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Botanical Gardens - City
Luke and Chris hamming it up in Sydney's Botanical Gardens. Renya here from deepest darkest Peru- actually it isnt that dark or deep although for the first day or so it was a little scary as everything is so different and unknown... anyway as i havent been writing any details on our travel so far (laziness more than anything) I will start at the very beginning.
First of all- Leaving Perth.
We had a whole army of people turn up to the Airport to wish us farewell- which wasnt really suprising since most of them are from our very big joint family. Plane was delayed by an hour so we flew into Sydney much later than planned- but as we were able to take all our luggage as carry on (our grand plan actually worked out- both packs were 7kilos!!!) we could leave the airport fairly quickly and head to Chris's...
So Sydney...
Lets start by saying just how fabulous Chris and Hil's place is- its this funky ultra modern apartment right in the middle of Surrey Hills and Oxford street (think 24hour pubs, funky little cafe's- all very bohemian and cool). we did a lot of drinking, alot of eating yummy food - especially the Sydney Spectacular of
Los Andes
Only 15 minutes out of Santiago and we're flying over the Andes $7 steak meals!! unbelievable!!!!
We also did alot of the dorky touristy stuff like Pictures infront of Sydnet Harbour Bridge and the Opera House- wandering around the Botanical gardens, Visiting the art gallery to see the Archibald exhibit...etc. Sydney is incredibly beautiful with so much parkland- so we really enjoyed just wandering around.
We also watched a lot of Lost as we are going to miss out on it here- so for those who are addicted... keep watching it gets really good!!
So a big big thankyou to Chris and Hil for having us- it was the perfect start to our trip!
Then came the big flying day. Sydney to Auckland (3hrs- Quantas), Auckland to Santiago (11.5 Hours- Lan Chile)- all was going well at this stage even though we found it hard to sleep on the plane.. then came discount airline Aerolinas Argentinas and our big headaches begun - Santiago to Buenos Aires ( 1.5 hours) then a crippling extra 2 hour delay to fly to Lima (5 hours) By the last flight we were absolutely exausted and those five hours while we fitfully slept were definately the hardest part of the trip so far.
We landed in
Pachacamac
Francis, our host, took a group of us to Pachacamac, which was one of the most important Inca cities but now lay as ruins located south of Lima. Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro plundered the city of gold and silver and destroyed the city after he betrayed one of the warring Inca brothers. Lima at about 2am (we were supposed to be there at 11:30!!) but fortunately Francis (our Hostel manger) was prepared and once we stepped out of customs I heard my name being called out by our alloted Taxi driver- who drove us quickly to our Hostel to meet Francis.
Our hostel Miraflores House is just lovely- Mainly thanks to our marvellous host who has not only looked after us at the hostel (he even upgraded our rooms no cost!!) but also has been acting as tour guide by driving us to all the Sites and giving us extensive history lessons at all the archelogcal sites.
Yesterday he took us and two other couples to visit the Inca Sun Temple, The Incan Gold Museum, The Chapel of San Francisco, The Main Town Hall, etc etc. We left the Hostel at 10am and got home about 7pm- phew!!
I was incredibly nervous about walking around town as everything is completely different to home and there are so few tourists walking the streets and so little English spoken by anyone!! My Spanish definately needs to get much better (even though we knew much more than al the other couples we have
Pachamac Group
Our fellow Pachacamac explorers, two couples who were following very similar routes to ourselves. L-R Antoinette, Konrad, Kim, Renya, Francis (our host) and Peter. been hanging around with!! But I am finally beginning to adjust and feel a little less scared when I go walking around and trying to communicate what I want- Fortunately we have Francis who will interprets anything we need and ring the bus companies, taxis etc.- I just wish I could put him in my pack and take him all the way around South America with us!!!!!
on the downside- At the moment Luke has got the flu (i think he picked it up off the airplane) so he is all tucked up in bed with cold and flu tablets and the blog writing is up to me - But he sends his love to everyone - and later on once he is feeling a little better he will help me transfer this informations to the blog and upload pictures (I am so completely useless with these technical endeavors!!)
So I think that is all the news- my love to everyone and even though we are having a great time so far we are both feeling the pinch of homesickness quite badly- cant believe that it is going to be so long till we see home and all
View of Miraflores
The view from our balcony of the Lima suburb Miraflores. For some reason it looks clean in the photo but we can assure it's not! our friends and family again 😞
So cheers to everyone who has written to us so far- the emails are great as they make us feel not so far away anymore!!
Big love to everyone,
Renya
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DonandShe
non-member comment
Great start - blog looking good...
Hi Guys, thanks for the newsy post and a great precedent, it would be fabulous if you can keep this going, with all your travel commitments :) Love Dad and She