Finally.......another blog!!

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Hi everyone, first up, sorry about the delay in writing anything down for you all, it's been a busy 2 months or so since getting here in south america that we've just been finding it difficult to find the hours we need to sit down and get it all down in writing! So we're both well, enjoying our time and getting a lot in. As you'll find out!

We left off in New Zealand (god that seems an age ago!), we spent a few days in Aukland prepping for South America, and celebrating Carols birthday by going up the skytower for a night out. We done it in style, going for a meal, complete with fantastic views and then hitting the casino for free (budget style) drinks and a bit of gambling to finish off. We didn't get to see a lot of Aukland as we were only there for 1 night so maybe an excuse to go back some time! The next day we picked up the flight to Santiago, Chile where we got our first experience off SA. The loss of a day due to the IDL and time change really hit us as we got off the plane and tried to negotiate our way into the city for a night. My first spanish conversation with the taxi rank contained the way too obvious (in spanish) "hey, how are you" "where you from" answer "England" response "ah Beckham" prompt football nonsense conversation. Unfortaunately you need far more than footballing spanish to get by on over here! Anyway we got into Santiago proper, found a decent hostel, passed out, woke up, went out for late meal and got up early again (5am) top get our next flight to Lima, Peru. We had selected a hostel called The Point in the southern District of Barranco to stop in for a few days befroe we decided our next move. Howevere by the time we got there it was apparant we wouldn't be moving for a few days. After 3 flights in 3 days, jet lag you wouldn't believe and the loss of a day we were prepared to sleep for a few days. So we did.We settled into the point and after a few days in the Hostel we had decided to stop until the time until we picked up the tour. We quickly built up a good social circle with everyone staying there, The Irish lads in our dorm (Robbie, Roach, and Mclean), Liam the london barman, Gino the chef (ESSENTIAL IN SURVIVING) and all the other regulars. We had a pretty amazing week, sampling peruvian nightlife, local delicacies (Cerviche, like Sushi but with lemon and garlic) murderous traffic, learning spanish and lazing around. I have to say we very reluctanatly left and still are in contact with the amazing people we met (and still bump into) on the way round.

So we left the Point and headed for the Hotel that was to be the meeting point for the Overland trip we had booked onto for the Lima - Santiago leg of our travels. An overland tour basically consists of a Truck with a big cab on the back like a bus, but with some tables and comfy seats, stereo system etc to make life easy and then everything else you need to survive on underneath (camping, cooking equipment, food storage, luggage space, etc) Basically our home for the duration. So we got to the meet and greet late (oops, not great first impression) and got aquainted with the rest of the guys on the tour. We had a group of 22 mainly Austarlian, Kiwi and English to spend the next 6 weeks with. We headed to the bar for a few social drinks before retiring to the nice comfy hotel room (well appreciated after all the dorms of Oz and NZ) before leaving early next morning for the first drive to the BEllesteros Islands 3 hours south. Here we headed out to the 'Blessed Islands' via speedboat to see the local penguin, seal, and bird polulations. The islands were beautiful but reeked of Guano (literally bird shit) which is farmed every 8 years. For us wildlife lovers it was superb, if a little smelly.

Next up was another 3 hour drive to Huacachina, an oasis in the peruvian desert. We arrived late afternoon for a swim and cold beer before heading out into the desert. We jumped into our transport bascically a V8 engine strapped to a roll cage and sped out into the hot desert. We hit the giant dunes and sped up and over the dunes, coming down impossible desecents, with a bit of air time for dramatic effect so we could make some guano of our own! After scaring the hell out of us for some time we stopped to get the snow boards out of the back, chalked them up, lay down on them and then headed down the sanddunes at full throttle head first. We spent the rest of the afternoon attempting steeped and steeper dunes, getting between them using the mad max style buggies. We stopped for sunset and then made our way to the desert camp for a BBQ and camp fire before falling asleep under the stars after a few pisco's Sours (peru's nationl drink!). We woke in the desert the next morning where it quickly went from being cold to scorching hot within 30 mins. The amazing thing about Peru is the sheer amount of climates it has, from the amazon basin to arid deserts and mountainous jungles.

Our next day took us down to Nazca, the home of the famous Nazca Lins, the shapes moulded into the desert. The shapes were formed by removing rocks from the (rocky) desert. Noone even knew the shapes were there until the 1930'S, and the pan american highway (which runs from Alaska down to patagonia) was actually built through the middle of the lines. no one actually noticed until they flew over them!! We stopped at a viewing tower to get a view of the ones next to the highway and take a few photo's, as you can see! We camped overnight in Nazca and started to get to know the rest of our trucks inhabitanats, our night culminating in 2 of the guys reenacting the famous walkof from Zoolander, absolutely hilarious!! The next morning we started our long drive to the next destination, Puerto Inca. We stopped along the way to have a look at some mummified remains that were discovered in the desert, preserved to such an extent that the hair still remains. As you can see from the Photo's they looked quite disgusting! We drove on down the spectactular Pacific Highway to reach our next camp on the beach. It made a lovely stopover for a camp on the beach at the location where the Inca kings would order their fresh fish from, to have it delivered to Cusco, over 400KM away. It also made for thier port area. After swimming in the ocean for the afternoon we had our first taste of south american steaks, BBQ'd on the beach. Absolutely stunning!!

The following day was the beginning of our ascent up into the Andes range where we would be spending the next 4 weeks at altitudes ranging from 2700m-4900m. Arequipa sits at 2700m, a city built of white volcanic ash bocks, cathedrals, churchs and famous jumping off point for the Colca Canyon. We explored the city on our first afternoon wandering around the main Plaza de Armas (all main sqaures in Peru are called this, the spanish required the locals to bring thier arms to the main squares of all towns) and it's cloistered streets. Early (3.30am!) the next morning we got up and caught a bus to the Colca Canyon, passing over the high point of 4900m. It was this point you could really feel the altitude with the lack of oxygen, and headaches kicking in. We didn't stay for too long, put it that way! We got to the canyon for 8am, the deepest canyon in the world hoping to see the Condors that rise on the morning thermals. We waited, waited, and waited some more. The views were majestic, but in all honesty we were there to see the Condors. After an hour we spotted one in the distance, but couldn't get a decent view. Another hour later we caught sight of another, but again too far away to get a decent photo. We decided to stay on as long as possible to try and increase our chances of catching one. Just when we were about to give up, we caught sight of one circling up and it shot over our heads! Succeess, our hopes were dashed of an aeriel display above our heads by the stupidity of some local kids who screamed and 1 actually throwing a bottle at it! Holy Shit. Angry glances, threats of freefalling down the canyon without a parachute followed and we got out of there, relieved that the journey hadn't been for nothing but slightly out out anyway. We made it back to Arequipa late afternoon, and tired and lazy as we were sat around instead of exploring! Next day we visited to Santa Catalina Monastry in town. The Monastry has existed for over 400 years, but has only been open to the public for the last 20, we had a guided tour round and were stunned by the size, beauty and peacefullness of it. It is basically a town withing a town and resembles the steets of Andalucia in spain. The photos kind of do it justice! With one last night left in Arequipa we decided to go out and hit the town, Tourist style and promptly found a good bar and Club to continue to get to know everyone on the truck. With an early start the next morning it was with heavy heads (and with no help from myself) that we took our tents down and loaded onto the truck. And set off for one of the highlights of the trip, Cusco and the Inca trail!

ANother update will follow soon, promise!!

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Photos

The Crew
At the point Hostel in Lima

The Candellabra
Carved in the hills god knows how many years ago

Comments

[ma and pa]

we think you have both lost weight ?
Hi the latist photo makes you both look as though you have lost a lot of weight ? or was that the mummified bodys i was looking at ? must use my glasses more often ....looks so great all of it ......makes our holiday photos look a bit boring ..not long before you have come back to cld wet sogy england ..love lots ma and pa xx