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Well just like Paddington Bear I have now packed my bags and left the wilds of deepest,darkest Peru. Two final weeks have finished off this South American journey and now I head to more familiar surroundings.
The border crossing into Peru was much less entertaining than crossing into Bolivia, however this time we did get there at siesta time and had to go find the coppers to stamp us through. And the guy wanted money from me for borrowing his pen to fill out the immigration form on the Peru side!! Very nice seeing as hardly any of the pens in the office actually worked. I did my best impersonation of someone who doesn't speak any spanish at all and gave him my last few Bolivianos-useless in Peru and worth about 2 cents!!
So here we go - Highlights of Peru:
1. The small town of Puno next to Lake Titicaca: I was booked on a boat trip out onto the lake to visit the islands of Taquile and Amantani. On Taquile island it was lunch then we got to play a game of soccer with the local kids. They also swarmed around us like little bees
trying to sell us bracelets that most of us already have. Did a huge walk around the entire island, hard at altitude but a great view.On the second island, Amantani, the locals gave us a traditional welcome before we were all split up between different families to stay for the night. A traditional meal followed and we were dressed up in traditional costumes to attend the local dance that night. Very interesting especially trying to keep up with the local oldies who don't get out of breath at 4000m like us gringos!
2. Cusco: Spent almost an entire week in and around Cusco with lots of visits to Inca ruins. Amazing that so much has come from a people that really were only around for a hundred years or so.
Sacsayhuaman - is right next to cusco city. Only 20% remains as the spanish took a lot of it apart to construct their own houses in the city. It is an old fort and as Cusco is shaped like a puma, the fort sits at the site of the puma's head.
Sacred Valley - the 100km or so between Pisac and Machu Picchu, the river flows
from the sanctuary of Vilcanota where the Incas believed the sun was born. It was also believed that it was a sort of reflection of the milky way and constellations.
Pisac - Is a village in the sacred valley with an Inca site built into the mountain spur above. From a distance the ruins and terraces appear as a condor on the side of the hill.
Ollantaytambo- an Inca city that has been inhabited since the 13 century. Has a temple with a ceremonial area on top and is one of the few places that the spanish conquistadors actually lost a battle. The god Wiracocha, he's the guy that created the Inca people, is turned to stone in the side of the mountain overlooking.
Machu Picchu- all the sites of the Inca ruins are amazing but I guess no trip to Peru would be complete without a visit to the Lost city of the Incas. It was rediscovered in 1911, and it's probably a good thing it took that long coz no doubt the spanish would have destroyed that as well. I was glad it was much bigger than I had imagined as I remember being very
Dancing Queens
The locals in full flight. And yes we were all dressed up exactly the same!!disappointed when I first saw Stonhenge and realised how small that was.
At this time a bus has to be caught from the little town of Aguas Calientes as landslides have covered the last bit of the trail so it was up at 5am to get the first bus up the mountain. Lots of people lining up to get in but the first train from Cuzco didn't arrive till 10ish so it wasn't actually that crowded for the first few hours.
The view from the top is amazing, the scenery, mountains, rivers all really beautiful. So easy just to sit on the hill and look down and take it all in. I am so coming back to South America!
Cuzco also afforded another opportunity to be a bit adventurous and I managed to go paragliding over sacred valley. I was originally going to do this in Salta but due to the falling over my own feet incident at the time I couldn't walk let alone run so I had to wait. Glad I did as the view in Cuzco was amazingly better. Went extremely high, not so much scared of the height, just scared of plunging to my death
Sacsayhuaman - Cusco
The biggest rock in the ruins, over 300 ton. into the big field of cows below.
3. Chivay and the Colca Canyon: Colca is the second deepest canyon in the world next to the Cotahuasi canyon which is also near Arequipa. Here is where we waited very early in the morning to see the condors- the biggest flying bird in the world.Bald with white feathers around their necks and grey plumage elsewhere there are pretty ugly close up but not in the air. They are scavengers which caused them to be associated as guardians of the dead by the Incas. It was pretty cool to see how high they can go gliding around on the thermals and they got pretty close to the viewpoint on top of the mountain too.
4. Arequipa: Very dangerous place but also home to both the Santa Catalina Convent and 'Juanita' the ice maiden.
The convent is recently opened to visitors and covers over 2 hectares in the middle of the city. Used to be that in every family the second son either had to become a priest or join the army, if he chose to join the army then the second daughter had to join the convent. I'd be hopin'
for a brother that wanted to join the army!!
Juanita is a 12-14 yr old Inca girl who was a human sacrifice to the gods around 500 yrs ago. She was found in the 90's on Mt. Apatu when the ice cap melted due to the eruption of a neighbouring volcano. She is important to scientists as only her face is actually mummified as it was exposed to the dry air, the rest of her is as she was 500 yrs ago, just frozen. Very, very creepy..
5. Nazca: Flew over the famous Nazca lines in a VERY small plane. Don't normally get travel sick but Godfrey and I were a little woosy after this flight.
6. Stayed at a beautiful camping spot on the beach at Puerto Inca with a night of concerts, fireworks and karaoke. The drive the next day was unforgettable too through the sand dunes along the coast. From one extreme to another as we stopped to watch first some dolphins larking about and surfing the waves, and then to have a look at a dead whale on the beach. Knowing that a fish market stinks was enough to keep me in the truck
as I don't reckon a huge dead fish that's not on ice is going to smell any better!
7. Huacachina: Best fun ever spending a few hours hooning around in a dune buggy and then sandboarding headfirst down some more dunes. Even better if you remember to keep your eyes closed when kicking up a cloud of sand.
8. Lima: Capital of Peru. In a nutshell - 9 million people with the smog to match!!has a reputation for being dirty and dangerous and it certainly seemed like that.
So from Lima, Godfrey and I are now heading north for the winter. It's getting a bit cold here and we need to find a beach and some sun!! South America has been amazing, the people, the food, the atmosphere. And there is so much more here to see yet that I haven't had time for this time around.
Things I will definitely NOT miss about South America:
When you go into sooooo many 'restaurants' here, as normal you sit and order drinks, then seconds later the waiter will fly out the door to the deli across the road to actually buy the drinks!! Sometimes
you may want to order juice. I have found it is a good idea to first go to the nearest market just to check that the fruit you want is there first. This saves the waiter coming back to the restaurant to say 'sorry , no mangoes today!!'
Same 'restaurants' always seem to have heaps of desserts on the menu but usually only one of these will actually be available.
Who knew that chicken and chips would be the staple diet of most of the population north of Bolivia!! If I have to walk past and/or smell one more dodgy chicken shop...ugh..creo que voy a vomitar!!
Being on a big, bumpy yellow truck that does 'bush stops!'. That is non-existent toilets on the side of the road, especially when there are less rocks and bushes than the number of people.And I certainly won't miss having to carry loo paper with me everywhere I go.
Cold showers!!!
People constantly trying to sell you stuff in the streets, or trying to get you to go into their shops. People giving out info. in front of places like churches then asking for money for the privilege. In fact
just being hassled on the street in general.
Things I WILL miss about South America:
The fantastic plazas in the middle of all the towns with all the colonial buildings surrounding. Nice places to sit away from all the traffic.
The town of Cusco where you can spend a night (or maybe two or three) drinking for FREE!!! Possible because all night in the main square all the clubs have touts out the front giving away free drink tickets to try and get people into their respective establishments. Just collect as many as you can and do a pub crawl. So simple! Oh, and I'm never drinking rum and coke again-ever!!
Argentinian empanadas.
Weird conversations in taxis half in english, half in spanish, almost always about the upcoming world cup.(seems 9 out of 10 south american taxi drivers believe nothing else in the world matters). Ok Ok, i know. They're right!
The thing I will miss the most is all the amazing people I have met along the way so far from Buenos Aires to Lima. Les, Sally, Phil, Gillian, Mauricio, Georgina, Birgit, Baja and Damo and ALL those aboard the fabulous
'Jock', especially the Tintettes. I will miss the company of you all and the laughs we have shared - un porcion pie de limon con havaiana por favor!!
Shani and Chris - see you both in just over a week!!
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anonymous
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:)
Oi! Wot's that about sending me to a convent? (Get thee to a nunnery???) Questions: 1. Que es una empanada? Will you make us some? 2. So when are we going paragliding over Sacred Valley? Shall we start planning our own "Diarios de motocicleta"? (Mmm, nice sandboard too!) 3. So, ya wanna see some soccer then? Apparently there's some sort of competition starting in Germany next week... See you in 7.5 days! S :-D xo