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Published: August 8th 2008
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Hi all,
So much has happend since the last blog entry, from the nazca we got on the nicest bus to arequipa and woke up quite fresh. We stayed at the point hostal again however this one wasnt as lively as the lima one. We met up whith a couple of ppl in the hostal and had a little look around the town that day, there was a protest on about something or other but it was interesting to see. Then went to a museum with a frozen inka sacrafice mummy inside which was nice...zzzzzz oh sorry bout that lol. Went out for go karting and a standard night out in the evening to deja vu which was quite a nice club.
The second day in arequipa was much more eventful we went white water rafting which is amazing even hungover with no sleep, there were some pretty spectacular views along the way, my favorite by far was the view af bens face as he lost his balance slid off the boat backwards into the river which name roughly translates to 'bloody chilly river', no picture could have ever done this moment justise lol.
We had also booked on to the
colca canyon
what a view......amazing 2 day colca canyon trek which is the 3 day trek compressed into 2, we departed at 1am the following morning, and after another 5hour bus journey we started our trek into the canyon with our mascott scruffy the dog who followed us the whole way down and up the mountain. The views of the canyon are absolutely unmissable for anyone heading to the arequipa region. The first day of treking is quite hard as the sun is quite hot but its not too bad untill you start heading up the other side of the mountain. The first day ended at this oasis at the bottom of the canyon which has to be one of the most far way places from civilisation possible either side of it is 3000m high mountains and so the place is really peaceful.
The second day of treking was far from enjoyable they woke us up at 3am for a 3 hour climb up a 3000m high mountain by torchlight... it was by far the most physically demanding thing i have ever had to do and i felt a massive achievement at the top. Patto and ben were awesome the whole way up as ppl
that know me know that im not amazing when im tired and woken up early in the morning let alone having to walk up a bloody mountain. later in the day we managed to see the condors and chillout in a hotspring so it wasnt all bad.
After a little well earned rest we decided that we wernt quite done with punishing our bodies and signed up to mountain bike down a volcano which is undoubtedly going to be one of the main highlights of the trip. it was brilliant it was fast paced fun and best of all nearly all of it was downhill! we started at 4200m and then biked all the way down which is strange as its really cold at the top and hot at the bottom the whole thing took about 4 hours but was pretty impressive.
OK so lake Titikaka so after one last night out in arequipa we got another long bus to Puno there isnt alot to do around puno so we slept for what felt like the first time in a month, and then headed to the reed islands the next day. They are one
of those things you have to go see because everyone says you have to, but truth is they arent that impressive, a bit wierd to walk on and very touristy but still cool to see.
The next day was when we shortly traveled to copacabama in boliva to isle de sol, we stayed in a pretty rubbish hostal with a load of irish girls we had just bumped into and then got up early the next day to head to the island. The island is where the inka religion was believed to have begun the island was much bigger when the lake was lower and there are a number of flooded settlements. We started on the northern side of the island and then hiked 11km to the southern seeing a number of ruins etc on the way. beautiful island though well worth the visit.
Finally to wind up we got the bus to cusco later that night hich is where i am writing now we have booked onto our lares trek to macchu pichu and i will keep you posted when i get back.
much love x
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Matt Partridge
non-member comment
Awesome
Hey mate, looks like your having a wicked time, and being very active for you!! Very envious!! Hope all is still well and ur enjoying cuzco and will probs have finished ur trek by now...!! Looking forward to seeing u all when u get back!! Say a big hello to the lads for me!! In your words....much love!! x