Final Destination

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July 7th 2011

Published: July 8th 2011

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ceaston

Arequipa

Another town with a volcano backdrop, becoming repetitive now

Places visited: Arequipa (Peru), Chivay/Colca Canyon (Peru), Nazca (Peru), Huacachina (Peru), Paracas (Peru), Huaraz (Peru), Huanchaco (Peru), Mancora (Peru) & Lima (Peru)

So, here we are, my final blog - I know, I'm sure you are all gutted. So I write this from my final destination of Lima, struggling to believe that it was just under 6 months ago that i left my job and began my travels back in Oz.

Anyway, i can reminisce later on, first i must tell you about the final leg of my journey that got me from Cusco to Lima....

Well, from Cusco I headed south to another of Peru's major cities - Arequipa. Yet another town with a stunning backdrop of a snow covered volcano (I am becoming a bit blase about these sort of things now). Some of you may have already heard about this place, as it is where the 'Ice Mummies of Peru' were found. These were Inca children who were sacrificed, but their bodies were preserved in the ice and are now on display in the cities main museum.
But this was not actually the reason for my visit to Arequipa - I was there to take

Colca Canyon

Amazing scenery

a trip to the Colca Canyon, which claims to be have the deepest canyon in the world (although the jury is still out on that). I spent a couple of days here, based in a town called Chivay, wandering around the canyon (which was actually very impressive) and visiting the 'Condor' viewpoint - another Ronseal moment. Overall a pretty amazing place.

Next it was on to a town called Nazca, and to undertake my most dangerous activity of the tour so far - the flight over the Nazca Lines. A flight renowned for its lack of plane maintenance and high tourist mortality rate (the FCO website strongly recommends avoiding this flight). I am glad to report that i survived, although the sick bag you are given as you board lets you the sort of flight it is going to be. I managed to get many photos of the lines, usually taken without actually knowing what i was looking at (the lines were slightly harder to see than i thought they were going to be). Although now reviewing the photos on a PC, they are far clearer than i thought.

Then from Nazca i headed to a tiny oasis

Colca Canyon

The condor lookout point living up to its name

in the middle of the desert called Huacachina. This was one of the most incredible places i have been to on this trip, and that is really saying something. A few hostels and bars set around a small lake with palm trees surrounding it and the backdrop of massive sand dunes in all directions. I ended up spending far more time here than i had initially planned, i found a great hostel which had an amazing pool and generally the atmosphere was really chilled during the day, and then pretty lively in the evening (see the photo for a visual representation).
Another highlight here was the sand buggying trip. Plonked into a hugely overpowered buggy, we were sped over the massive dunes around the oasis at speeds designed to unsettle stomachs. We stopped at the top of some of the bigger dunes for us to try some more sandboarding. Admittedly, this was slightly more primitive than my experiences earlier in the trip. Here sandboarding translated as strapping your feet to a wooden plank with some Velcro - but it was still great fun. The trip then culminated in a stop at the highest point to watch the sunset - amazing!!!

Colca Canyon

The size of some of the things that bite out here

I also managed to fit in a tour to the nearby town for a wine tasting tour. This turned out to be more of a Pisco tasting tour, which resulted in most of the day being a blur - although photos seem to suggest it was a good day (these have not been included to protect the parties involved - mainly me). Needless to say that renditions of 'Midnight at the Oasis' were quite frequent that night.

Unfortunately my time there had to end and i reluctantly continued North. Next stop was a place called Paracas, a launch point for the Islas Ballestas, which are described as the poor man's Galapagos. I am unable to comment on this as i have never been to the Galapagos... or for that matter the Islas Ballestas. It turns out that the seas around the islands are rather temperamental, and were, for the two day i was there, unsailable. Although nil desperandum, I did get to try my first Civiche here. A national Peruvian dish, consisting of raw fish and onion which has been 'cooked' by soaking it in lime juice - it was in fact delicious!!

Undeterred by my failure to

Nazca

The flight

see anything, i continued North, back inland and to altitude to a place called Huaraz - the trekking capital of Peru. The scenery was stunning, the town set in a valley, wedged between two massive mountain ranges. There was an almost endless list of week long plus treks available, but due to increasing time pressure (and the fact that i had reached my limit for time spent freezing my extremities off in tents) i chose to d a few one day treks. Including the infamous Lake 69 trek, unfortunately the origin of this name was far duller than first thought.
I also managed to get some rock climbing in here which was awesome, whilst also destroying my body for the next few days.

So with the time left on my trip nearing the two week mark, i decided it was time to ditch the fleece and trousers, and head in search of sun, sand, surf and some other 's'.
First stop was a small surfer town called Huanchaco. Whilst the beach itself was pretty average, the surf here was great and it was a really nice place to relax after the trekking. Although i did have one stressful morning

Nazca

One of the Nazca line pictures

when i went for a stroll along the beach. Amazingly it was deserted, which was rare, but i continued on until i heard frantic whistling behind me. I turned to see two Policeman running towards me shouting something about a Tsunami, and telling me i had to get up to the Church on the hill immediately. I sprinted up there to find the whole town congregated with temporary medical stations ready and waiting. After about 15 minutes of waiting around scouring the horizon, everyone just left and went back down to the town. To this day i am still unsure if this was a false alarm or just a practice drill, but i certainly kept a close eye on the water for the rest of the day!!
After that excitement, i decided that it might be prudent top head inland the next day, and so i headed off to visit the nearby pre-Inca ruins of Chan Chan and the Huaca del Sol temple. Basically a massive city built in the desert out of mud bricks which is still in pretty good shape today. I find it really incredible and humbling to think that some of the ruins i have visited

Nazca

A random bump into an ex-cap colleague

were built over a thousand years ago and are still standing today having survived the many earthquakes that cripple the modern buildings in Peru quite regularly.

So, with my bit of culture over, it was time to head to my penultimate destination, and the furthest north i would make it in this trip - the beach resort of Mancora. In Peru this place has a bit of a reputation as a party town and it certainly didn't disappoint. I wasn't sure how much i would enjoy this place (as i was expecting to feel quite old, trying to keep up with a bunch of 18 year olds) but in fact i ended up loving it.
The weather was amazing, the beach beautiful, a great hostel with a bar in the pool and everyone was really friendly. This place is also referred to as the surf capital of Peru, but typically for the 4 days i was there the sea was a flat as a pond so unfortunately i couldn't get any surfing in here. But on the plus side i did manage to top up my tan nicely just in time to come back to the UK and shove

Huacachina

Amazing oasis resort

it in everyone's faces (i will enjoy that).

And so with, quickly as always, i reached the end of my stay in Mancora and the realisation that i was three days away from boarding a plane back to the UK. It was time to head to Lima and finish my trip, just a 18 hour bus journey stood between me and my final destination. As this was the last bus journey i am planning on taking for the foreseeable future i decided i would treat myself to the full 'cama' (basically a fully reclinable seat in a small VIP area on the bus) experience with the best bus company in Peru. All was looking good until only 3 hours into the trip, a girl one row behind me decided that she wasn't feeling so good and proceeded to throw up in her seat. I am not sure what she had eaten but the stench was pretty awful and even after it had been cleared up the smell managed to linger for a considerable length of time. Surprisingly, I ended up not really enjoying the rest of the bus journey.
But anyway, i made it to Lima, a city that

Huacachina

The sand buggying and boarding

always seemed to get mixed reviews from travellers i had met along the way. Some said i should arrive the same day as my flight out whilst others said it had more redeeming features than it was given credit for. Just to be on the safe side i felt this was probably a good time to cash in some Marriott points and so i ended up staying in a pretty nice room overlooking the water in Miraflores (the nice part of town). And i have actually enjoyed my time here, although rather dangerously there is a casino next to the hotel which has lured my in on occasion.

And so here we are, i sit here on my last day writing this, reflecting on what has been an amazing trip. Yes, there is now a part of me that is panicking slightly as i realise that i am coming back to the UK with no job and very short on money, but actually i don't regret it in the slightest. I have had such a great time, met some great people and seen some incredible sights in almost everyplace i have stopped. Not wanting to be too melodramatic, but

Huacachina

A night out with the locals

i think it has helped me get some real perspective on what i want and what is important to me (profound - i know).
So if there was anyone else thinking about a similar break from the 'real world' i would most definitely recommend it.

And so that is probably about enough from me, i am glad i was convinced to do this blog as it has actually been really useful in forcing me to remember what i have done over the last few months, and hopefully let everyone else know what i have been up to (and let my parents know that i am still alive and haven't become a drug dealer out in the wilds of South America).
So now i must go and start packing (quite a lot of crap for me to try and squeeze into my bag) and hope that i can avoid losing the small amount of money i have left in the casino. Look forward to catching up with everyone back in the UK....

Adios

Charlie

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