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Published: July 25th 2006
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So, onto Phase 2 of the trip. Had a good flight to Lima where we had to meet up with our second Tucan Tour. Lima was pretty big (has a population of just under 9 million) and a real city of contrast. While the centre is filled with beautiful colonial buildings and plazas, there is still a lot of poverty and dodgy looking people about. We didnt spend much time hanging about although we did stumble across a massive festival where all the tribes from across Peru come and dance in their local dress. Pretty funky dress although the wooden Uzi´s they danced with were a bit weird!
So we started the tour and its been hell for leather from day one. The diffrence with this tour though is that we travel round on a custom built truck with a fridge and a library etc. so far more comfortable than the chicken buses. Day one and we went to Huacachina Sand dunes where we went sand buggying over the dunes. Brilliant fun although I´m not sure it was worth sacrificing my ability to have children in the future due to the chronic wedgies I got off the safety harness! At
Sandboarding
And no broken nose this time!!! the top of some of the dunes we went sand boarding. This basically encompassed sliding down 200m sand dunes on a snowboard type plank on your stomach. I was quite impressed with Nadine's efforts although her decision to use her legs as a land anchor has meant she has been picking sand out her knickers for the last week!!
After the Oasis, we went to Nazca, the site of the famous Nazca lines. These are the lines in the desert which outline shapes such as a monkey, hummingbird and an alien. They are world renowned and are best seen from the air, so there is the option of taking a 4 seater Cessna flight to view then from above. Needless to say we both jacked on that idea and we felt fully vindicated when half the tour group came back to earth spewing their guts up!
Further into the desert then, to Chauchilla Cemetery. Yes, I know it sounds a bit weird, but there are loads of mummys here which are really well preserved as it is so arid. There were loads of them dating back to 1000 AD, but once you´ve seen one dead bloke, you´ve seen
Its mighty cold!
Yes...I know I´ve got shorts on! them all! What was funny was the passing resemblance to modern day celebrities. Check out the hall of fame on the photos!
From here we went to Puerto Inka, Arequipa and then up into the Andes. To say there is a difference in temperature is a bit of an understatement. At one place we stopped for a pee stop at 4910m (16,000ft) above sea level. it was -10 degrees and I had a fairly difficult job to coax the old chap out at that temperature! The one saving grace is that you dont have to worry about peeing on your shoes as its almost frozen before it touches the floor! As well as fighting the cold, coming to terms with altitude sickness has been a struggle. As there is something like 60% less oxygen in the air, just brushing your teeth gets you out of breath! I have been fairly lucky so far and feel fairly acclimatized now, but Nadine has struggled at times. On one occasion, we had to get her Oxygen as she thought her head was going explode, but she soon recovered. I have advised her that she wheel around one of those oxygen tanks on
Llamas crossing!
Despite the sign, we still managed to flatten one in the tour bus. Mmmmm Alpaca Steak! the Inca trail like those old men that shuffle round hospital wards, Ha Ha!!
We´ve also been to the Colca Canyon (supposedly the second deepest canyon in the world at an average of 3100m deep) to watch the Condors soaring in the thermals and have finally ended up in Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Inca civilization. We´ve got four days here before we do the Inca trail to Macchu Pichu on Friday. As the average temperature at night drops to -5 degrees while camping, Nadine has had four baby Alpaca's (like Lllamas) slaughtered to provide her with suitably warm garments! Speaking of Alpaca, I had a steak the other night and it was gorgeous and recommend it to anyone!
All in all, our first impressions of Peru have been amazing. There is just so much to do here and the scenery is breathtaking. In the space of a week we´ve been to the desert, Brecon Beacons type scenery and finally the Andes. Its been fantastic, and hopefully we´ve still got the highlight of Macchu Pichu to come (assuming we dont get frost-bite and I dont have to piggy-back Nadine the length of the Inca Trail!)
Will
Obligatory Poncey Photo
Nadine walking down the beach at Puerto Inka give you update next week!
love from the Inca Stinkers
Stu and Nads
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KATE
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hope you're doing your active cycle of breathing techniques with that O2 nads xxx