Peru

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After catching a flight to the north of chile (a place called Arica) we got a taxi over the border into Peru!! Me and Ellie had to share the front seat as there were already 3 people in the back!! This was an hour and a half journey by the way!! I noticed that absolutely nothing was working on the dashboard of this pile of junk called 'a car'!! He mustn't have known how fast he was going or how much petrol he had left!! Funny!

anyway, we made it to a place called Tacna where we caught a bus to Arequipa. This was a 6 hour journey so we arrived at our destination at about 7.30pm. here we got another taxi (they are soooooo cheap here) to a hostel which some guy we met on the bus was stayin in so we tagged along! we hadnt planned where to stay so this suited us. the taxi ride was once again a bit weird!! the taxi driver had some how made the car make a racing car noise when he accelerated - i think he thought he was a formula 1 driver!! felt like i was in a car racing game!!

our 1st full day in Arequipa, we visited the Santa Catalina convent which was huge and beautifully restored with colourful walls! Arequipa is a very busy city with a million and one taxis flying around so it was nice to stay in the convent for a while to get away from the pollution!

then we sat in the main square, Plaza de Armas (every city we have been to so far has a square called by this name!), as it was a very sunny day and we tried to get a bit of colour back in our faces!! for some reason the taxi drivers around the square were going mental beeping their horns! even the south americans were clueles as to what they were doing!

there are many small market stalls around arequipa selling very cheap, hand made, beautiful jewellery, so of course i couldnt resist buying quite a few pairs of earrings and a couple of rings and a scarf - just to mention a few things!

that night we went for a meal with a couple of people from the hostel (inc the lad we met on the bus there), then we went out - us 2 and that guy! had a bit of a random night because on the walk home, we bumped into this gang of peruvian lads who were rapping in spanish! we ended up talking to them for 1-2 hours at 3.30 in the morining!! to some, this coiuld sound like it was dangerous coz there was about 10 0f them and 3 of us!! but they were nice guys! they even bought us all lolly pops! dont ask why!! they made ian rap in english, so he came out with kumbiar my lord!! random! i dont know how we communicated coz we dont speak much spanish and they were awful at english!! but once youve had a few pisco sourz (their local drink), your spanish seems to wildly improve!

the next day we went to the Ice Maiden museum which is about a well preserved mummy called Juanita (was a girl of 12 years old). she had been discovered on a volcano next to arequipa in 1995 as there had been an eruption on the volcano next to it and had melted the ice which enabled some1 to stumble across a mummy of 500 years!! here we learnt about the Incas.

our next stop was Cusco. we took an overnight train here which took 10 hours but had reclining seats so wasnt too bad! we were allowed 2 go to sleep after a game of bingo of course! they also gave us a free meal - it was like we were on a plane! we arrive din cusco at 5am and got a taxi to our hotel which we had previously booked as a package for the trip to machu pichu! we went straight to bed and woke up at midday! then we went on a rekkie around cusco. there was a festival going on in the Plaza de Armas which was cool to watch!

the first full day we had in cusco, we took a day trip to the sacred valley which we had been advised to do before the trip to machu pichu, otherwise its a let down! on this day trip, we visited quite a few markets which of course i bought stuff from! then we did an hours walk to the ancient ruins of Pisaq. this is where the Incas used to live 500 years ago before conquered by the spanish. we made a couple more stops to a few more archeological sites. then we stopped at another market where we could see how the peruvians made their clothes and tapestry! quite interesting actually - to get all their different colours, they use differnt plants or various other natural ways.

the next day we were off to Machu Pichu! we had both been looking forward to this for a while! yet again it was an early start - 5.45 am. we caught the train at 7am which took 4 hours to get to Aguas Calientes, where we caught a bus up to machu pichu. so we arrived at midday when it was very busy with tourists! our guides werent the most organised of people - took them a while to sort us out into 2 groups, one english one spanish! but finally when we were sorted we were in and the views were amazin!! i think its the only place i the world where you can actually feel like your there 500 years ago! we had a guided tour for 2 hours then we just wandered around for a couple of hours to find the places that werent overcrowded! we ate packed lunch amongst the most outstanding scenery ive ever seen!! and ive been to NZ!!!

we caught a bus back down to aguas calientes where we bumped into a women from our room in arequipa, called Joyce. also there was yet another market which of course i bought the most beautiful shell pendant!! then we caught the train back to cusco and got back at 9.30pm. all-in-all it s very long day but very much worth it for those sites we got to see!!

we then had to move hotels because our nights from our package had ran out so we went to this much talked about hostel! it was good to share a room again with 10 people because you get to meet so many more people. that day we went on a mission to find flip flops as mine had broke in kaikora, NZ and i desperately needed some!! i dont think south americans where them though at this time of year! theyre impossible to find! so we ended up in REAL cusco - proper downtown! there were more parades going on there. eventually we found some so we both bought a pair (i bought 2) for about 50p! bargain!
that night we met some canadians who we ended up going out with.
our rest of time in cusco was just spent milling around - on internet as it was free or just reading in the square soaking up the rays!

next stop was Puno where we had also previously booked a trip to lake titicaca which included our accomodation for 3 nights. so went we arrived in puno, we went straight to our hotel and then out for some soup and straight to bed, ready for another early start! the next morning, we were picked up by a trici taxi (basically a bike with 2 seats in the front!), and were driven to the port ready to embark on our boat trip around lake titikaka, the highest lake in the world at 3380 metres. we were told we should buy food for the families we would be staying with that night, so we bought them rice, sugar and pasta. after 3 hours on the boat we ended up at an island called tequila island (not spelt like that but sounded like it!). we hiked for about an hour uphill (im gettin useed to this now with the very thin air!) to arrive in a square with beautiful views of the lake, then we ate lunch! when we were back on the boat we were off to the island we would be stayin on that night with "our families". me and ellie were chosen to stay with this family who the sister was called Julia and was our age!! there was also a younger sister, 12, and the mother (we didnt meet the father until the next morning). we got shown to our house for the night which was another hike up a hill for half an hour! our room was cute with beds made out of straw!!! fekt like i was in a coffin when i woke up!! comfy tho!

the 1st lang of the residents of this island was Quechua (same as incas) and their 2nd was spanish! they didnt speak any eng! so me and el had 2 communicate through spanish or sign lang!! it worked tho! didnt have many probs surprisingly!
we chose to climb to the top of the mountain to see the sunset!! it was well worth it! later we had dinner with the family which didnt have any meat in but never-the-less still tasted nice and was very healthy! we were then dressed in their traditional clothes and we led to a party in the hall where we danced traditionally the night away!! good banter! we looked ridiculous!
next morning - early start again - were given pancakes and coffee for breaky! nice! then it was off on the boat again to the floating islands! these were literally islands people had made out of reeds and routes and they actually lived on here!! it was fascinating to experience this!

we had lunch on the boat then we were heading back to puno. Puno isnt a great place really so we ended up watching tv and goin on the internt...again!

the next day we were setting off early to catch the bus to Copacabana, Bolivia!!

to be continued................

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