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Published: July 20th 2006
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Nazca Plains...
Humming Bird...(I actually saw a humming bird in real life while hikking up a mountian the other day!!! Cool aye!!) So Peru!!! Gonna head south and zigzag down through the sights to Lake Titikaka and then across into Bolivia. Hopefully should take about 3 weeks (as i write this just arrived in Arequipa having taken the overnight bus from Cusco, 20/07/06).....
First stop Iquitos... After the 7 day Amazon boat we took the speedboat into Iquitos (11 hours instead of 3 days!!!)... All Peruvian towns seem to be similar layout with a main plaza in the middle (Normally called Plaza De Armas) although these areas are generaly full of trees and fountains it struggles to hide the polution in the air, as most towns are in a valley and the vehicle and factory emmision regs are pretty much none!!! and the vehicles are old!!! as in i wouldn´t drive one and i´ll drive anything!!! (Sheryl hows the car!!!)...
But books and thier covers, the Peru people are great!!! All spanish from now on, so for me forget all ive learned and start again (Kay has a little spanish from uni). Can get myself through a menu and say "Thats Too Expensive", "Room With 2 Beds" and the day to day stuff, if i can't understand someone i know how
Our Very First Glimse Of Peru Life..
We took the speedboat from Brazil at 5am so the first look at Peruvian life was during a fuel stop about 3 hours in... to ask them to slow down "But Still Cant Understand Them!!!!"...
After our first night mission one was to get some money (now Peruvian soles) and book our flight to Lima as theres no way of doing it over land (Andes).. This is where you see the step back, it took 5 hours!!!! 2 in the bank, as it was packed and everywhere with queues uses the old ticket system from the cheese counter in the supermarkets!!! and another 2 hour plus in the flight office (tickets again!!)... But silver lining came in the form of Jack an english student of 17 who saw me brushing up on my spanish while in the bank queue and after a good chat became our guide for the next 2 days while here (he didn't want paying just to improve his grama but we did anyway..he saved us a lot of money still, so felt nice to see him light up when we handed over the Monster Tip)..
Day 1 was a trip into Belen which is a floating market town on the Amazon river. The place was a network of small streets with the busiest and most crowded market that
Me And The Anaconda!!!!
Was a little scared (very little!!!), was a pretty strong devil!!!! ive ever seen set in these tiny narrow streets!!! without a guide you would just turn back as very daunting, every local used the market and on sale was every food and spice youve seen including some dodgy meat and fish stalls!!! So we hired a local kid who took us down the river on his wooden canoe, it was a real eye opener and for me probably the first real look at poverty where there is no sign of any resentment towards anyone for thier situation, they just got on with it and generaly had a smile for you, dont get me wrong if you flaunt an opportunity they would take it but you felt that this wasn't a touristy thing and they were happy for outsiders to see this bizarr way of life... "Floating" comes from the fact that for 8 months of the year the river rises by as much as 1.5m and floodes the entire place!!! alot of place are built on stilts and the others are anchored down and just rise with the water level and the market bocomes a floating one.... This sounds quite querky but with all the population having no sewerage and
Floating Village Of Belen...
Quite Disturbing To Travel Through...No Matter What Your Desire As A Local Seems Difficult To See A Way Out Of This Place... Amazing But Moving Too... no way of disposing of any waste except straight into the river on both counts the discease and sanitation issues!!! And on top of this all the people do all day is fish this river!!! Or they dont eat!!!!!!
In the afternoon we went to a zoo, didn't travel this far to see a zoo so no photos or time wasted on this guys.....Then we were invited to Jacks for dinner with his family which was really lovely experience (was glad i didn't get the portion of chicken that contained the foot!!! as i would have had to eat it!!!!)...
Day 2 was a trip to see some native Bora people living the old way??? we traveled down the Amazon channels for about 20 mins in a small motorised boat and landed on the shores met by a native looking guy who took us to through the undergrowth to this small camp, there were a few Americans here already waiting for enough visitors so they could start thier dance show. But after being told it was 20 soles each (60 inc guide)!!! and obviously a rip off we tried to leave but things got a little heated as we
So Cute...
I never thought they'd be so cute and cuddly, i want one!!!! "What You Gotta Go There!!!!!" had already entered the camp and at just 17 Jack was a little edgy and intimidated by these tattoo'd scary natives!!!!! we handed over a small gesture that was clearly not anough to satisfy them and ran back to the boat... On the way back we stopped at a serpentary which on all accounts was a small family business of collecting pets from the area and letting the tourists pay to see them (was well worth it, great fun). They had Sloaths, Mackaws, Snakes, Turtles, Spider Monkeys and various other, only thing i didn't like was the Jaguar which for obvious reasons was caged but whould rather they never had it as it spoilt the place a bit... But was great to get close the local wildlife for a change...
So next stop Lima, had already been warned about saftey here before we set off and the place certainly felt dangerous, stayed in the upmarket bit of Miraflores and just found a way out straight away...Its Just another city....
So into Pisco, all the guide books plug this as poor mans Gallapagos (spelling!!!! shocking!!!) islands, but dispite a recent freak weather belt that had scared the quantity of
Hard Life Being A Seal...
Usually this place has upto 5000 seals at this time of year but due to freak weather a couple of hundred were killed and the majority fled and haven't returned so only about 100 there now... wildlife off you still had the quality to be seen... The half day trip took in numerous small islands of Sealions, Boobys, Ganits, Cormarants, pelicans, gulls and crabs, even had a few dolphins follow at one stage... the day had to be extended due to the drama of the worldcup final which was showing when we stopped for food on the way back (I wanted France to win!!!!)...
Next Stop and by far the best thing to date in Peru was the extrordinary "Nazca Lines". These are on the Nazca plains which is unique for its ability to preserve the markings upon it, due to the combination of the climate (one of the driest on Earth, with only twenty minutes of rainfall per year) and the flat, stony ground which minimises the effect of the wind at ground level. With no dust or sand to cover the plain, and little rain or wind to erode it, lines drawn here tend to stay drawn. These factors, combined with the existence of a lighter-coloured subsoil beneath the desert crust, provide a vast writing pad that is ideally suited to the artist who wants to leave his mark for eternity. It is
Funny Old Bird The Pelican...
Its beak can hold more than its bellycan.... a network of 300 geometric and animal shapes that can only be seen from the sky and were created 2000 years ago (300 years before christ) and based on the fact weve only been flying for 100 years the mysteries and mythes as to why are varied, from an early alien landing where as they were then created incase of a return, to the links to shamen priests and thier bizaar drug related ways of flying with the gods to simply an acient calander linked to astology (im the spider)... either way to produce such perfect figures (including an Alien looking one??!!) on such a scale with no way of reviewing the work so far and "WHY" gets your mind doing overtime... A truely Magical place... I will let the pictures do the talking but you can get a look at scale due the the nearby road...'The 40 minute microlight plane ride was another experience with 2 out of 5 loosing thier breakfast!!!!
Also in Nazca was a cemetary from the time of the Nazca People 2000 years ago with perfectly preserved bodies due agian to the dessert conditions, we had a guided tour and it really pulled alot
Coastline in Pisco...
Very rough seas met by vast dessert coastline.... together as far as the history of Peru goes... All Just In Time For The Next Stop "Cusco" and "Machu Pichu" the lost city of the Inca's.....
Take Care All.... Thanks for the comments on me last blog...
Bit for the travellers:- Peru food is cheaper at about 4 soles for basic menu (70p) including soup, main and a drink (usually warm fruity drink??),but you will need to meals a day as not massive but enough. Hostals at 15 soles each for a room. Iquitos Belen tour about 15 soles, Serpentary 10 soles... Pisco boat tour 20 soles.... Nazca Flight $50, cemetary $10.... No menu food in Iquitos just fast food at about 10 soles a good meal..... Flight from Iquitos to Lima $70 (2 hours)...
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Nadine
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Green Eyed Monster
I am sooo jealous!! do you think a sloth would survive posting back to the UK?? or you could smuggle one back in your bag or something... Call it a birthday prezzie! Glad your having a good time, take care xx