Highlights of Peru so far

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What an amazing country. Peru is everything I imagined and more. The only shock was I hadn't expected quite so musch desert! A great opportunity to try a new sport though. Sandboarding is very similar to snowboarding - but harder. Most of us resorted to lying on our fronts and heading head first down the mountainous sand dunes. Not really the best of positions when you have hip bones so close to the surface like mine. I was bruised for days afterwards! The best bit though was travelling through the dunes in a sand buggy. If you enjoy roller coasters, this is the biggest and longest run of your life! Certainly not a good idea to try it straight after lunch though!

The Ballestas Islands (named the ‘poor man’s Galapagos’) were interesting, but not as spectacular as I’d thought. It’s a bird spotter’s paradise - but worth taking some kind of protection to avoid getting plopped on from above. This happened on several occasions, but thankfully I managed to avoid being targeted. It was amazing to see so many birds - vultures, penguins (tiny ones though and not Emperor Penguins as I’d hoped!), boobies, pelicans, cormorants, etc. We also saw a lot of seals and sea lions, but I think I was expecting something from a David Attenborough film with giant turtles and colourful lizards. Maybe I’ll have to make it to the real Galapagos one day - when I’m a bit (a lot) richer!

Chauchilla Cemetry is an eerie but amazing place. It’s a pre-Inca cemetery in the middle of the desert and sadly the graves have been raided and the jewels that were buried with the bodies were stolen. The mummies have been left exposed and as it is so dry (it hasn’t rained here for thousands of years) many of them still have some skin and hair in tact.

Favourite cities so far are Arequipa and Cuzco. We visited the Santa Catalina Convent in Arequipa and I loved all the beautiful buildings and flowers. The convent was set in very serene surrounds overlooked by the volcano El Misti, but I now know for sure that life as a nun is not for me!

Cuzco is somewhere I could live! The Plaza de Armas has a cathedral and church on two sides then shops, restaurants and bars on the other two. It’s lovely to sit on a terrace with a drink and just watch the world go by. Guinea Pig (cuy) is a local delicacy here, but I have to admit it makes me feel sick when someone orders one for dinner. They arrive on a plate lying on their back with their wee paws sticking up in the air and their teeth grinning as if to say, “I’ll get you back…”. I know you should eat like the locals when you’re travelling, but so far I’ve just not managed with this one. I think it’s the first time I’ve not been able to try a food. I’m much happier sampling unusual fruit and vegetables!

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Photos

That's what I call a puncture!
Had to freeze at the side of the road for a bit while Scott showed us how to deal with a real puncture. Glad It wasn't me that had to fix it!

Comments

[pao]

great pics!
:)