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Published: September 26th 2014
Buenas Dias!
Straight back to it..
I think I forgot act the night bus from Trujillo to Lima. Bec and I were in the front seats! Double decker bus, up top. Extra leg room! We even had our own little handheld screens. The stewardess brought us our little snack packs and we were good to go. I am 97% sure our headlights were not on. The bus before, I could see the road clearly in the darkness, this one, no. People were passing by flashing their lights. I was a little worried but soon the stewardess came and shut the front curtains, so, even if death was in the near future.. at least we would go in a most unexpected instant! That may sound morbid, I realize, but really. Still, no pooping on the bus.
We got to Lima and fiddled around that day/night. We were set to meet our new group members. Remember, Bec nor I knew that we would be getting new people and losing some. The Canadian boys, the sweet German girl, and Georgi were leaving us. So sad. Our newbys were an Aussie guy, two 19 year old English girls, and a Swiss guy.
Bec
she's weird I am no longer the oldest! Suiza (sounds like Swissa) is Spanish for Switzerland, so that´s what I´ll refer to him as from here on, and he´s the oldest. yes! He is also our best bud. Since being in a group can be very difficult at times, you have to stick with people that don´t drive you insane. I like everyone in our group, don´t get me wrong, but we all know too much time with certain people can be the worst. WORST.
So, moving right along.... after our group meeting with the newbys... it was Georgi´s last night to go out on the town. We went to the nearest ¨discoteca¨ and it was dead. Our group and maybe four other people in total. It was midnight. We got some drinks and sat around a big table yelling at each other bc the music was so loud. Well, we ordered drinks, paid the waitress, who paid the man locked in the cubicle, who gave her change, who she gave to the barman, that she then brought to us. Basically, a money man in the bar, locked in a thing the size of a phone booth. I don't know.
We watched the few others dancing, one couple making out in the corner, and us right in the center yelling. A few people started to trickle in, more gringos. Next thing we know it is packed and people are dancing everywhere. We get up, as a group, and start to dance. Everyone laughing at one another. Soon we are in a circle and there is "orange man" dancing in the middle. He was tall, and Russian. I don't know how we knew he was Russian because he couldn't speak. Dancing only. He was so drunk, dancing in the center of our circle, and had not one clue. We laughed, but soon we started dancing behind him, with him, to him. Still, he never knew, just in his orange world dancing. We were taking photos, no idea. If you read my orange world blog from NZ… they would make an absolutely amazing couple!! If not, just move on. It was getting more and more crowded as the minutes ticked by and I was ready to go.
The next day we headed for Paracas, Peru. Passing little shanty squatter towns. Basically, from my understanding, people can built a "home" (shack) in
the middle of nowhere, just set up shop. I'm talking a 5ft by 5 ft box with 4 walls, perhaps a roof, smack in the middle of no mans land. They stay long enough (4 to 8 years depending) and the government gives the land to them - which then requires them to pay taxes.
It was a scenic drive with rolling hills, vast flats with little communities dotted here and there. Sometimes, as much as I wanted to stay awake, the warmth inside plus the constant hum of the bus, put me straight to sleep. I woke up to an ocean view. If the sight of the ocean doesn't make you happy, something is wrong with you, you weirdo! 😉
We made it JUST in time to see the sunset. Paracas is famous for many reasons previously unbeknownst to me. There is more than abundant, shark less, sea life. If you take fish oil and live in the US, this is, most likely, where it comes from. The town just next door is Pisco. Important because the national drink of Peru is the Pisco Sour. There's Pisco the place and pisco the white grape brandy. A pisco
sour is made with pisco, simple syrup, egg white, and lime juice, some kind of bitters is also sprinkled on there, but I have no idea what that part is.
After dinner (a delicious calamari sandwich) we walked down to a 5 star hotel for a drink. We were all impressed that there were actual cloths in the bathroom to dry your hands, let alone a simple paper towel! Peru has serious issues with lack of napkins/appropriate size napkins. Needless to say, we were out of place. But, it was good. We made a quick, windy (as in gusts of wind, not lots of curves) walk out on their dock before heading home to our, not star rated, hotel.
The next day we got up early for a boat tour of the Ballestas Islands. We did not know what this meant, but Cynthia told us to wear a poncho. Meaning rain, right? Right. A "special" kind of rain she said. We were told to dress appropriately, for poop. There were even people on the street selling wide brim hats for "poop protection". Our guide told us that the birds didn't have manners. Seriously? How many birds could there
be?
Ha, you just can't even imagine missy, or mister. I could see them from a mile away. Pelicans and others. TONS of them. Easily in the thousands. The sardine fishermen pull their nets, as the birds dine. It is madness. I tried to take a video, but still does not do it justice. I've never seen or imagined so many birds flying and fluttering in one place. Thankfully, no one was pooped on, but honestly, I don't know how we managed that. There were that many.
Leaving that bizarro experience behind, we cruised on to the islands. Home to sea lions and… and… penguins!!! Penguins in Peru.. I had not the slightest idea. They were, of course, so stinkin cute!! Also, starfish, crabs, more birds. The birds full from breakfast fly here to take a break in the sun. Again, so many birds. So many the islands actually look black.
After photos, and oohs and ahhs, we left and headed to Nasca. On the way, we stopped for a Pisco distillery tour. They used to stomp grapes, then pressed and heated to catch the evaporated gases that make pisco. Or at least thats what I understood,
artsy
Ballestas Islands I may have very well made that up! 😊 We had tastings of several different flavors. My favorite was the coffee one. Before the final sample we were instructed to take a deep breath (never a good sign), breathe out, and drink it all at once. You could feel the warmth fill your lips and shoot down your throat. A bit like tequila, which left us all in a shiver. The burning taste lingered for far too long, but I've never been good at tastings. I either like it, or not, there's not much in between. Feeling a little bit giggly, with a bottle of pisco between four of us, we left for the next pitstop.
A few minutes away, we arrived inside the desert, to Ica. When I say desert I mean sand dunes, and when I say sand dunes, I mean more sand than you could ever think existed in one place on Earth. Mountains of sand. Ongoing as far as the eye could see. Once up top, looking around, it covered 75% of the horizon, with a smidgely little 25% being a town. Sandboarding and dune buggees? Why yes, certainly so!
The dune buggees had
three seats across, for 3 rows, including the driver. The seat belts like an infant car seat, straps over your shoulders and buckling between your crotch. Two or three thick roll bars across the top and down the sides. All definite signs of the good times to come! The deafening roar of the engine starting sent us all into hysterics! Slow throughout the street then take off once we hit the sand. I felt like a diehard teenage fangirl seeing their celebrity crush in real life. We were all screams and raring to go!
The dunes were massive, and steep.. yet smooth and enticing. We'd go up, up, up as he'd turn sharp onto the dune, leaving us screaming teens teetering on the edge of a brilliant roller coaster headed straight down. Sand, sand, everywhere. Crunchy in your mouth from laughing but impossible to stop. Ups, downs, engine roaring with enthusiasm, sand for eternity. Bumps, jumps, the whole shebang.
We stopped atop a few dunes to sand board. Much like snow boarding, except with… sand. I have never done either, so I admit, I was afraid. Your feet velcro strapped to a board you have no idea how
to control, all the while looking down the steep slope just below. Scary. I, slowly, but surely, made it down the first run. Many falls, and lots of nervous laughter! Whew! It feels so good to do something that scares you! We had the chance to run back up and try again. Yes, of course. Not surprisingly, but the way up was probably the most exercise I've had on this whole trip and even though I hated it, I loved it. Much, much needed exercise! The second time down wasn't as scary, but still slow! I made it down and was coming in for the finsh, to sit and take the board off. I knew as soon as I landed that I had cracked something, my tailbone. No, I am not 100% positive, bc I never had an X-ray, but I am 97.823 percent sure. The problem is, there's nothing you can do about it. So, I've been wearing my big girl panties and trying to get over it, even though it hurts big time and I just want a hug from my sweet momma!! haha 😊
I had to physically hold myself up the rest of the ride
bc it was so painful! That was it for the sand boarding, but not for the fun. The next few dunes we went to were too big to board down, so we simply laid down head first on our boards and shot down the dunes like paper airplanes, but really cool speedy ones. Not the dinky ones that get bent or ripped, no, we flew down those dunes, for real. You had to make sure your arms and legs were tucked in bc if they grazed on the sand you'd get a burn!
We saw an oasis, not a mirage, then had lunch at the bottom of a dune (in a restaurant, not in the sand pit). The scenery was a towering dune, which I thought was quite impressive, and cool.
We drove the rest of the day to Nazca, which may be Nasca. I don't know bc every time I see it, it's spelled differently, but hey, you get the point. Like the majority of these places, I'd never heard of it. Nor, it's draw to find one of the worlds greatest archaeological mysteries, the Nazca Lines! The lines are patterns and pictures "etched" into the ground.
Some of them are up to 32 miles long, and remain perfectly straight. You can only see the whole picture of most, only from the air. There are many theories about what they are, who drew them, what they mean, yada yada, but basically… no one knows. I think the most common theory is that they are some sort of agricultural calendar? Not sure.
We stopped at a viewpoint on our way into town, but it was getting dark quickly, which made it that more difficult to see. We raced up a metal staircase for a quick glimpse but was too dark, and freezing!
Sidenote: This is why I love to travel. I have never heard nor cared about these so called "lines", yet now Im all concerned with how I'm going to see them! Im here, they're here, I need to see them! They're a world mystery, people!
The next morning, a few of us, coughed up the $100 bucks and took the flight. My dad would have LOVED this! We'd seen photo after photo, so we were set to see these massive, mysterious lines. We got to the airport and boarded shortly. We were in
a smallish plane, but newish too. A 10 seater. In the passed few years there have been several crashes, none so recent! But before we boarded, Cynthia told us to button up our jackets so that if the plane crashed maybe our bodies would stay in tact and she could identify us! haha, this is funny because Cynthia thinks she's soooo funny! Does that make as much sense in your brain as it does in mine?
Anyway! We boarded and they gave us a quick briefing on how to spot the line, when to look where, blah blah, we've got this. Our pilot had a co-pilot whom he was teaching to fly, so that was a little nerve wrecking but on to the lines. Oh, we were all also advised to take motion sickness tablets, but do you think that happened? I got nervous when I sat down and saw the TWO provided barf bags.
"OK passengers on the right side, looking for the whale, first one up, right side, looking below the wing in 5-4-3-2-1, LOOK, LOOK, there, do you see, everyone? Yes! Good! The Whale! Everyone!"
WHAT?!
"OK passengers on the left (my side),
the astronaut!
Do you see him?? I see him!! I really see him! looking for the whale, coming to you, under the wing in 3-2-1, the WHALE! Now, LOOK!, do you see? Yes! Good! Everyone!"
I spotted that tiny whale in the very last second. I gasped for air. I saw it and I was extremely confused. The tall English guy in front of me hadnt seen it. He was shattered. (
We sat around for the rest of the day in our extreme fatness until time to leave that night. We walked to get some snacks (peanut butter and Ritz) before the bus. We passed a group of people doing karaoke on the street. So random, a big flat screen TV with people singing horrendously out in public. We stared, they got embarrassed, we all laughed.
This bus time Bec was sitting with Cynthia, and I next to them with some random woman, but not a chair in front so extra space to spread out! As the camera guy came by Bec had a mouthful of food and there was nothing she could do. She was so concerned that was going to be her last ever photo alive. hahaha again I know I'm sounding really morbid this go round
first time for coca leaves
I'd rather look out the window but since we didn't die, its really funny! The night bus wasn't bad, but it wasn't good. My tailbone was killing me. Killing.
That morning we arrived in Arequipa, Cynthia's original hometown. She was excited! We so love her! We were excited because the wifi was amazing and even reached to our room on the 4th floor! Bless us, the luxury. We had a quick "walking tour" with everyone, led by Cynthia. Beautiful cathedral of course, mandatory "flying rats" in the square, traditional colonial style buildings all over. Most of the buildings are built from a light volcanic rock called sillar, with cement factories nearby, which is supposedly why they call it the "white city", but really I just saw it as a plain city. A cute city, but well, oh, it doesn't matter.
People split off to here and there but we stayed with Cynthia and the English girls, who we also love, and went to the city market. Along the way had a sample of "Queso Helado" or cheese ice cream. It was "unique". To the market, thats sounds nice and normal right? ha! This is where we stared in horror at our first glimpse, of
many, llama fetuses. Yes. (it's telling me to change that to "fetes"… but that doesn't sound/look right in my head.. so, if that is right… just imagine I said that instead)
sidenote: Im using an Aussie computer, so if things are spelled "different", that's why. ok..
One aisle of the market is called the witches corner. I love witches, with all their creepy, yet interesting witchery. In their booths they each had brightly colored displays with glitter and confetti, and pieces of clay shaped into this or that, animals and beings. All neatly arranged in an orderly disfunction to attract those who seek their insight. The one stop shop for curing ailments, troubles, perhaps even things you don't know you need, or have. We stared as a customer was whipped up some concoction of various items.
Above all the witch shops hang the llama fetuses. Hundreds of them, all sizes and stages of development. Some so small they could fit in your palm while others wouldn't fit in a backpack. Some not even with fur yet, while others were so furry they looked like they had cotton balls covering their entirety. Eyes wrinkled, limbs disturbingly locked and
disheveled. Overall, an all over gruesome sight to the (my) human eye. I didn't want to see them, I didn't like to look, but there was no escape. Their so sad bodies warped my eyes in, with a sense of horror and confusion controlled by an overwhelming curiosity of how and why.
What do you say.. let's move on!
Moving out of witches way and to the, llama free, fruit stalls. Such bright shiny delicious looking fruit. All the regulars, apples, oranges, etc. with new and improved never before seen or heard of fruit. Each one set in its individual spot. Cynthia says its so, but I do not see how they would or could sell every piece. Although, it is a bit deceiving.. like the towels up top at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. It's just one outer layer but it really looks like hundreds. We stopped to admire the beautiful displays, only to notice in each stall sat about 4 or 5 very black baby dolls hiding amongst the fruit. Well of course, this is to bring luck to the seller and his/her daily sales. Witches be bitches, I say.
There was an olive aisle, nut
aisle, grain aisle, rice aisle, potato aisle, etc.. all with so many of the items some are literally spilling out into the pathway. Then theres the "don't breathe" meat aisle, close to the "don't even think about it" fish aisle. So much meat laid out for your choosing pleasure. Personally, I'd rather hang witht he bitchy witches than take three steps down the meat section, but that's neither here nor there!
Upon leaving we stopped for a bite of street food, with Cynthia's approval, of course. She'd kill us if she knew we ate street food or drank the water. I can't remember the Spanish word for it but essentially its a dollop of mashed potatoes with a dollop of meat and onions and another dollop of mash on top, then compacted, and fried. Glorious! So glorious, we took a selfie with them. Not to mention they were a measly 35 cents!
After that deliciousness, Bec and I left the girls to go to a museum. How sophisticated. I know! Cynthia highly recommended it and we weren't really feeling the 3 hour tour of the monastery. We arrived just as an English presentation had started. I really cracked
myself up because I used my COLLEGE ID for a half price ticket. Amazing. We had to leave every bit of belongings in a locker so I don't have any photos but thats ok. We were there to see, Juanita, the mummy. She was a 12ish year old girl who was sacrificed to the Inca gods. We watched a short film saying how she was so "proud" to do it and blah blah. I have no idea, but Im gonna bet that she didn't thoroughly enjoy walking up a snowy mountain in rope sandals to her immanent death. That she "knew what she was doing" and all this hullabaloo! She was taken up there, dressed in fancy clothing, fed alcohol, bashed in the head, and left frozen, at 12(ish)!
Anyway, she was discovered just in 1995 by a hiker. She is "technically" not a mummy because she has been frozen and still has all her organs and whatnot. She's not a sight for sore eyes though. In the museum, before you actually see her, you see all these artefacts and this and that. It is very dark and cold in there. We were in a group of about 6
hey buggee
you're so fine or 7, plus the guide explaining "stuff". Our group was quietly huddled around this display case in the room of Juanita (which we didn't even realize) when we spotted "museum girl" out of the corners of our eyes. This girl, came out of nowhere, into the empty room we'd just left, all by herself. She had her face 2 millimetres away from the display case in the middle looking intently at the contents, with square sunglasses on, in the almost pitch black. She was whisper arguing with it. Her hands were flying, her mouth was racing, and her head was flit and fluttering inch to inch. We were mesmerised.
Our guide was explaining away in the background, and we were transfixed on this crazy sunglassed person in the dark room next to us. She moved to the giant map on the wall, throwing her hands around, talking in a whisper, making odd facial expressions. The second we took our eyes of her and actually looked at each other, we almost lost it. What was happening? Where were her people? Why was she in the dark wearing sunglasses, being a creep when theres a freakin mummy nearby! For our own
sake, we were thankfully shuffled over to see Juanita, but the whole time I was looking at this mummy thing I was worried about the living creature in the next room! Juanita was frozen in a museum case, while "museum girl" was out on the loose! There were long black curtains surrounding Juanita and I was trying not to laugh out loud because I started thinking what I would do if something jumped out. I would absolutely poop my pants, and then die in my own poop… but they wouldn't freeze me and that made me laugh even more! It was never ending! Finally we got outside and saw the creeper in the day light and lost it. We still don't know what was happening, but it was real. Watch out people, she's still lurking out there!
We wandered back throughout the square and took a shortcut through the cathedral. 2 birds, 1 stone. We came out on the cute, cobblestone, pedestrian street. We were headed to pick up our clean, smell good, neatly packed and folded, laundry. Until you live out of a backpack, you will never fully know, the true extent of such pure satisfaction, a bag
of clean, worn clothes can bring.
Out for a dinner of the "famous" stuffed peppers and wine. The next morning we set off for the Colca Canyon. I know I say this and say this but it was the most beautiful drive. Such various scenery. Cactus to rock to tall yellow plants to short green bushes to wetlands to ice and snow cover rocks. May sound blandish - plants and rocks - but imagine it with snow capped mountains and volcanoes draped across the back. The Misti Volcano is the most famous at just below 20,000 ft (6000m). It has the most gorgeous snow capped peak. Also, this single road covering such scenic variety on such a vast scale. Alpacas, llamas, and vicunas dotted all along in their little groups. OH! I forgot, before we left the city, we stopped at a small "convenience store" to buy water and use the toilet. It was suggested to us that we buy coca leaves and coca candies to help with altitude sickness.
We saw coca plants in the Rainforest and had coca tea a few times, but never bought it ourselves. Coca leaves are what they make cocaine with, but
only after they've processed and changed it. Something like it has 14 alkaloids, and only 1 is coke.. I don't know. As one who has never taken drugs (thank ya very much!), I was nervous.
So, while on the bus we were going to chew the leaves to help prevent altitude issues. This isn't cocaine, this is coca, the natural form. Although they did advise us not to do it if we thought we'd be drug tested in the coming month! ha! Anyway, we all had bags about the size of a coke can (pun intended).
1. Get 4 to 5 leaves.
2. Take off the stems.
3. Break a piece of the provided clay stuff in the middle.
4. Wrap the leaves around.
5. Insert into mouth.
6. Chew for 10 to 15 minutes.
7. Enjoy.
8. Spit out.
Well, I got to #5 like a champ! I made it to 1 minute and 31 seconds, gagging almost every other 10 seconds, and swallowed when physically possible. I skipped #7 altogether and went straight to #8. My mouth was numb. I probably stated that fact too many times that
day, but really it made my mouth go numb!
Most of the boys said they "didn't mind it", which is total bs and only means they hated it. We had the lemon flavoured coca candies left and those actually were good, for lemon candies. The leaves tasted like old dried out spinach leaves, that had been left in a horse stable for a couple of weeks. Imagine that flavor bc it's "spot on"!
We made a few stops along the way for lookouts and a handicraft market, where I bought a funny hat I will probably never wear at home. One lookout had hundreds or thousands of inukshuks. These are where people stack rocks to make a triangular shape, or human figure out of rocks. Good luck for travellers, rub the rock on you as you stack it and leave all your worries there. I love them.
It was getting colder and colder the higher we went. As we were getting closer to the Chivay village, the road began to twist and turn and wrap around these Inca terraces. The winding road went passed cow and sheep just grazing along. We could see the "start" of the
canyon. We got to Chivay and quickly checked in before a "practice hike" to another lookout. Practice for the upcoming Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, and also our first walk in high altitude. I couldn't tell any difference except that my tailbone was NOT ok. You wouldn't think so much was actually connected to your tailbone. Sneezing, oh you don't even know!! PAIN.FUL!
We crossed a pretty, old Inca bridge and went straight(ish) up about 75 steps. I was ok! I really was only worried bc the Inca Trail (3 days hiking) was less than a week away. We took it easy that night. Up the next day early in the freezing cold to eat breakfast in the freezing cold eating area with holes in the roof, letting in the… freezing cold.
We were up though to see the "King of the Andes" or as we know it, the Condor. In the Colca Canyon (which is more than TWO times deeper than the Grand Canyon!), the condors live at a place called Condor Crossing. Convenient. We were one of the first few there. Yay! Great! Yet this also meant we had to wait for it to warm up,
when the condors start to fly. Brrr. I did make myself useful though and found a particularly cold rock to sit on to make my tailbone feel better. Soon(ish) the first condor! It wasn't an adult, but it counted. We watched it for a bit and soonish later there was an adult. These birds are massive. The second largest flying bird, in terms of wingspan. Pretty impressive. Check that off the bucket list of things I didn't know I wanted to see. Back to Arequipa through the amazing highland scenery.
When you see the bus driver start pointing at something, you know its something worth seeing. We witnessed a sheep herding dog chase off a fox!! Crossed the road just before us.. the dog was on his tail for a long while, us staring in astonishment, but eventually the fox outran him and got away. Intense!! National Geographic stuff, or so we thought!
You won't, or maybe you will, believe this, but we had another night bus. We were headed to Cusco now 3 days until the hike. I had two seats to myself, bonus! Which, with my sore bum, was a really good thing. I had even
been to Cynthias room the night before to tell her I wasn't sure I could do the inca trail. It was that bad. I was nearly in tears at Colca Canyon the second day, until Bec gave me some of her good "nurse" drugs.
Cusco, of course, has a cathedral and main square. There are a plethora of museums, but somehow Bec and I only managed to visit the chocolate one. Cathedral and museumed out! We also frequented a fine establishment called Jacks cafe. If you're ever there, go. It has amazing food and over the course of 2 days, I think we went 4 times, maybe 5. This blovel is winding down here as my eyes are closing… what else to say… Cusco was great. We went to dinner one night then decided we (the "oldies") would go out for a drink. That lasted until 5 AM. Why? What? HOW, is the most important? It was good fun, but man, I'm too old for that nonsense!! 😊 I feel like I'm not selling Cusco too well so I may pick up here on my next blov detailing when, how, and if I made it to the Inca Trail!
😉
Thanks for reading, you kind and dear readers, you!
Chow!
MK
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