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Published: October 19th 2010
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Peru
Huarez
We arrived at Huarez a town in Northern Peru after 52 hours on buses from Ecuador. It was a long journey but when we saw the mesmerizing mountains of the Cordilleras Blancas we thought it was more than worth the trouble. We went on the Santa Cruz trek through the mountains which are second in height only to the Himalayas. One of the days was very challenging as we had to climb a steep mountain pass. The hard work was rewarded on the other side of the pass where we saw a crystal blue lake surrounded by snowy mountains. After four days of trekking through spectacular scenery we returned to Huarez for some Pisco Sours (a famous drink in Peru that tastes a little bit like a margarita) and a night of dancing.
Lima
The capital city of Lima was not as visually beautiful as Quito, but it was on the ocean. We spent some time walking around the city and visiting the parks. We had the most delicious ceviche here. We also made an attempt to get our visa for Brazil here but we were denied because we lacked proper documentation (bank
account records, credit card copies, etc.) so we decided we would gather the documents and try again in La Paz, Bolivia.
Huacachina
Huacachina is small town located at the foot of enormous sand dunes. We got on a dune buggy which took us through the sand dunes. It was absolutely thrilling as the buggy launched off of huge sand dunes into the air. We then strapped on a sandboard which is similar to a snowboard and made our way to the bottom of one of the dunes. It was fun and even though Rachel had never snowboarded before, she was able to make it down fairly easily. The dune buggy would meet us at the bottom and drive us to the top of another dune. As the day went on the dunes started getting bigger and bigger. Finally we were at the top of a huge hill and our dune buggy driver told us there was a second way to go down the hill. He had us lie down on the board and go face first down a steep and enormous hill. It was scary and a real adrenaline rush because the speed was over 60 miles
per hour. We loved it!!
Nazca
We took a bus to Nazca and boarded a tiny 4 passenger plane to view the Nazca lines from the air. The plane circled around all of the different figures that appear on the ground below. No one has ever been able to determine who created the famous figures in the sand. Some people believe they were pre-Inca religious sites and others believe they were made by aliens. There are actually over a thousand of them and some of them are bigger then a football field. Ian´s favorite was the ¨spaceman¨which looks like an alien and Rachel loved the monkey with its spiral tail.
Arequipa
We arrived in Arequipa a town with white stone buildings and a big plaza that had traditional bands playing music all day. It was a religious holiday and there were parades and music all over town. We tried our first alpaca meal which looks similar to a llama and tasted delicious. The next morning we went to Colca Canyon, which is the deepest canyon in the world. It is one of the only inhabitable canyons in the world and it is home to
the most concentrated number of Andean condors. We went to a viewpoint to watch the condors soar above us. Next, we trekked down into the canyon which was very steep. Then we walked across the bottom of the canyon to the place where we would sleep for the night. The next morning we woke up before sunrise and began the tortorous climb up the canyon wall. It took quite a while but we both made it back to the top. We then went to thermal hot springs to relax our aching muscles.
Cuzco, Aguas Caliente, and Machu Picchu
Cuzco was a great little town to walk around. It is very touristy and there are tons of shops selling alpaca knit products and other goods. We were unable to do the traditional Inca trail walk to Machu Picchu due to a new regulation which does not allow people to take the place of the last-minute cancellations for the tours. We booked a train to Aguas Caliente, the town right next to Machu Picchu. There is a mountain that overlooks Machu Picchu that the authorities only allow a limited number of people to climb per day so we woke
up early (3 AM) to get in line for the ticket. We were not only able to get the ticket to climb but we were also some of the first people into Machu Picchu for the day which enabled us to get pictures before the site was flooded with tourists. We also had the opportunity to watch the sunrise over the site. We took our pictures and then made the climb up the mountain to look down on the ancient Inca site. Then we took a tour to learn more about Machu Picchu. It is the only Incan city that the Spanish never discovered when they conquered the Incans which also makes it the only intact Incan site since the Spanish destroyed much of the other Incan cities. There are no writings by the Incans that even mention Machu Picchu which is why we were slightly skeptical when our tour guide told us in detail what every building was used for and many other facts about the city. The Incans did not collect taxes, instead their people would perform labor as tax payment, so this is how the cities were built. Machu Picchu was never finished and there were many
buildings that were still being built when the Incans fled from fear of a Spanish invasion.
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anonymous
non-member comment
wow looks cool! I want to see the bike race!