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Published: July 30th 2008
Hello,
We arrived safely in Peru after yet another hassle free border crossing. It´s so well organised here with people directing you where to go and the queues moving fast.
We had an eventful first night. I woke up in the middle of the night to find Deaks scratching what looked like bites all over her body. Within an hour she was covered in them and itching like mad so she went down to reception and accused them of having bedbugs to which they replied "no way". She came back upstairs, in agony, refusing to get back in her bed so she went out in the hall and the next thing I know she´s pulling this huge sofa in the room so that she could sleep on it. Luckily I was fine and wondering why Deaks was so unlucky as to get the bed with bedbugs twice now and me never! After a very sleepless night I checked Deaks out in the morning and she was absolutely covered in what no longer looked like bites but a widespread very angry looking rash. I suddenly remembered to check the side effects leaflet of our anti malaria pills and discovered "widespread
rash" under the stop taking immediately section!!! Poor reception - Deaks was back on her way down to give them a piece of her mind when we discovered it wasn´t in fact their fault!!! Thankfully Phillips Pharmacy had some antihistamines so by the end of the day it had calmed down and she no longer looked diseased!
Early the next morning we headed down to the Port and got a boat over to Isla de los Uros - a floating village on Lake Titicaca. It was the slowest boat ever but nice and relaxing. The floating village was really cool and is home to between 20 and 50 villages. The numbers are never definite as they can move about a lot. We got off on one of the little villages and were greeted by the locals and we were told all about Isla de los Uros which was really interesting. After that we went to look around and one of the women let me hold her cute little baby. I walked into one of the huts to discover it was a little school. Thanks to the tourists visiting the island and buying souvenirs it has enabled them to provide
education which is really good. I sat with the little kids for a while and spoke to them in Spanish - they were so sweet. Afterwards we were all ushered onto one of the boats that they use to get from one village to another and whilst we were in the middle of the lake with nowhere to escape, this man went around demanding money from everyone for the priviledge!
A couple of hours after we got back we headed on a 7 hour bus to Cusco. I got excited when they put on a DVD and it turned out to be PS I Love You. A nice chick flick was just what I needed but it turned out to be in Spanish with English subtitles which was very annoying but good practice! We arrived in Cusco at 11pm and got in the taxi queue but ended up rowing with the men at the taxi rank as they wouldn´t take the local people that were in front of us in the queue, they wanted to take us "gringos" so that they could get more money off us - what a cheek!!! We stood there, on principle, and waited for
another cab! We had pre-booked a hostel when we were in Puno as we knew we´d be arriving late so we headed there in the cab and banged on the door and a very sleepy young guy opened the door and kept trying to ask us which room we were in. I tried to explain to him that we didn´t have a room yet but we´d booked one and he kept saying to come back in manana! Very tired and grumpy at this point we told him to forget it and got another cab in search of another hostel. We were dropped near the main plaza and tried another few hostels and they were all fully booked but thankfully we managed to get into one in a much better location which was quite a bit cheaper so it all worked out well in the end!!
The next morning we headed out feeling fully refreshed after a good nights sleep and immediately fell in love with Cusco. It is such a great place and we decided straight away to spend a good few days here as we weren´t rushed for time in Peru. It had a really good feel to
it and the plaza was really pretty with a big cathedral in the centre. It was bursting with restaurants and bars and I was very happy to once again become "lady" to the locals. It was lady this, lady that - like being back in Cambodia but better! The weather was great too - like Bolivia. It is so warm and sunny during the day, much warmer than I expected, but still soooo cold at night. The locals are mad - they walk around in the middle of the day when the sun is hot in hats, coats and scarves yet they are perfectly happy to freeze at night as there´s no heating anywhere! I still can´t get used to the extreme temperatures!
Apart from being hounded everywhere we turned to go into restaurants the people were all lovely. I asked one woman where San Pedro Station was and instead of giving me directions she took us all the way there - it was over a 15 minute walk (out of her way) - we hadn´t realised it was so far! When we got there I tried to give her some money to get a cab back and she
was so sweet she wouldn´t take it. She started smiling and rambling on and I managed to work out that she was saying that it was her country and we were visitors and she was happy to show us around and to have a good day. How nice is that!
The next day we excitedly got up at 5am and headed to the world famous Machu Picchu. It was a 4 hour train ride each way. I couldn´t work out why it would take 4 hours but I was soon to find out! It took over an hour just to get up the mountain and out of Cusco - the train was so slow. It was really steep so the train had to zigzag frontwards and backwards until it got to the top and we could set off properly. It was so random. We decided to splash out on the way there and got the posh Vistadome train which included drinks and breakfast and was a nice train with windows in the roof so you had good views. It was a nice journey but freezing - the staff actually brought round blankets because it was so cold - surely
it can´t be that hard to heat a train!
We arrived in Aguas Calientes at 10am and there were crowds and crowds of people and nothing telling you where to go! We walked through this random market and asked a local guy where to get the bus up to Machu Picchu and he pointed us in the right direction. You have the option to trek up to it but it takes over 2 hours and it is so steep - no thanks! My fitness levels in altitude are bad enough and I wanted to enjoy it at the top not collapse before I even got there! We got the bus up on a long windy zig zag road and when we got to the top were greeted with the most amazing views and the magnificent Machu Picchu - The Lost City of the Incas - the reason many visitors come to South America and one of the most famous examples of Inca architecture. Machu Picchu was discovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American explorer.
We started a long trek around the ruins passing random llamas walking around at the beginning. I can´t quite explain the breathtaking views
- it was like nothing I´ve ever seen before and I´ve seen some good scenery on this trip! We spent 4 hours walking up and down and around and admiring the views and taking lots of pictures and every now and then we would just sit and stare in awe at the surroundings. Considering the many hundreds and thousands of people that visit every day it was still very peaceful and it wasn´t hard to find a private spot to sit in silence and look at everything. It has to be one of my highlights of this trip - the pictures are great but I still don´t think they do it justice. We spent a couple of hours back down in Aguas Calientes which was a cool little town before heading home after a great day, this time relogated to the backpacker train due to funds!!! It was 10pm by the time we got back to Cusco so a very long day but so worth it.
We decided to check out Cusco´s nightlife whilst we were there so headed out, firstly sampling the local pisco sours along with some vino tinto and we ended up (after being swarmed with
offers!) in Mama Africas, a well known backpacker haunt. It was so nice to hear some good cheesy tunes - the Peruvians love panpipe music and it´s all you hear everywhere!! We had a good night dancing and chatting to random people.
We also decided to do some horseriding in Cusco. We booked this trip that involved 4 hours riding over and around the mountains and to see different ruins on the way. They were 30 mins late picking us up and we arrived at Saqsaywaman and were given 40 mins to look around before we even saw any horses! It was quite cool but after Machu Picchu nothing really compares! We didn´t get on the horses until after 3.30pm (after being left to hang around for ages). It was so good to be back on a horse again. I really missed it after the week in Australia. It´s a shame it´s not as cheap to do at home. We had a young boy accompany us on foot to show us where to go but the horses knew where they were going anyway. If I tried to steer mine a particular way and I was wrong it wouldn´t go
where I wanted it to!! We only had about an hour and a half actually on the horses. When we got to the top of the mountain we were told to get off and walk "ten minutes" down this road to find 2 of the other ruins we were supposed to visit. Half an hour later walking along this deserted road we got bored and walked back as we were only given an hour!!! We got back on the horses and rode back to the ranch. We never got to trot or canter as it was too steep and the horses would have fallen as the ground was so uneven so all in all it was a bit of a let down and we´ve grown used to the fact that some of the trips you book are never quite what they seem! Still, we saw some great scenery!
After 5 days in Cusco we left, sadly, and headed on an overnight bus to Arequipa. The only thing I won´t miss is being hounded on the street every 10 seconds - "lady you want wax, lady you want massage, lady you want pedicure, lady you want haircut". I must be
looking rough after 5 months travelling!!! I even got offered a massage with a "happy ending" by one keen guy on the street. No thanks!
We arrived in Arequipa at 6am and quickly found a hostel where we promptly crashed out for a few hours after a very uncomfortable night sleep. We had a little 5 year old girl sitting next to us with what looked like her mum and nan. Not quite sure why they didn't get her her own seat but she whinged the whole night and kept crying and to shut her up the mum sat (and slept) on the nan's lap so that this girl could get comfortable in her own seat! The kids are so pampered here!!!
I was pleasantly surprised by Arequipa. I didn't think I would like anywhere as much as Cusco but it was really nice and in some ways was quite similar with a lovely plaza and great shops and restaurants everywhere. There were big protests going on (which is what woke us up!) up and down our street due to the rise in the price of food and no pay increases. Apparently it goes on for days/weeks every
year.
We stopped in Arequipa to do a tour of the Colca Canyon - the second largest in the world. We set off the next morning for the 2 day trip. We were in a group of 9 - a Maltese couple who were really nice, 4 Spaniards and another Spanish speaking woman but not sure where she was from. The Spaniards didn't seem very friendly and weren't interested in getting to know everyone so I suspected it wasn't going to be one of the best groups we've had!
We set off and a couple of hours later stopped off in this random place to drink some Mate de Muna - a herbal drink supposedly good for altitude sickness - we were about to go to an altitude of nearly 5,000 metres (the highest yet) so I was willing to try anything! The drive up and around the mountains was quite cool and we stopped every now and then to look at guanacos, llamas, ducks etc. We also stopped at this random place where you can make a wish. You have to find loads of pebbles/rocks and pile them on top of each other and then make your
wish.
At 4pm we went to the thermal baths in La Calera. It was so random. By now it was starting to get really cold so I got into my bikini and ran to the pool. It was 39 degrees and heaven!! There were so many people there just chilling including one Peruvian woman who must have been about 50 who came strutting out of the changing rooms in a thong bikini. She had huge fake boobs and so much botox. She stood in the shallow end posing and kept turning around so that everyone in the pool could stare at her arse!!! It was very amusing - Deaks kept trying to get me to go and show her some real boobs but I decided against it!! Despite posey woman it was so cool. We stayed in the pool for an hour and a half until we looked like prunes. The scenery was amazing and I just sat in there (boiling!) looking around while the sun was setting and there was even a little band at the side playing panpipe music.
That evening the whole group went out for dinner to this cool restaurant where they put on
a folklore show and got people up from the audience to dance. It was really funny and a good atmosphere.
After a very cold night we had an eventful early morning. We were told to get ready for a 6.30am breakfast. We got up to find there was no water coming out of the shower and it took them ages to fix it. Still ready 5 mins early we went to reception to find the whole group had been taken to breakfast and Bernado was waiting for us! Apparently he'd changed the meeting time to 6am and had told everyone apart from us!!
Eventually we set off and started our drive down into the Colca Canyon. We stopped at Cruz del Condor to look at the condors. I'm not really a bird person but they were quite cool. After that we went to a little town called Maca where I held a condor - they are so heavy! By this point I think the whole group were getting a bit fed up - Bernado never told us how long we were staying anywhere for and never gave us any information about the places we were at etc and
just generally didn't say much at all and I think everyone was expecting more from the 2 days than they got. It was still a good trip and we saw some cool things but it could have been a lot better. Still, you have to have some trips like this to appreciate the really good ones!
Deaks and I were glad to get back to Arequipa - and out of the altitude. It wasn't affecting me as much as it was a couple of weeks ago but it makes your skin and lips so dry and generally just drains you a bit. I can always rely on my water bottle to know how high I am - it's either completely sucked in or looking like it's about to explode!
An hour after getting back Deaks and I hopped on an overnight bus to Nazca - 9 hours. At last it was a comfortable journey and we arrived at 4am so walked across the road and were pleased to find one of the hostels in our Lonely Planet so we got a room there and crashed out. That afternoon we went to the Chauchilla Cemetery to look at the
skulls and bones of the Nazca people in the graves. It was quite interesting learning all about it but sadly they aren't in their original graves due to the grave robbery last century when everything was dug out in search of anything of value.
The next morning we got up early for our flight over the famous Nazca lines that were in the latest Indiana Jones film. There are loads of figures etched in the desert such as a spider, monkey, hummingbird, astronaut, dog, tree just to name a few. They were etched by the Nazca people over 2,500 years ago and were only discovered when planes first flew over the desert in 1926 as they can´t be seen on the ground as they are so huge and the lines have baffled archaeologists for years as to the meaning of them. There is a museum in Nazca named after a famous German mathematician named Maria Reiche who studied the lines for sixty years until her death in 1998. She had her own theories as to what the lines meant but there were many inconsistencies so it is still a mystery and no doubt will remain so forever! The mystery
is what makes the lines such an appealing attraction.
We were supposed to be at the tour shop at 8am. At 7.35am a man came banging on the door of the communal showers whilst I was in there and yelling that we had a flight to catch! Calm down!!! He then went to harass Deaks in our room! We got driven to a place opposite the airport where we watched a documentary on the Nazca lines which was all about the history and the unproven theories as to their existence. It was really interesting. After that we were taken to the airport where we had to wait nearly 2 hours to get on one of the planes. It was a 6 seater and Deaks and I were squashed into the back (along with Patrick and Saint Christopher!). The flight was 35 mins long and was really cool. We flew over the desert and the pilot pointed out each of the figures that we passed - it was so hard to get good pictures though. Halfway through the flight I started to feel really sick - the pilot was diving from side to side so that we could get good
views so I was glad to get back down again!
The next day we headed on a bus to Paracas so that we could do the Isla Ballestas tour. We picked an unfortunate weekend to be there as it was a Peruvian holiday so everywhere was full and lots of the hotels were booked up and dramatically increasing their prices. We phoned one from Nazca who confirmed they had rooms and at roughly the same price that we´d been paying all through Peru and said we didn´t need to book. I thought it sounded too good to be true and was right. When we got there they didn´t know who had spoken to us on the phone and said the price of the room was nearly double what we thought. After 5 mins of giving them a sad face they agreed to let us have it for the original price so we agreed to book the Isla Ballestas tour through them for their kindness!
The Isla Ballestas tour itself was very similar to the one we did in Chile on the Pachamamas tour. We spent 2 hours on a boat where we saw sea lions, pelicans, humboldt penguins
and dolphins. It was really good.
That afternoon we jumped on a bus to Lima - our final stop in Peru. We'd heard stories about it being quite unsafe with a lot of pickpockets and an Irish girl had told us stories of people jumping in cabs when they are stationary and stealing your things - nice! We get a cab into the Milaflores area, which was supposed to be the safest place in Lima where all the backpackers go, with a nice American man who I got chatting to at the bus stop who told us where all the main things are. We found a hostel quite quick which was really nice and the owner spoke English so well we thought he was English! Unfortunately though we were put in a couple hell dorm. Luckily I was on the top bunk but poor Deaks had to sleep on the bottom bunk next to them squeezed into a single as they couldn't bear to be parted for the night! You can tell we were in a dodgier area as there are big iron gates permanently locked to get into the hostel and we aren't even allowed a key to
our dorm - it is padlocked and only the owner can let you in! Nice that they are so security conscious though!
We weren't sure about Lima from first impressions - looked like any other big dirty city. We like the smaller places! We went for a walk in search of dinner (with our passports in a money belt down Deaks trousers!) and found our way to the beach and discovered a huge complex right on the front of a huge cliff overlooking the sea buzzing with lots of bars, restaurants, shops and a cinema. It was really cool and felt like we were somewhere completely different from Peru! We opted for what looked like the Peruvian equivalent of Nandos and 15 mins after ordering Deaks was served up with a plate of chicken guts - eeeeeeeeuuwwww!!!! Just the sight of it put me off my food. She'd already eaten some by the time we realised what it was - if I'd have put that in my mouth I think I would have cried!!
The next day we headed back down to the beach to check it out in daylight. It took us ages to work out how
to get down the huge cliff but eventually we got there and walked along it looking at people paragliding above us. A young looking local boy came and introduced himself to us and we asked him if there was a way back up in the direction we were going. He spoke very good English and said that we'd have to turn back and go the way we came and then he invited his 2 friends over (who also looked very young) and they started walking with us. I sooned learned that they were in fact mid twenties and one in his thirties - they must be using Oil of Olay - they looked like schoolkids to me!! Anyway, they turned out to be lovely people and Deaks and I ended up walking around Lima for over an hour chatting to them and one of them was teaching me how to flirt in Spanish - always a useful skill!! We ended up going to a little cafe with them which was a random little place away from the touristy places and we sat and drank the Peruvian Inca Kola for an hour and tried some food that they ordered. It was
such a random few hours and so nice to meet the local people. I find that they usually speak really good English and always apologise thinking that they can't which is mad! They always love to learn about England too. It just proves as well that even in the so called "dodgy" places there's always nice, genuine people.
That brings me to the end of Peru and South America. I will really miss speaking Spanish when we leave tonight. I have enjoyed it loads more than I imagined and picked it up a lot quicker than I thought I would. I have even found myself speaking Spanish to the people that can speak English. They love it! Maybe I´ll do a course at home.
We spent our last couple of days in Lima walking around and spending hours on the internet organising the USA road trip - everything is now in order and I plan to fully enjoy the last 3 weeks. Vegas here I come!
xxx
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Yee Wong
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Great Peruvian photos
Hi Lisa - loved your photos of Machu Picchu and Peru. You will be in the US now. Hope you are having a good time there. Can't wait to see and hear all about the adventures you and Sarah have had when you get back in a few weeks' time. Take care and love Wongy x