Alpacas,el ponchos and plenty of pollos in Peru

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The Steve bit.
Landing in Santiago Chile was one of our more simple arrivals. Chile presented itself as a well-organised and clean country, and then we found out how much accommodation costs! So one night, then on the bus we set off into the Atacama desert; 30hrs of vast mountain ranges of desert, and every now and then a cactus to look at. Chilean cuisine seems mostly centred around the Hot Dog, with the top delicacy being the "Completo" - a hot dog smothered in every sauce that you can think of - there were restaurants packed with people eating them.
Our 30 hours ended in Arica, which could not be described as an attractive town, although contained the first of many Gustav Eiffel designed buildings (he was really popular in this area), a large prefabricated church made of cast iron. Then a short rickety train journey over the border through some more great desert. The train arrived in Tacna station, stopping alongside a row of very old steam trains, which appeared to have just parked up and been forgotten. A very brief stay in Tacna - just time to look at the Eiffel fountain - and back on the bus, a night heading for the cold Andean mountains...even the bus windows froze on the inside. Lucky for us our spirits were kept up by a mixture Bon Jovi and Rick Astley eighties videos, and very violent films.
Cuzco's literally breath-taking altitude, blindingly bright sun, surprisingly cold shadows, and amazing views, woke us up then exhausted us in quick succession. There were times when you would be sat down reading and suddenly find yourself out of breath. The buildings, in the old part, were built on massive inca foundations, huge jigsaw like walls with no mortor or spaces between them, then on top a grand colonial Spanish building, with beautiful ornate dark wooden balconies, and closed in courtyards surrounded by cloisters. The walls of many of even the largest buildings throughout Peru are made of mud adobe bricks, with bits of straw often sticking out.
Peru also provided some new additions to the standard traveller wear sold everywhere in the world, the Alpaca/llamawear. You can get apparently any piece of clothing made out of the Alpaca, and it usually comes with a nice little Alpaca motif on it. However the cold led to a number of fluffy-warm concessions to the usual traveller-clothes ban.
Rafting, trekking, ruins, soggy islands and Condors marked the next few weeks, each one fuelled by large portions of meat and washed down with beer, not so great wine (Peru loves its sweet wine) and impressively bright-coloured fizzy pop. Despite the numerous Alpaca meals we managed to avoid the road kill look-a-like Cuy (guinea pig), and no fishing cats D&J.
Arequipa was a time mostly spent studying, with the ever present El Misti Volcano peering over the city at us. Arequipa with its magnificent Plaza de Armas (every Peruvian city has one, so that you can have a place to organize your guns for a revolution...how handy...a good use for Manzil Park in Oxford?) surrounded by porticoles, and filled with a mixture of jelly and cream selling women,shoe polishers,palm trees,tourists, and, in its giant central fountain...drowning pigeons!! Arequipas back streets seemed to team with vast numbers of roast chicken restaurants, hundreds of them, always packed out.
Then on to the ruins of Pisco, a bizarre taxi ride through the devastated streets and now-shanty town, Shakin Stevens belting in our ears... this old house!!! Sitting off the coast of Pisco (hence the trip to a ruined town) the islas ballestos, otherwise known as the poor man's Galapagos, with birds, seals, more birds, penguins, some more birds, and lots of guano! Nasca, an ancient civilisation spanning nine-hundred years (and not quite as famous as the Incas, who only managed one-hundred!), who spent most of their time drawing lines in the desert that nobody understands (whereas the Inca's did conquer half of South America) with its massive geometric shapes and huge pictures of weird animals, strange human forms... and a space man!! All seen from a remarkably shaky plane twisting and turning above each picture, whilst we struggled to hold our stomachs, regretting our earlier breakfast, the sound of the pilots voice - "if you look down the wing tip you can see a hummingbird" - the down was vertical and it felt like going into a vortex...some hours later our legs, and colour, returned...however, still if we look at pictures the sickness returns!!

Vik's second attempt at writing an entry after the first one happily ventured elsewhere the moment I reached my momentous conclusion.
Two weeks after my first attempt I have now sufficiently recovered from the despair to have another go. So...
After a surprisingly okay 30 hour bus ride from Santiago, a two hour train ride then enabled us to cross the border into Peru, presumably passing en route the non-identifiable line in the sand that marks it. From there it was a mere 18 hour hop and we were finally at our destination of Cusco, and with a whole five hours to spare before my-only-just-younger-brother-Ian (what was that about 30 Ian??) and Shell's eagerly awaited arrival. The time dragged with our feet as even the slightest of slopes left us breathless, and then finally we were all waving cheerily at each other from the opposite side of a locked hotel door. And then a highly energetic, totally indulgent, completely brilliant two weeks (see above entry) and it was too quickly time for sad farewell hugs followed by some good quality moping by me. And as Ian and Shell headed home, Steve and I decided to stay put in Arequipa and head back to school.
But this time there was no safety in numbers, and no super-keen kids to save you from the inevitable humiliations that are the joy of learning. It wasn't quite the gentle experience I'd imagined, and it came as a particular low point in week 2 when our teacher offered us stimulants to help us along. Turns out verbs and tenses wasn't all he traded in. And then, after our lengthiest stay in one place, we packed up our things once again and headed north, with our non-chemically enhanced almost brilliant Spanish.
After three weeks in the beautiful city of Arequipa (a city that does in fact celebrate itself as something very much separate from its surrounds) it was a stark reminder of Peru's status as a developing country to arrive in the coastal town of Pisco, where a powerful earthquake had pretty much levelled the place two years before, to see that it remained, well, pretty much levelled. The surviving town folk were doggedly attempting to rebuild their lives from half-standing homes if they were lucky, much less if not.
And to continue the contrasts, next we made for Huaycachina; a reputed oasis in the midst of the desert. However, almost immediately, we concluded that oasis it was not. The natural spring had long since dried up and the murky green lagoon was now sustained, via questionable means, to keep the tourists flocking. And flocking they were. But for, what turned out to be, at least one (surprisingly) good reason. Sandboarding.
But before the boarding came the buggying; like being on a rollercoaster but without the comfort of safety regulations and absolutely no guarantee that you'll stay on the rails. Half an hour of cool-and-sporty-dad, who happened to be seated next to me, exclaiming 'holy s···' repeatedly (although that might have been because I kept clutching his arm inadvertently). As for the boarding, it emerged fairly on that, for me, staying upright was going to prove problematic. With hindsight, perseverance may have been wiser, but at the time it seemed that key to my success at negotiating the dramatic downhills (think 200m sand cliffs rather than gentle dunes) was to lower my centre of gravity. So off I hurtled, on my belly, face first, having completely failed to take into account the resultant increase in speed that my new position would allow. Absolutely terrifying (and apparently snow is quicker Tim & Hel?!).
And just chance to witness some crazy lines in the sand, before it was time to move on. Our exit was helped along by reports of an imminent three-day national strike, in the context of increasing civil unrest. Peruano folk, it turns out, have a bit of a reputation for protesting (peacefully is the norm) and July is apparently the most popular month for such activity. However, at present, it seems that people here have more than just the usual set of social issues to raise their collective voice about, and as the government continue with the introduction of laws to ease the sale of parts of the Amazon (to those more interested in oil than where the communities indigenous to those lands might live) the situation looks sadly unpromising. Although world news (well, CNN) seems to show hearty handshakes between government representatives and community leaders (completely unbiased of course), local news continues to talk of government cover ups (a massacre in June) and growing discontent, whilst the President adamantly claims a communist conspiracy by plotting country-neighbours. A very tangled web.
On a lighter note, the last time we had been stranded as a result of the protesting, an unexpected treat had occurred; for Ian's shoes. Pretty much as soon as Ian had stepped out into the open space he had become a target for the many shoe-shiners of Peru. Eyeing his forlorn footwear, they'd go to great lengths to persuade him to succomb to a quick shine. Ian crossed the plentiful plazas with increasing trepidation as they seemingly appeared from nowhere, intent on scrubbing his boots. Finally the pressure was just too great, and unable to choose between his two latest followers, Ian employed both young entrepreneurs in a shine-off. The results were outstanding, Ian was delighted, and whilst his newly-revived shiny shoes looked somewhat incongruous with his outfit, we all agreed it was ten pence well spent.
Next, Bolivia...

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Photos

Inca Trail
4200m...we all agreed it was the highest we had ever been! On foot that is.

Huacachina
A chilled moment in the chaos of buggying and boarding

Comments

[Cathy Smewin]

You lucky sods!
Ruth Styles gave me your travel blog site (hope you don't mind) cos I was asking about you both. I am so envious of the fabulous travels you are having, albeit wouldn't fancy roughing it too much these days. Love your blogs, they are so informative and amusing. Keep up the blogs - they transport me from bloody Phoenix Ward corridor to a better place! Lots of love - Cathy