Peru update

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Well we have now been in Peru for 10 days and have seen loads already.

After a night at a horrible hostel in Lima recommended by a taxi driver, we moved to another hostel called Lex Luther´s (named because the owner looked like Lex Luther as a child apparently). Lex was very helpful in booking our accomodation in Nasca and bus tickets and letting us use the internet for free.

Whilst in Lima we went to Huaca Pucllana (an Inca site in the city) then went for lunch and watched Fulham lose to Man Utd. (I´ve just read that they lost to Everton as well). A different mix of cultures in one day.

After a few days in Lima (in which Chris and Mandy got colds) we went to Nasca, where there are shapes etched into the ground (monkey, humming bird, condor, tree). To see them properly you have to go in a small plane. All four of us were going on the trip but Mandy had been sick in the night, so decided to give it a miss. The plane only seated 4 people, I was the co-pilot and the boys sat in the back. The shapes and lines were quite amazing, experts still don´t know how the Inca people managed to do them so accurately. Unfortunately the pictures we took don´t do them justice.

We had been trying to book the Inka Trail (a four day walk from Cusco to Machu Picchu) and mentioned this to the owner of the hostel, Abdon. He has an uncle that runs a hostel and travel agency in Cusco and after a few phone calls we were booked on a trip starting on the 17th December. Everybody says that you should book months in advance, so I guess we were luck to get places only 2 weeks before the trip starts.

We had planned to go to Arequipa but Mandy was so poorly she wasn´t able to travel so we stayed in Nasca an extra night. (For full details of Mandy´s terrible few weeks I suggest you read her blog). We got the overnight bus to Arequipa a day later than planned and had a quick tour around the town going to Santa Catalina Convent (the most religious building in Peru). Despite reservations it was actually quite interesting seeing these little rooms where the nun´s used to live.

The main reason for going to Arequipa was to go to Colca Canyon, a two day trip to see condor´s flying in the deepest canyon in the world (even bigger than the Grand Canyon). The canyon and the scenery was fantastic and the birds huge. However the highlight of the trip was at Chivay, a little town we stayed in overnight before going to the Canyon. The town has a four day festival and we arrived on day 2.

The town square was decorated in red and white (the colours of Peru´s flag) and there were bands playing and the people dressed up in their festival costumes dancing along to the band. It really was quite something seeing the whole community joining in, from little kids to old people.

Tomorrow we travel to Puno where Lake Titicaca is. We are going to have a few days there then travel to Cusco by train, hopefully on my birthday (Saturday), ready for the Inka Trail which starts on Monday.

Love to you all.

Tina

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Photos

Chris and Miles
I was the co-pilot and these two the passengers

Chivay
Dancing in the square

Chris and Alpaca
A few hours later we had Alpaca for lunch!