South America, The Last Week & Beyond......

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The Last Week & Beyond.

Sorry I haven't put up an update recently, we've been so busy trying to cram as much into our last week as is possible and so even now I am limited on time to fill you in. So what I have done is to condense the last week's diary below and we will fill in the gaps when we get home.

Col

18th February

After organizing the tour to Machu Picchu for the next day we sepnt time in and around the city of Cusco with its impressive buildings and plazas.

19th February

8am start for a 1 1/2 hour taxi ride over the mountains behind Cusco to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred valley. From Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu Pueblo) by a scenic 2 hour train journey through the Sacred Valley. Afternoon in hot springs 1/2 mile outside town then an early night for an early start.

20th February

Up at 4.30am as we had to get the bus up to Machu Picchu at 5.30am from town & try to be near the front of the line for the bus. Why so keen you ask? Well, you have seen a picture of Machu Picchu? (don't worry if not, you'll be bored of them soon!) and the big mountain behind it - Wayna Picchu? There is a steep stepped path to the top and they only let the first 400 people to enter up there.

We managed to get on the 3rd bus up and got tickets to climb Wayna Picchu. We had a 2 hour tour of the ruins, climbed Wayna Picchu and had a good few more hours around the site, walked back to Aguas Calientes (in the rain!) and took the train & taxi journey back to Cusco.

21st February

After a steady morning we took a taxi to the bus terminal to book a bus to Arequipa. The only option for the 10 hour journey was a night bus so we spent the day in Cusco again around the city then back to the bus station for a 7.30pm departure.

22nd February

We arrived in Arequipa at 5am and although we had pre-booked a hostel it was a little early to check-in so we had breakfast and waited until 7.30am in the station, then onto the hostel who gladly accepted at this hour.

It was Carnival day in Arequipa and the locals were celebrating by throwing water bombs and buckets of water with colored dye all over each other on the streets and in the Plaza. We avoided getting hit by having lunch on a balcony above the square. We booked a 2 day, 1 night tour of the Colca Canyon - the home of the Condor and the deepest canyon in the world for the next two days.

23rd February

Early start again at 7.30 for the 5 hour journey to Chivay at the head of the Colca Canyon, passing over high altitude Plateau at nearly 5000m, flanked by giant active volcanoes. After the 5 hour journey and buffet lunch we visited a hot springs in the afternoon and watched a traditional dance in the evening (which I ended up becoming a part of against my will).

24th February

6am start after being woken by a band passing our hostel who had been playing all night in the town as part of the 3 day carnival. After taking a road hugging the edge of the deep canyon we arrived at the main view point which was covered with cloud - not good conditions for seeing the deepest canyon in the world or its Condors. So the bus took us out of the cloud and the sun started to shine as we waited at the second and third view point. After 1/2 hour of waiting and watching we caught our first sight of 2 Condors circling high above the valley. More waiting was rewarded as 2 huge Condors flew that close to us that we could see every detail on them, they were huge - more than 2m in wing span.

After the Condor viewing it was back to Chivay for lunch and onward to Arequipa in the minibus via a snow covered mountain road at 4900m. On arrival in Arequipa we decided we would have to leave that night for a night bus to the coast as we were running short of time so booked a 10 hour night bus to Nazca.

25th February

On arrival in Nazca at 6.30am we took a taxi to the hostel we had pre-booked and checked into the room. The main attraction of Nazca is the Nazca lines, a set of large drawings of mainly animals in the rocky desert surface created around 500BC by an ancient civilization. The amazing thing is how they were created as they can only be viewed from the air.

Luckly the hostel was able to book us onto a flight to see the lines in the morning at 9am so we rushed off streight out to the airfield. The plane to see the lines was a 6 seater including the pilot so it was really small. The 30 minute over flight of the lines was great if a bit bumpy in the small plane, seeing the lines from above gave us a real appreciation of how big the figures really are.


So, that's up to now (sorry it's been a bit rushed) and below is the plan for the next couple of days;

26th February
Early 6 hour bus to Lima, then spend the afternoon & evening around Lima.

27th February
Day in Lima then fly from Lima to Madrid & onward to London departing at 9pm

28th February
Arrive London at 6pm then train from London to Doncaster, hopefully arriving around 9pm.

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