Peru - Lima to Cusco

Hi everyone!! Our first blog entry! We have been here for 2 weeks now and are finally getting around to writing it! Not slack...just busy. Now sit back and make yourselves comfortable, maybe grab a cup of tea, as we have a lot to catch up on.

We started off our travels in Lima which, despite dire warnings of danger and boredom, we actually really enjoyed! We stayed at a hostel in Miraflores and our week was spent walking along the cliffs of the coast, exploring different neighbourhoods and we even managed to catch and movie and visit a Hooters! Yep, you heard me....Hooters. We did have a couple of bad cab experiences though...our first cab experience was taking a cab into central Lima to have a bit of a look around. I swear our cab driver looked like Peruvian mafia and only grunted at us when we talked to him, and while he weaved in and out of traffic cutting off and abusing as many people as possible, Ben and I held on for dear life in the back without our seatbelts. They were non existent, like the interior of the car...bare metal. On the plus side, he did have Bon Jovi blaring our of the Pioneer speaker sitting freely on his dashboard. Our second experience was getting thoroughly ripped off by another cab driver when we went to the port town to have some seafood...we don´t talk about that...Ben was very pissed off. But all in all....Lima was good to us...no muggings which is always a bonus, just like any other big city really.

We moved from our hostel to the hotel where our tour started after a week...and I tell you, we were impressed! We had a huge super king bed and a terrace! Granted we were looking at the building works going on next door, but it was still a lovely terrace. Met the group we will be travelling with and they are all lovely. 13 of us in total, Aussies, Brits and a Swiss girl, ranging in age from 21 to 54! We left for Paracas the following day, which is about a 5 hour bus ride down the coast of Peru. Not much to do there itself but is the launch point for visiting the Ballestas Islands, which are also referred to as the poor mans Galapagos. We saw lots of sealions and birds including penguins, pelicans and boobies!! The birdlife here numbers in the thouands and every 7 years or so they harvest the guano (bird crap) and sell it as fertiliser around the world. And need I mention that it stank?? I think maybe it hadn´t been harvested in a while!! We also tried Ceviche, the national dish. Raw fish with lemon juice, pepper and onions...not as bad as it sounds actually...but couldn´t quite finish my plate...

We had early start the next day on the way to Nazca. Stopped at a local vineyard where we tried Pisco the national Peruvian spirit, before heading to the sand dunes to do some dune buggying and sand boarding! Brilliant!! Visited the Cemetary of Chauchilla which was actually really interesting...the skeletons had hair!! Then took a flight over the Nazca Lines. Pretty amazing actually, made somewhere between 900BC and AD600. Although must say that even more interesting was the pilots face when Ben asked for the sick bag. He was sitting in the front and I have never seen a plane landed so quickly! It was a tiny little six seater thing and to see the lines we had to do some pretty impressive aerobatics, with long 60 degree turns...not good for the stomach!

Arequipa was the next stop, after a ride on the night bus. Which, while very impressive when we first hopped on with its big recliner seats and tv screen...didn´t really allow for much sleep! Situated at the base of Misti Volcano, Arequipa is beautiful. It´s called the White City as a lot of the buildings are made out of white volcanic stone. It actually seems very European! We visited Juanita, the ice priness here. Juanita was a 12 year old Inca maiden sacrificed on the summit of Ampato Volcano over 500 years ago. She was found when an earthquake dislodged her from her burial site, and as she had been frozen in ice all these years, she was perfectly preserved. Was really interesting, but sad as well...not nice to see her curled up in the little ice box that keeps her cold. That night went to a restaurant where Ben ate ostrich and alpaca...which is apparently kind of like a mixture of pork and beef if anyone is interested...

Early start the next day to go deeper into canyon country! We spent the night at a lovely litte lodge style place that had a pet alpaca. Don´t worry, Ben didn´t eat it...although it did seem to hold a grudge and charged at me when I was running for the loo...wasn´t fair really...i didn´t eat it! On the way there we passed the highest point of our trip at 4900 metres above sea level. Didn´t suffer too much from altitude sickness...but then again...I think we may have been slightly high from all the coca leaves, sweets and teas that we had consumed. A visit to the hot springs soon sorted us out and then a buffet dinner and early night as we had to be up at 5am to go to Colca Canyon to see the condors...which turned out to be a complete waste of valuable sleeping time!

So there we are loaded in the bus, yawning, grumbling but also excited...we were on our way to see the deepest canyon in the world, which measures 4200m at its deepest point! Hmmm....maybe not...we couldn´t see it! Covered in cloud and a thick mist, it looked like someone had left the smoke machine on at the bottom after the canyon rave. We had a bit of a walk and waited a while...hoping that the mist would clear and maybe a condor would appear..but had to admit defeat and leave. Sad faces. But then!! With Ben´s powerful and I might say, superhuman, vision...he spotted a lone condor flying way above the bus. Screaming out the word CONDOR!!, the bus screeched to a halt and everyone piled out with cameras ready...to see what really looked like any other bird flying in the distance, but was confirmed by our reliable tour guide, to be a condor. Success! Kind of anyway...

Spent the night back in Arequipa and then another early 4am start to catch our flight to Cusco, where we now sit typing this blog for you lovely peoples! Cusco is a beautiful city...cobbled streets and gorgeous buildings. Situated 3200m above sea level....we feel like overweight unfit blobs just walking up a slight incline!!! The lack of oxygen is really noticeable....not really boding well for us trekking for 3 days to Machu Picchu...

Off to the Sacred Valley and the Inca Trek tomorrow (4 days...ahhhhh!!!) and then off to the Amazon Jungle for a couple of nights...so will update when we get back.

Love you all and merry christmas!!!

Sarah and Ben
xx

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