Hablo muy poquito Espanol!

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Having not been out of my normal routine for some time I was more than excited to be striking out on a 2 week adventure to Peru. Equipped with my very basic high school Spanish (rubbish really!), a few tour books, an adventuresome travel companion and a return ticket from Cusco-we flew to Lima.

Peru is a country I knew shockingly little about so off we went to educate ourselves. Upon arriving to Lima we promptly locked all of our worldly belongings into the trunk of a cab and ventured into the city. Passing arid landscape, the beach (which was more like a pile of sandy dirt) we wound our way into Miraflores, the tourist district. Having managed to book a hostel not on the strip we spent our evening walking blocks and blocks to the main thoroughfare. Our first night we did manage to come across a lovely restaurant called Mangos. Overlooking the now darkened Pacific ocean we enjoyed our first taste of probably the best lomo saltado I will ever encounter. For those of you who aren't familiar with lomo saltado it is a curious blend of Chinese stirfry and the peruvian staples of beef and potatoes.

The following day we set about exploring the historic district complete with cathedral, many closed museums, a Spanglish tour of the Peruvian parliment, a wander around the Plaza de Armas and the main shopping street downtown. Had a lovely spitroast chicken at Pardo's and headed back to Miraflores for yet another walk and a disappointing visit to the local market. Having gotten our feet wet in Lima and finding out how poor my Spanish really was, we boarded a posh Cruz del Sur bus headed for Nazca.

Cruz del Sur is a busline unlike I have ever experienced before (especially when you book the cama seats). Lounge chairs, AC, blankets, English/Spanish movies for the entire journey, a packed lunch, a fully functional toilet with paper and stewardess. We departed the city passing shantytowns all the way. Shockingly it is estimated that a staggering half of the city's 8 million inhabitants live in these shantytowns. Reality check...Most inhabitants probably earn less in a day than we spent on our bus tickets to Nazca.

Our 6 hour journey took us through the desert coastal regions south of the city. I have never seen a desert so dry and completely without vegetation. Encountering some fertile valleys here and there we arrived into Nazca, a well kept town bursting with festival energy (at the time they were having one last party of the 10 day celebration in honor of Marie Reiche-researcher of the Nazca Lines). We headed to our hostel, struggled to book our flight over the Nazca Lines with my incredible lack of good quality Spanish and hit up the local cevicheria before checking out the planetarium and its evening show. We learned more about the Nazca Lines, Marie Reiche's work, had a look at the full moon and Saturn through a high powered telescope. Very worthwhile!

We retreated to the hostel for a night on the hardest, most bowed bed in our cave of a room before our next day flight over the lines. We had read up on the more than likely possibility of being airsick so skipped breakfast and headed out to the airport. More than 3 hours later (and now starving for lunch as well) we boarded our plane and up we went. We turned and swooped over the monkey, astronaut, condor, hummingbird, numerous lines and trapezoids and more before nausea set in. Let's just say 3 out of the 4 of us came off the plane with bag in hand. An experience we couldn't have missed, will never forget and perhaps the most we will ever pay in our lives to use an airsickness bag! Needless to say we spent the evening getting back our land legs, taking in some well deserved food and exploring some of the other local sights and museums before catching our late late bus to Arequipa.

By far the most disturbing thing to happen on our trip was shortly after we embarked. An employee with video camera came around taking our photos. What for we asked... in case the bus would wreck so they could identify the bodies!! Yipes! A very long, very winding, very real possibility of having massive bruises on our hips from all the thrashing about, thinking our bus was going to tip over at any second journey to Arequipa lasted 12 hours. We arrived, grateful to have survived and short of breath from our quick ascent up to 7,500 ft.

Happily our hostel was in a quiet and lovely part of town just a few blocks from the Plaza de Armas. We enjoyed a breakfast of fresh made banana pancakes complete with toffee sauce before heading out on the town. We browsed through the local shops and checked out the square before finding a picturesque restaurant on one of the many balconies overlooking the plaza. We took in the ambience before making our way to the Monastery Santa Catalina.

Santa Catalina, truly a city within a city, was built in 1580. Originally only high class women with very rich dowries were taken into the convent. Today about 20 nuns remain while most of the complex is open to visitors like us dying to snap photos of the vividly painted walls and quaint courtyards. We wandered around for a few hours taking in each apartment, views from the roof and the well kept courtyards and gardens. From Santa Catalina we headed for the cathedral on the Plaza for a look around their million dollar jewellery collection and the view from the rooftop of the 3 active volcanos that surround the city.
We wrapped up our day early as we had a 3am bus to catch out to Colca Canyon to see the Andean condors fly!

Extremely early the next morning we were bundled onto a bus, collected our fellow passengers (some who even held us up to eat a crack of dawn breakfast!) and drove the winding road towards Colca Canyon. Unfortunately those same early morning diners lost their breakfast on the drive. Not a good start to the day! A brief stop in Chivay for traditional Peruvian breakfast (dry hollow rolls, scrapings of jam and butter, and Coca tea for our altitude sickness) and we continued on our way through the valley. Driving through many small villages we stopped for great views of the ever deepening valley, the odd photo opportunity of locals dressed up (for tips) and a glimpse of normal Peruvian life in these parts. We ended our journey at Cruz del Condor where the birds took flight.

Gliding on the morning updrafts we watched the condors soar with minimal effort on the breeze. A beautiful experience! After taking our fill and constantly trying to catch our breath from the altitude we headed back to Chivay for a buffet lunch complete with cuy (guinea pig!), a walk through the local market and a trip to the highest point on our Peruvian adventure so far (around 10,500 ft).

Next stop Puno and Lake Titicaca.

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Photos

Pardo's
the best spitroast chicken in Peru..hands down!!

Nazca Lines
the whale

Nazca Lines
the hummingbird

Nazca Lines
the condor

Nazca Lines
the tree

Nazca Lines
the ??