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Published: November 6th 2005
It brings a smile to my face to inform you that I now feel happier after the dull time I spent in Ecuador pining and longing for Colombia. Peru has lifted my spirits easily, like a phoenix from the flames and tempered my ever-changing moods. I have triumphantly returned to the country I visited briefly last year. And I feel I now know it better this time, with improved Spanish, more native friends, more casual clothes (gone are the chunky fleeces and ubiquitous zip-off trousers with 27 different pockets) and I'm generally just a bit less green and wet behind the ears... But only a bit, mind you.
Piura I took a bus from Vilcabamba in Ecuador to Piura in Northern Peru at an alternative border crossing to the usual one on the coast. And dear god, it was the easiest crossing I have taken so far in my time on this dreadful little planet. There were only four or five travellers on the bus, we were the only bus there and it was all over in about eight minutes. No hassle, no bullshit and no money-changers unfortunately. I met two Peruvian girls on the bus who had been
Bald dog.
As the caption tells you... These little buggers live at the Narihuala site. Queer thing indeed.holidaying in Ecuador called Sheila and ?????? and they shared the same incredible dislike of Quito that I did. So they were all right by me.
I spent the next day in Piura with Sheila and her sister, visiting the ruins of Narihuala (with ridiculous bald dogs basking in the limited shade) and meeting their large family. I remember vividly as Sheila's niece, a sweet little girl of about 6 years old, walked up to me, eyes wide open in amazement, held my arm lovingly as if she'd known me all her life and said '' But... you are
white?'' The poor little thing couldn't comprehend my skin colour at first and I didn't know what to say in reply so we sat there staring at each other until my burst of laughter made her laugh too. We got on swimmingly after that and all the kids were fascinated by this odd-looking Welshman in their Peruvian home.
I then moved on to the capital of Peru, Lima...
Lima I didn't spend much time in the capital because, frankly my dear, there's not much there apart from surfing and a few interesting museums. I met more of Sheila's
Early morning, Huacachina
This was taken at about 8am after I spent 45 mins climbing a giant sandune.
Madferit. family in her native Lima, got heavily drunk twice and stayed in the slightly upmarket Miraflores zone at the Flying Dog B & B which was alright and distinctly unremarkable, the most interesting moment was when upon checking out I fell on my arse with all my gear down the newly-mopped stairs - much to the amusement of the guy on the desk who had just told me to be very careful when going down them! But even I thought it was hilarious and laughed out loud or maybe it was just a gut-reaction to mask my embarassment. You decide.
After a kind of previous double recommendation I then proceeded to a tiny town called Huacachina further down the Pan-American highway, a gorgeous little oasis of shitty hotels surrounded by fantastically massive sand dunes.
Huacachina Now, I say from previous recommendations I decided to come to Huacachina. The main one was from Judita, a lovely girl I travelled with in Costa Rica for a while who then proceeded to Peru and recently told me of the great sandboarding you can do in Huacachina, so that was it, I was going. But, the idea for this type of
I´m not really that tall.
Little guide (with his hand in my back pocket), me, Sheila, Elisa at the ruins of Narihuala, Piura- northern Peru. sport was first put into my head a few months earlier when I was still working at the factory back in Swansea. A guy called Steve, but nicknamed ´Pat´ by the rest of the workers because of his alarming and rather effeminate way of laying his large hairy hand on the back of complete strangers (and friends) when addressing them. He advised me one day to try
snowboarding because I would love it. I then decided sandboarding was close enough for now and he was right, I thought it was
fantastic fun. Cheers Pat, you really are a star and it's not true what they
all say about you. I ended up coming back again to the town to do more sandboarding and dune-buggy riding. After a few runs down the slopes (which were quite scary at first glance) I started to get the hang of it and not come off the board at all! Oh joy, I was so happy when all these surfy dudes with dreadlocks, oakleys, piercings and lots of previous experience at snowboarding and surfing fell on their arse every 10 metres and I, a footballer by birth - though some would disagree, managed to go
No fear? No chance.
Some asshole on a sand board (with legs a chicken would be ashamed of). Before he started to get the hang of it and outdo all the surfies! the whole distance without falling off... And ended up asking for double the amount of wax on my board to speed things up even further. The only drawback to all this madness is the amount of sand you find in parts of your body even weeks after leaving the town! But I am assured it will all eventually come out.
In between this sporty interlude I visited the small town of Nasca where the famous Nasca lines are to be found...
Nasca On my first visit to Nasca I stayed at the quiet Hostal Alegrìa II and the night before the flight over Nasca I went to an interesting presentation at the Maria Reiche Planetarium for $3. It was basically the theory behind the Nasca lines according the the deceased Maria Reiche, a lady who dedicated her life to studying the lines. I also got the opportunity to look at Venus and Mars through a powerful telescope. The next morning the trip over the lines were great, if a little stomach-churning due to the heavily-banking plane, but the photos I took shown below don't really do it justice. There were six of us in the plane including one
very very camp Australian guy who insisted on sitting in the front of the cockpit... Random comment from him:
''Ooohh, look at all these knobs, I just want touch them all!'' Maybe I should or maybe I shouldn't mention this next Peruvian guy I met at the hostal when I spent my second time at Nasca waiting for the Cusco bus... But here goes. I got talking to this absolute nutter in the hostel called Manuel who was staying there for a few weeks because his sister owned it. He was about 45, balding, heavily-set from years of weight-training and had bags of nervous, infectious energy. He was bonkers from the outset and desperate to learn English... Well, filthy English. You know, swear words, insults and sex language. I happliy obliged him and corrected him as necessary... Though how he'll ever impress a woman with the words he wanted to use I will never know. But, the strangest thing occurred when we went out that night for many, many beers at a local bar. Somehow the conversation came around to animals and Manuel being slightly the worse for wear told me that he had had
relationships with farmyard animals
Miraflores, Lima
Big billowing flags for yer. when he was just a boy! He could see the look of horror on my face and then decided to kind of soften the blow a little by informing me that this kind of thing was normal in Peru for young men between the ages of 10 and 15! In the end it became hilarious listening to his list of conquests which included a donkey, chicken, pig, horse and goat. And how his sister had caught him in the act with the goat and ran away in horror and disgust! Of course beastiality is a taboo subject so maybe I shouldn't have written about it here... But hey, this is what happened and he reminded me of a guy I used to work with on my shift back at the factory - who also had, allegedly, close relationships with rodents!
I then proceeded to Cusco on a horrendous 14 hour bus, packed to the rafters, crying babies, smelly, delayed for two hours and and my seat was the one with the heater underneath - so I came away with 3rd degree burns to my feet and legs and arrived in Cusco in a filthy mood! Well... Almost.
Inside the cockpit...
Flying over the Nasca lines. Cusco When I visted Peru and Bolivia last summer I met two girls from Cusco (Marisol & Mirtha) and stayed in touch, so this time round they acted as my guides for Cusco and conversations were much easier because now I could speak a lot more Spanish. I visited the ruins at Pisac with them, drank some coffee, met their charming and funny friends and watched some short South American documentaries and films (in Spanish) about social issues such as coca leaf eradication, discrimination of indigenous peoples and the horrendous poverty that afflicts both Peru and Bolivia. It was an interesting time and more productive than my visit last year when all I did was get drunk, get sick, then visited Machu Picchu... Which I am not doing again this year because even by train they charge horrendous prices... I think it would be more economic to go on a four day hike than one day by train!
We also went out for the halloween celebrations here in Cusco whereby the plaza is filled with hundreds, maybe thousands, of kids dressed up and demanding sweets, especially from the gringos... And there is also a giant firework show for
Hucachina sandline
I thought it would be a nice picture aswell! everyone. For me the funniest sight of that evening was watching a young boy tearing through the crowds with a camera in his hand, being chased by a policeman who was in turn being chased by a
freakishly tall gringo who just had his camera stolen!! OK, it's not really funny, but for me it was... And I 'm sure the kid needed it more than the gringo. A day or so later I had dinner with Mirtha's family a few blocks from the Plaza De Armas, and for the first time I tried the Peruvian delicacy 'Cuy' which is spanish for 'Guniea Pig'! It's actually reasonably tasty, if a little chewy, it was baked which gave it a lovely taste and flavour... But all those little bones tend to get in the way a bit!
Anyway my friends, family and people I have never met... Soon I will be leaving for La Paz, Bolivia. From there the plan is to get a flight to either Brazil, Paraguay or Uruguay depending on cost and time constraints. The most likely option seems to be Uruguay at the moment but we'll see how things progress.
Until next time...
Jamie, Nasca lines.
This is the famous one of the 'man' on a hill waving at the sky. I think surely this one was a drunken joke by some Peruvians on a stag night (just after the cinema release of Spielberg's ET). It is awful and comical compared to the rest of the drawings on the ground. Cusco, Peru.
Well, I am actually now in La Paz, Bolivia... And it hasn't changed a bit, but that's for next time.
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Frano
non-member comment
Animal Farm
Your journals are a breath of fresh air for us lot back in rain sodden Wales, but I must know who is this rodent shagger you once worked with? (Name and Shame), would it be the same fella who some how managed to get his manhood caught in a beak of a goose? Be Lucky, Frano.