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Published: September 6th 2006
Hello everyone!!
Ali here as think its my turn to try and remember all that we´ve been up to. Lorna is feeling and looking great havbing a beer, while i am just waking up from a too short afternoon nap (those who know me will probably be aware of my ability to snuggle up anywhere of an afternoon and during this holiday i have taken opportunities whenever i can, today has been in a bed which was nice. Needed as a result of changing altitude and feeling generally sleepy and airless after taking a long walk around Arequipa). Feeling good now and once i´ve finished with you lot, i´ll be off for some beers and a bit of a chat with the gang we are travelling with and whichever locals we meet.
I loved the jungle, just to add to what Lorna had written and i think some people may have rceived an additonal e-mail from me, it was just such an amazing place with lovely people and Iquitos was also a high point for me - what a place!!
Since last e-mail, we have been to Paracas and got on a motorboat to see the candalabra which has been imprinted on the cliff-side for hundreds of years, we then saw all the wildlife around the Ballestas Islands. Big seals, including bulls that were blinking loud, many penguins were sunbathing with the seals, noses in the air and completely ignoring the noisy, stinking boat we were in - and the sound of paparazzi snapping from the boat. There were millions of cormorants and huge pellicans, flying about they look really strangely prehistoric, perhaps even worse on the quay, where young children had developed a plan to get money from tourists, enticing pellicans onto the pathways and waving fish at them to make the pellicans nod their heads, etc.
We went to Huacachina (pronounced Wackachina) in the afternoon, a beautiful oasis in amongst the most enormous sand-dunes. The heat was amazing and the food very cheap here there was the opportunity to go sand-surfing and out on a dune buggy, however as i had only just eaten i decided that it would be best to hike up one of the closer sand-dunes with a couple of other people, Lorna escaped this as she was still needing to take things easy so she sat under a tree with a book. I hiked the sand-dune which took about 15 minutes, it was a very steep climb and the sand just continuously fell and my 50 steps managed to take me about 10 feet!! It felt great to get to the top and took about 10 minutes to stop feeling sick - having hiked so soon after lunch as i had thought it would be more gentle than rolling around on the beach buggy. Silly me.....
Nazca was the destination for the night and we arrived after dark. Had a gentle evening as it had been a long day. When we got up the drama began about whether we would be able to go on a flight over the Nazca lines due to flying conditions, etc. We also went to see a local traditional potter who made some very sexualised pots in the Nazca tradition and some plain ones. We then saw a gold man, i had a go on the processing machine - a barrell type contraption that rolled through water and mercury and gold (tiny bit). This barrell was rocked manually by workers (and me) side-to-side, all day. the workers were very bored and clearly very poor. They also had no protection from the mercury....
The Nazca lines was done in the afternoon, the flights were about 30 minuetes long and there was lots of bumping and they twisted and turned in both directions in quick succession, saw the lines very quickly most of the time but i think it would have been difficult to have done it without the pilot pointing the wing and spinning round over it til you saw it (oh yes, it felt amazing!!) Lorna was very sick and it seemed to do the trick as she got back to normal pretty quick.
WE saw the mummy bundles (of the long-hair tribe) in the Chauchilla cemetary...very odd to see so many remarkably preserved skin and bones and hair (often bleeched orange from black by sun exposure) La,la,la,la,la - hands over ears.
We arrived at Puerta Inca in the evening and settled down to a buffet of fresh-fresh sea food and chicken and alpaca meat, with big waves crashing onto the beach...
The scenary is amazing and really high mountains, desert alongside sand and sea. The roads can be pretty treacherous and there are many shrines to prove it on the side of the roads and cliffs.
The scenary is usually pretty sparse, then there are towns and settlements where green things grow and people work their donkey by dragging along massive, over loaded trailors and people work in every crevice of the green areas. The fruit at these stalls are amazing and we´ve wought many baby bananas and mandarins.
The kids sell finger puppets (knitted animals) for 1 sole - essentially about 16p.
All the way to Arequipa began to be a challenge to our senses as the bus went up really sharp corners and mountains, we went past misti volcano which is supposed to errupt soon, it is the only volcano that has no snow on its cap. We have begun the process of getting used to altitude, experiencing the sickness, headache feelings and general tiredness, faster heartbeats, etc. Feels a bit strange but we go up to 5000 meters tomorrow so we will definately feel worse!! Our ´leader´Rob says we will have a special brew at the top to make us feel better, mate i think.
Anyhow, lovely people, its time for me to go out in Arequipa for the final time, we found a lovely place for dinner last night and had amazing wine and pisco sours so tonight we are hoping to do the same before a 7am start!!
Love to all,
Take care now
Ali Cat and Lorna
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sarah haigh
non-member comment
sounds amazing
Ali/lorna, the travel blogs are amazing in there detail, the trip so far well incredible. good luck as you climb higher up in to the clouds, hope your bodies adapt quickly. keep the info coming. just think how many photo's you will be able to show us. we will need a night out just for that. Have fun and take cace.