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Peru Map
Andrew Campling After Ecuador we took a bus across the border to Peru and the change was instant and dramatic! As soon as we crossed the border we went from lush, green mountains to dry, baron, endless desserts. The temperature also seemed to jump up by about 10c as we passed through Peruvian immigration.
Our first stop in Peru was Chiclayo, the former home of the Moche people about 1700 years ago. We went to the Lord of Sipan burial tombs and pyramids (not like the Egyptian ones as they are made out of mud so have been washed away). The Lord of Sipan tombs were really impressive as they are in great condition and have skeletons in the positions they were found. However, the skeletons we saw are not the original ones they found as they are in a museum, so they have dug up some dead people and placed their skeletons in the tombs to look more realistic! That is why I love developing countries like Peru; they will stop at nothing to attract more tourists. I also like the idea that some poor farmer is now buried in the Lord of Sipans tomb!
We then headed south
Ancient artwork
over 1700 years old and still in perfect conditionto Trujillo to see the Sun and Moon temples of the Moche people. These really were amazing, every wall was covered with ancient paintings of gods, serpents, warriors and lots more, and they were all very well preserved - no fake Lords here! In the evening we got taking to a Peruvian called ‘Michelangelo’ who offered to show us a ‘real night in Peru’. He took us to a salsa club with a live band and we were the only Gringos in the place and probably the first ever to go there as when we walked in a waiter was so amazed at the sight of four white guys, he just dropped the pint glasses he was carrying and everyone stared at us. While constantly being watched, we drank the local drink, Pisco, which is grape brandy and is very potent, so after a few of those we all salsa’d the night away. Ad even gave all the locals a show, when he did a little solo dance for them but we had to stop him when he was going on stage to play then ‘Wonderwall’. Michelangelo was a great lad and he sorted us all out a great night
and we wouldn’t have got to sample real Peru without him.
Next we headed to the capital of Peru, Lima, where we met up with our group for the rest of South America. We all had enough of booking hotels and buses so we joined an organized trip from Lima to Rio. We met the group who are all really cool and up for a laugh; there are 6 Aussies (some are ‘absolute rippers’ and ‘top Sheila’s’ but others are ‘flaming galadas’), a nice Kiwi, 2 top English girls (who are so funny and good eye candy!), 3 lads from Bath and 4 other Brits, as well as Sarah our guide and Cam our driver. We also met ‘The Moose’, which is the giant yellow truck which we will be traveling in for the next 7 weeks.
After Lima we headed down south for a trip to the Ballestas Islands, also known as “Poor Man’s Galapagos”, which is an Island with lots of sea lions, even more birds and even more ‘Guano’ (birds shit!). Afterwards we headed to the sand dunes where we all boarded huge sand buggies and headed out into the dunes with our snowboards in
the back. When we got to the top of a massive dune we would all get out lie face first on the snowboard and race down the dune to the bottom. It was a lot of fun and all going well…then I decided to do a Ski Sunday special! It was an amazing crash! I was flying down a particularly big dune then I hit a bump, after a few wobbles I managed to get the board going straight, then just as I did I hit another bump. This time the front of the board dug into the sand and I went face first into the sand, at speed, I then flipped and rolled about 8 times before skidding to a standstill with a mouth full of sand and the girls screaming and the guys laughing. I then picked myself up and walked the final 20 metres of the sand dune - it was like the final scene of Cool Runnings, “Kiss my egg”! We ended up boarding down 7 dunes until we finally boarded down into the camp. We then had a party in the sand dunes, with a camp fire, BBQ, music and lots of Pisco (local poison)
and then slept under the stars. It was an awesome trip, despite the cuts and bruises.
Next we headed down to Nazca to see the famous Nazca lines. They are huge drawings that have been permanently etched into the dessert about 2000 years ago and nobody really knows why. So we boarded our Cessna-6 Seater Light Aircraft and strapped ourselves in for bumpy ride! It was like being on a 40 minute rollercoaster ride and there were a lot of pale faces and Rob even left a little something behind for the pilot! It was well worth it. The lines are amazing, huge drawings of spiders, birds and even an astronaut - not sure how they knew about them 2000 years ago!?
After the quick stay in Nazca we had an 8 hour drive on ‘The Moose’ to Arequipa, the cool, bohemian city of Peru. I just ended up wandering around the city for a few days, not doing a lot but really enjoyed it. On our last night in Arequipa it was one of the group member’s birthdays so we went out to try the local specialty…Guinea Pig! And guess what - it tastes like Chicken. They
Guinea Pig for dinner
A.K.A. A good road kill. serve it whole complete with claws, head and teeth, so it was a new experience eating dinner while my dinner stared back at me! After eating what must have been a young child’s pet, we headed to a karaoke bar where Ad gave the greatest performance in the history of karaoke. Ad sang, exceptionally well I must add, Robbie Williams, Angels not once or twice or even three time but four times in one night!!! It was a true testimony to the effect alcohol has on karaoke. It was an amazing feat - Ad we all applaud you!
Next we headed to the ancient capital, Cuzco, for the Start of the Inca Trail, but before that we had Ad’s birthday to celebrate. We decided to celebrate by having something we all have not had since we left home 7 months ago…a Sunday Roast! It was so good! We then headed out for many drinks and a night of merriment, which seemed like a good idea, until we started day one of the Inca Trail all feeling like death. Luckily Day One was not too hard as it was all fairly flat and we stopped on regular occasions for our
guides, Santiago and Alex, to explain about the ancient towns and buildings. The best part of the day was getting to our camp after 8 miles of walking and being able to relax and have a game of football at 3400m above sea-level, which isn’t easy and I also got a elbow in the face for my troubles - but I did call his mate a name so probably deserved it! This meant that we were all relaxed for Day Two, which is by far the hardest day, as we had to climb up to 900m to get over Dead Women's Pass - I asked, and no women have died doing this, it is called Dead Women's Pass because the mountain top looks like a women living down, but as Santiago pointed out, her nipples are erect so she clearly isn’t dead! Santiago is full of great information! We set off early in the morning and began the climb for what is the hardest thing I have ever done, for about 3 hours you just continually climb higher and higher. Add to this the fact we were all suffering from altitude sickness, so just breathing was difficult - they helped
us get over this by giving us Coca leaves and ash to chew and somehow this overcomes most of the altitude problems, but also makes your whole mouth numb...strange! So we pushed on and on and it got to the stage where my muscles were burning like never before and my whole body was screaming for oxygen. At this point it became a battle between mind and body, my mind could see the top and knew I could get there but my muscles just wanted to stop. Now I'm not a spiritual person, but at this point something strange happened (which i don't want to go into) but I know it is the only reason that I made it to the top of that mountain. I don't think I will ever be able to get back the feeling of absloute euphora that I felt when I reached the top, it was unbelieveable and the views made it all worth while. At this point I just felt mentally and physically drained but knew I was only have way along the trail. So a few good meals - that were carried all the way to the top by our team of porters
- and a good night sleep and I was refreshed and ready to go again on Day Three. Some of us decided to really push ourselves as hard as possible to get the most out of the experience so we ran most of the trail, which was hard work in parts but never as hard as the previous day, we were helped by the knowledge that there was a bar at that nights camp, so we covered the distance in very good time. When we got there we had a couple of beers and then a little party with the 30 porters that had accompanied us up the trail (they carried everything, food, water, ovens, tents, chairs, the lot!) so we had a sing song and good bye ceremony as they weren't coming with us in the morning. Day Four, the final day, was the easiest and most rewarding as we only had a short walk to the Sun Gate and our first views of Machu Picchu, the ancient secret city. It was so beautiful that I cannot really explain! The whole place seems to magically drift in and out of the mist so at times you can see nothing
but then the whole city suddenly appears before your very eyes! My whole body was in pain but the it was so worth it just to see what must be one of the most beautiful places in the world! I really can't talk highly enough of doing the Inca trail.
After we had finished the Inca Trail we took part in an ancient tradition called 'The 24 Hour Challenge', which is so called because the last day starts at 4am so when you get back to Cuzco you have to celebrate completing the trail by drinking to 4am the next day...not east after walking constantly for 4 days, covering nearly 30 miles, and your body doing the hardest work it has ever done, but most of us made it and drank through the night. The next night we decided to celebrate completing the 24hr challenge, so we went out for more drinks in Paddy's (highest Irish owned pub in the world - Shane you should be proud of me, helping your countrymen!) and then Up All Night Bar and that's where things took a turn for the worse...a girl from the group got her drink spiked and was in
Top English Girls!
Belle and Izzy...non-stop laughs! a very bad way so Deb and Me took her to hospital - Deb being a nurse in the real world and I worked in a hospital so had more experience than most. What happened in that hospital I will never understand or really believe, but I will never complain about the NHS again (not that I did Mum). When we arrived with what was obviously a very ill patient they would not admit her until I paid a consultancy fee, then we had to pay for all the medication. However, there was no nurse to administer the drugs, so luckily Deb was there to do it but before she could put in the drip we had to pay for soap to wash her hands! Pay for soap in a hospital - its so scary that its almost funny! What did make me laugh a lot was after Deb put the drip in she whispered to me "that's only the second time I've done that and I'm pissed". Legend!! While all this was going on, I was trying to act sober (and failing) and arguing with the hospital receptionist and generally not being very helpful. After all that Rosie is
now fine and Deb is my hero and I also think she has started a trend (I bet its not a new one) for drunken nursing care!
Our final stop in Peru was Puno and Lake Titicaca, where we spent a night living with the locals. Rob and I were sent to live with Mama who cooked and cared for us. We also had a little sister, who was adorable, until she started singing outside my room at 5.30am. In the evening Mama dressed us up in a Poncho and Woolly hat, and then we went to a local dance. Now, Mama was at least in her 60's and she danced like a young girl, she was amazing and wore us all out. We had to drag her out of the dance so we could go to bed. The next morning we said our goodbyes to the family and went to see a Reed Island, which is an Island made entirely of reeds, just floating in the middle of a huge lake, very impressive!
That was the end of a great stay in Peru, where I have done and seen so much in such a short time. I
have had a great time and started to get to know some great time people. Next stop for the group and 'Moose' is 8 days in Bolivia.
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karen
non-member comment
happy birthday
hey Andy, happy birthday for Saturday, hope you have a great time. We all love these blogs you do, gives us a chance to see places I know I will never get to see. One thing I do wonder about is, how are you getting internet connection, did Mama have a cool computer set up in her home? Looking forward to next blog. Take care Andy Love and Huggs, Karen, Andy, Charlee and Jack.