South America On A Rope

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OK. so at this moment South America on a Shoe String isn´t really turning out as predicted. The way we´re going it´s more like South America on a Chunky Piece of Rope, but it´s not like we´re avoiding budgeting or anything.

Luke and Renya´s top 3 tips for going over budget:

1) Both of the travelling parties succumb to the little nasties and fall sick, requiring medication, extra nights in hotels and copious amounts of (relatively expensive) hydrating drinks. Bonus wastage if you require a house call by a local doctor.

2) Being sick also makes you a) extra fussy about your surroundings since you spend all day in the hostel and b) hallucinogenic so those budgeting mathematics skills seem to warp and bend until you´re staying in a hotel in the middle of the desert that has a pool!.

3) Travel anywhere with Ormeño bus company. Not only can you expect delays of about three hours causing you to be tempted by bus station snacks, but once on board it is highly likely the bus will break down for which the company will only give you a partial refund- and then have the cheeks to ask if you want to pay more for Royal Class service!! I dont think so- local buses are usually better and faster anyway!

Despite all the extra spending we are having an absolute ball now that the culture shock has worn off and we have had a bit of practice at backpacking and travelling.

So where did we leave off??? Still in Lima - Luke was sick...

Ok well he manged to recover over our last few days in Lima - even though a nasty cough is still hanging around! On our few days in Lima we took in a few more Museums to get a real crash course on Peruvian history before we started our travels. The National Museum was just amazing - we hired an English guide (entry $1, Guide $5) but it was worth every cent as he took us around for about an hour and half and explained the entire history of pre-hispanic Lima and showed us many archeological marvels and mummies, trepanated skulls, that sort of thing! Highly recommend to anyone travelling this way.

Our first adventure out of Lima was to get to Pisco - We caught the local Peru Bus and spent most of the journy with our heads out of the window being paranoid about people stealing our packs everytime we stopped (about 100 times on a three hour journey!) Pisco was beautiful
though- so nice and little and quietafter the madhouse of Lima! We went on a speedboat tour of the Paracas Islands and saw thousands of sealions, penguins, seabirds etc. The islands are famous as the Guano Islands, which was Peru´s principal export until the introduction of chemically manufactured fertilisers - they are actually quite spectactular but very very smelly!

From Pisco we tried to get to Nazca via Ormeño but only made it as far as Ica (see third tip to waste money) but it ended up working out ok cos we made some great friends with some fellow strandees and spent our time in Nazca with them... or should say Luke spent his time with them as Renya developed food poisoning on the bus ride (very very close to being your worst nightmare Gabe!!) and spent all of Nazca in bed with fever untill Luke organised a spanish doctor to give a home call and get lots of medication! Luke´s spanish has improved so much from that one episode.

Luke and the fellow strandees Andy and Alex caught a local bus to El Mirador, the lookout tower to view 3 of the Nazca lines figures. Unfortunately the camera was playing up the previous day concerning the saving of photos, so we don´t have any pictures yet, but hopefully we will receive some of Alex´s photos. After the tower the guys walked a kilometre or two down the road to climb some hills to get another vantage point but unfortunately all there was to be seen were some of the lines, not any of the figures. To get home we stuck our thumbs out and hitch-hiked the 30km back to town with a truck driver and his son. Andy did most of the translating on the way home for us and we were back for lunch, or in Luke´s case running after a doctor and medicine.

We ended up staying an extra night in Nazca as Renya clearly needed the rest to get back up and travelling as quickly as possible. Again Luke´s spanish came in handy as the pleading heart case was brought out (we think the words diarrohea and bus did the trick) and managed to get the bus tickets delayed until the following night.

So last night, Tuesday South American time, we caught a Cruz Del Sur bus at 8pm out of the desert and into the Andes. The best way to describe the journey would be a 10 hour rollercoaster in the dark. Looking out the window was too scary too contemplate until morning, as the hewn cliff face would just rush to and from the window. But when we woke up in the morning the views were just breath-taking. We found it impossible to do the views justice with a camera so we quickly took some shots and put it away to enjoy the views. In some parts of the early dawn, it often appeared that the clouds dropped down from the sky in a pillar and then swept throughout the valleys. As well as this were canyons, rivers, snow capped peaks and terraced farming everywhere. It was also unbelievably green and vegetated, even to the highest extremes. Quite a shock after being surrounded by brown desert and dust, dust, dust for the last week.

When we pulled into Cusco, or Qosqo as it is known in the local Quechua Andean language, we were surprised to find such a large city. It spreads for miles throughout the valleys, and there are people everywhere walking the cobbled streets, but it all makes sense as Qosqo is one of the oldest continuosly inhabited cities in the world, stretching back thousands of years.

The place we are staying at seems lovely- run by an elderly couple who are so sweet. We have organised the next three days of touring with an agency- so we will be visiting the Sacred valley tomorrow and Macchu Picchu on the Friday. So soon we will have lots of amazing photos (hopefully).

Sorry no photos are included this time but we aren´t really in a secure internet place and don´t really want to be flashing around our camera or ipod.

So generally we are having a blast - have both fallen head over heels in love with Peru and a really looking forward to the next week before we cross the border to Chile.

Hope all is going well at home - and thanks eveyone for the messages, great to hear all the news!!

Adios y buenos noches.

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