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Published: January 28th 2006
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Tungaruha
On the way back to Baños. Again! Hola everybody!
Well its been a busy few weeks since last writting. I joined the dragoman group in Quito just before new year and its been full on since then.
After the new year celebrations i went back from Baños to join the rest of the group. We were staying at this crazy couple (Franco & Nina) but were great fun. The next day we went to a place that was called Hola Vida - if that rings a bell to anyone that was where i was working in the jungle. It was cool to go back and see Patricio and Segundo who worked with me at Bougainvillas and more of the kids. We had a cool guide but i think i could have down as good a job. We wet back to Rio Verde via visiting an animal sanctuary where i got to hold a boa constrictor and loads of monkeys which started off friendly untill the little gits started trying to bite us.
We left rio verde and headed for Cuenca. Once there we only had one night but it seemed like quite a nice city for ecuador as it was colonial with loads of different
Cheeky Monkey!
Aminute later the little git tries to bite me plazas etc. But before i knew it we were on the road to Peru. The day on the road was spent screaming at the locals because it was made national wave day. The truck (cindy) got 786 waves which beat the record by a good 300 or so. Got to the beach resort of Punta Sal on the north coast of Peru about 5pm. The only thing to do in Punta Sal was to have a few beers. The next day went to Mancora which was a cool little surf town but failed to get my first surf lesson due to a comp going on. Finished off with a big bbq on the beach which was cool.
Left for Huanchaco which is another costal town on the Peru coast. On the way we stopped off at a museum of Lord Sipan which reconstructs his tomb. This guy has some power because when he went some poor kids and women get drugged and burried alive with him for protection! Got to Huanchaco quite late again and the next day was spent visiting the Chan Chan pyramids and the Huaca del sol and lune (sun and moon). They were cool as
they werent restored in any way and you could see all the patterns of the incas, though it was hard work with the hangover from the night before. In the afternoon and had my first surf lesson in Huanchaco. Managed to stay up on the board for my first and last attempt. Good fun but im not sure im cut out for the surfers life.
Hit the road the next day for Lima which was a 9 hour trip. I hadnt heard good things about Lima but i was pleasantly suyrprised by the city. It´s got some nice areas and again like all other South American cities full of plazas. The day we had in Lima i found this cool bar which was based on a football theme. I had lunch with Pele and Maradona (its not great having lunch with Diego when you have to pay!). The centre piece was a massive painting of Wembley. But i was more impressive with some Yeovill fan donating a pendant to the pub. Later that afternoon being a boit bored I decided to go paragliding of the cliff in Miraflores. It was really cool as i got a great view of
the city and some confused looks from the shoppers in the local mall.
Left Lima and went to Paracas national park which is the desert in Peru. We had a bush camp on a beach. Again the usual 3 (myself, bridge (auzzie) and Jay (mad kiwi tour leader) got drunk. So wasnt feeling 100% for the boat trip to Isla Balatas where we saw hundreds of birds and sea lions. We even got a few dolphins swimming beside the boat.
Then hit the road and stopped at an oasis in the desert called Huacachino. A cool place with massive sand dunes. We all went sand buggying and sand boarding, a great laugh. To start off we jumped in a vehicle out of mad max and headed for the desert, better than any rollercoaster you can go on. Then came the sand boarding, thinking that after the surfing lesson (and also telling some guy in Huanchaco on a drunken night i was pro surfing champ of Britain and would give him a lesson - which led to a nickname on the truck), I thought this would be a breeze. The first run went well until near the end where
i had the biggest crash of the dayand went flying ending up covered head to toe in sand. The other runs went a bit smoother and had a wicked afternoon. We ended the day by driving to Nazca.
The next morning we caught the plane to fly over the Nazca lines. Pretty impressive site but bloody hard to get photos of the shapes. (Any good photos ill have to credit to caroline). It was cool but a bit short plane trip. We left te same day and went and saw the Chauchilla ruins on the way to Puerto Inka. The ruins were full of skeletons and was interesting seeing how the bodies were burried and placed in the tombs. Some of these skeletons had more hair than Carter (but thats not really an achievement). We had one last afternoon on the beach in Puerto Inka, with a few days in Arequipa we then headed for Chivay and the Colca Canyon.
to be continued........
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DAVID & LINDA
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AWESOME
HI MAD MAX YATES ALL LOOKS PRETTY AWESOME, CITY STILL IN THE CUP YOUR TURN IN 6 HOURS AT WOLVES. WE FLY TO ARIZONA ON THE DAY BEFORE THE CUP FINAL SHOULD I REARRANGE THE FLIGHT???? KEEP ON BUZZIN - DAVID AND LINDA