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Leg room
I was glad it was night time so dark outside, cos i swear at time we were dangerously close to those cliff edges!! Day 5:
After nearly 10 hours on an overnight bus, well, feeling rather restless.... but may i say, if i was ever to travel by overnight bus, this is the daddy of all overnight busses. Not only is it twice the size of a normal coach, it has a stewardess that serves food and drinks at the beginning of the trip. Me and Pham lucked out as we got the equivalent of the emergency exit seats on this bus so there was pleny of leg room!!
We arrive Arequipa about 6am, at which point this is the highest we have been at 2800 meters above sea level... not really feeling that different, so no signs of attitude sickness yet...
The day is a free day to wander the city and see the sights, the square and local markets and off course to sample some of the local food..... unfortunately by this point my fate had already been sealed.. i´ve been first to be struck down with food poisoning, and it was pretty bad, still dont know how i got done considering i´ve been eating the same things as Pham, i refuse to accept that i have a weak
Potatoes, Potatoes, Potatoes
I´ve found my calling in life, to taste the 3000+ varieties of potatoes in Peru alone... that should keep me busy! stomach... come on, some of the things i have put into my mouth!! so being sick didnt stop me trying out some of the food, not saying it agreed with me, but i had to try right?
spent the afternoon wandering the city centre....and visitng the famous Santa Catalina´s Monastary, its was quite pretty, but we kinda got over it after about 20 minutes and decided to take some gay photos instead.... you´ll see!!!
we went back to the hostel and had a wine and cheese tasting event with the group, i was out for the rest of the night with a serious case of the "got done" syndrome.....thats pretty much wraps up day 5, believe me, day 5 was a long day!!!
Day 6:
Woke up still feeling ropey, we check out of our hostel and take a private bus to Chivat town, along the trip we past the highest point that we would on this tour, at 4910 meters above sea level. You sure could feel the altitude at this level, and not to mention the biting wind chills. We stop along the way to take some photos and top up on Coca tea,
G@Y photos at the monastary
We meant no disrespect, but there was hardly anyone around and it was kinda boring..... I´m sure there were signs saying "Do Not Touch" all over the place.. in Spanish though... yes tea made out of Coca leaves, which is supposed to help with climatisation to the altitude.
We reach Chivay town, by which point I´m famished after not having had anything to eat for about 24 hours, and at this point i´m feeling pretty ok-ish. we arrive at a restaurant with a buffet style lunch, with pretty much a sample of all the local delicatsees... me being me couldnt help but try out a few, bad move!
we check into our hostel, very basic, and i have to nap for a couple of houra to recover... next on the agenda hot springs... wow, it was awesome, against the cold winds, we sit in pools of natural hot spring water of 39 degrees to wind down the day... thank goodness for the hot springs, cos getting any hot water out of our hostel shower was not an achievable task.
Summary, chivay high, nearly 4000m above sea, chivay cold, they even give us a hot water bottle for our feet. so for the night we dorn our best thermos plus socks, plus thermo lining, plus extra blanket......
Day 7:
Woke up feeling refreshed, and they said it
G@Y photos at the monastary2
I wonder where these steps lead to??? was going to be cold, was a snug as anything, getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathrooms was another matter... note to self, who cares about hydration when its that cold!!!!
Its an early start this morning, 6am, and we´re off to see the giant Condors on the area, these are the biggest birds in the world I believe, but dont quote me cos I´m bad at paying attention when the guide is giving a lecture!! We arrive, and were fortunate enough to see 3 Condours taking flight, they ae huge and so elegent in their flight, so all in all the birds were great, but what took my breath away for the day was the drive up the. We drove past canyons and valleys, which were so beautiful and amazing, much like the ones we buy in postcards. i dont think the "auto" function on my camera did it justice, but they were amongst one of the most beautiful sights i have ever seen.
and that was just the morning, today on the agenda, we are off to Shiuya for our first home stay of the trip, we arrive late afternoon and meet
our families for the night. Me and Pham are with mama Delia and her 2 beautiful daughters, Ana and Anaise. First thing they do is get us to change into their local clothes, which were colourful and pretty, but obviously we were wearing them above 2 thermos and a fleece, so snug!! Our first task, collect firefood for cooking, we walk about 20 minutes in the freezing cold to collect small twigs which we had to carry on our backs back to the house. We help with the cooking and other bits and pieces, but mostly we tied to communicate with the kids who were 10 and 4 in our very bad and lack of Spanish and teach them English.
After the meal, we tucked ourselves off to bed! we were give hot water bottles (literally coke bottles filled with hot water) under our 4 layers of blankets...early night, its only 9pm, but what else is there to do, there was not tv, it was freezing and it wasnt like we could carry out a decent conversation!
A pretty decent nights sleep except far waking at 1am, couldnt breath, due to the 4 heavy duty blankets and the
G@Y photos at the monastary4
Let me fetch some water first...there was money at the bottom of that well, but not that desperate yet!!! high altitude, coupled with weird and quite voilent dreams, they do say altitude give you bad nightmares! it was pretty hard getting back to sleep after that... for the first time on this trip, i actually wished i was at home in my bed! 😞
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Sundi
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Hey girl, you look like you are having a great time out there, I look forward to reading your blog. I have to say I love your outfit, you are so blending in the local crowds. Take care girl. Sundi xxx