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Published: June 20th 2008
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Day 61
Had a well deserved lie in and pottered out for breakfast. Wandered around Cusco abit and then decided we would treat ourselves to a massage (4 pound each for an hour), luxury. Watched some of the football and then went for a late lunch in preparation for our night bus to Ica.
Day 62
Arrived in Ica nice and early and got a taxi to Huacachina, a little oasis town out in the desert. Explored the whole town in about 10 minutes. Pretty much just a few hotels and restaurants. We considered climbing up ne of the sand dunes but sacked it off because the legs were still tired.
In the afternoon we went on a sand boarding and dune buggying tour which is the main reason we came to Huacachina. Was lots of fun. The dune buggy was mental, the driver was apparently trained by the South American rallying champion and just bombed up and down the dunes like a nutter. Sand boarding was a little bit more difficult than we anticipated and we ended up flying down on our bums with a face full of sand before deciding it might be more fun to bomb down
on our bellys. Amateurs. After the boarding was over we watched the sunset over the dunes which was rather impressive.
Had some dinner in the hostel and were delighted to discover that no one else had arrived all day so we had a ten man dorm all to ourselves! For 2 pound each!
Day 63
Took the bus to Lima, the capital of Peru. Didn´t think we would stay here long as we had heard it was abit of a dump and that there wasn´t much to see, and after a tiny explore decided that we would definitely be ready to move on again in the morning. Spent ages looking for somewhere to eat and ended up in Pizza Hut (we hadn´t had a pizza for a whole day). Went to the cinema in the evening and then crashed out in the hostel.
Day 64
Bus to Huaraz in the Cordillera Blanca mountain region. Arrived late afternoon so managed to sort out some ice climbing for the next day before going for ANOTHER pizza.
Day 65
Raring to go at 7am for a 2 hour bus ride up in to the mountains. The guide had told us
it would be 40 mins so it was no surprise when the ´20 minute´walk took 50 minutes. Abseiled down a little cliff so we were at the bottom of the glacier and watched another guy on the trip struggle to get anywhere. I tried on the ´easier´ wall but then had to stop after a massive rock skimmed my head. Fun. We both had a go on the trickier wall and had little success as the ´glacier´was more like stone than ice. Also, rocks kept on falling from the top of the glacier, so being the safety conscious travellers we are we decided to sack it off. The guides kept trying to clear the area at the top but the rocks just kept on falling.
When we got back to the agency Tom had a little rant in Spanish to try and get us our money back, but the owner was a moron and would only give us a third of our money. We finally gave in and went for a cheap dinner before hitting the sack.
Day 66
We thought we hadn´t done enough hiking and wanted to stretch the legs just a little bit further so went
off on another trek to Laguna 69. 3.5 hour walk up and 2 hours back. It was hard work and I was really tired so had a sulk and wanted to stay by myself halfway while Tom went up to the top. But he wouldn´t let me and played good cop bad cop until I gave in. It was worth it in the end as the lake was bright blue nestled between snowy mountains, our favourite lake so far! And we´ve seen a few....
Shared a taxi back to the town with some frenchys and on the way picked up 2 Andean highlander women who just piled in to the boot. Not bothered.
Day 67
Lie in time. Packed up our room and got psyched for the forthcoming BRIDGEJUMP!!!
Took a bus about 20 minutes out of the city to the bridge. Here, the two guides meddled with some ropes and then one of them did a test run. All was fine so it was our turn. Did rock, paper, scissors to see who would go first and I lost so ladies first. Went off backwards, pretty scary. Freefalling for abit and then just swinging back and forth under
the bridge and over the river. Tom went next and then we decided we fancied another go, but this time forwards. This was so much worse as you were just stood at the top staring 35m down at the ground. Both did it though and then decided that was enough bridge jumping for one day.
Back to the hostel and watched a film and then hopped on a bus to Trujillo, en route to Mancora for some beach time.
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