God - the walk up was so hard! The ascent was a 1200m climb in altitude and 6km long. And that is after a morning of trekking. I was nearly dead at the end but it was so satisfying. Walking through the canyon is a real eye-opener. You pass through and stay the night in little villages (of 20-50 people) that are totally self-sufficient and have no electricity or running water. The only way to transport anything in from the outside world is on a donkey, on the same trails we walked. It's a peaceful life. And then, on the last day, you get to go to a special spot to wait for the condors to rise out the canyon on the thermal air currents. We sat there (first in line) and waited for about 40 mins, and then, all of a sudden, the massive ugly birds started rising out the canyon (they don't flap their wings but just float on the thermals) and flying above our heads looking for food. It was such an awesome sight.

After seeing a few more things in Arequipa, we came to Nazca on a night bus. It dropped us off at 03:45 in the morning so we got totally hassled by touts at the bus terminal who are annoyingly persistent. Coz we were knackered, we ended up opting for a place that let us stay the rest of that night and the next for the price of one night, but it is a total dive. We leave tomorrow thankfully! We went to see the famous Nazca Lines today - the large shapes of animals (eg monkey, spider, hummingbird) etched into the desert - that can only be fully appreciated from an aerial perspective. It is quite wierd how/why a people who could never have flown would have created them. The flight was on a 12-man light aircraft. All the twists and turns made everyone feel quite nauseous and I had a family with 3 Peruvians kids next to me, who all felt ill. The girl in front of me started spewing (which was gross) and the smell was disgusting. Jon's favourite 'Line' was the runway, which he kept having to focus his thoughts on. But - apart from that, it was really good. I even got my photo taken with the pilot and his plane at the end!

Next stop is Pisco, where they make a famous grape-based liquor.....

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Comments

[mum dad and cath]

we checked out blog together!
had a real laugh reading this! we wouldn't fly in a 12 man aircraft! don't get too 'piscoed' !