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Published: December 22nd 2009
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After the Inca Trail we spent some more time in Cusco to recover and to see some more of the ruins, which I saw the most of because it was me and Tracey on the Sacred Valley tour as Franki couldnt come due to the huge holes aka blisters in her feet and too much walking required. Me and Franki the next day for the City Tour as Tracey was feeling unwell. Truly ruined out and by the end I could have done the guided tours, I knew so much about the Incas, their lives, religion and beliefs and constructions.
We also went out in Cusco as it has a great nightlife scene and they give you free drinks to go to their club, so theoretically one could get away with a free night out! Tracey and I got absolutely bombarded by touters and had to run into Mcdonalds to escape and decide where we wanted to go!
All in all Cusco was a lovely city that I really enjoyed and could have stayed longer in if we had had the time. Next on the list was Nazca where there are some mysterious lines in the desert. The bus there
was horrendous, was the most wiggly, windy road ever. I was not well! On the day we arrived we went on a tour with a mad tour guide who, again, spoke only to Franki in Spanish which is always funny because Tracey tends to fill int he gaps with her own imagination. The Nazca Lines are goeglyphs in the desert made from rocks that contain iron and so get hot in the sun, this is why the lines have been preserved. We also visited some aquaducts and another Inca ruin! Jesus, our guide did tell us quite a lot about the lines and the formation and theories as to their existence but it is all theoretical and noone knows how or why they are there. The next day Tracey and I took a flight over them, Franki is not a fan of flying in small planes. We saw all the main ones, incliding the monkey, tree, astronaut, and the massive road that was built through the middle of them! We were appreciative of the lesson we had the day before because they do not tell you any information about the lines just what they are nominally called. It was fun
though.
Next we went to Huacachina which is a lovely Oasis in the middle of the desert. It is very pretty and very hot and sunny, much to Franki's delight. Here we went sandboarding, so much fun. It is like snowboarding on sand dunes and you can do it on your tummy as well. I destroyed my already slightly ripped trousers and they ended up looking like chapps. The hostel we were staying at did a BBQ, it was quite average but there was some evening entertainment provided in that there was a group of Americans that had arrived that day, a couple were a few biscuits short of a biscuit tin but they were good to talk to.
Paracas was the next place we went and we went on a tour of the Islas Ballestas aka 'the poor mans gallapogas'. There were more birds there than I think I have ever seen in my life so far put together, amoung them were cormorants, penguins and seagulls as well as sea lions. The birds create guana i.e. bird poo that used to be exported and used for fertilisation. As you might imagine it stinks and we all wore
waterproofs and hats to protect ourselves. Back on dry land we had some breakfast, browsed some stalls and had some sleep in our ocean view room.
The next day we went to Pisco which had an earthquake 2 years ago and has had no money or support from the Peruvian government so rebuilding has been slow and the effects are stilll very visible. Even so, I enjoyed Pisco. We went to Pisco Disco (really), which was a lot of fun except for all the staring at me, obviously I don't look peruvian or anything near that so it is usual. We went on a tour of some pisco factories where we got to try different types of pisco made from different grapes and distilled with different flavours. We also visited a chocolate factory and a museum with history about different tribes and it had skulls and mummies, gross.
From Pisco we got a bus to Lima. Mum's friend Teresa has some friends called Lupe and Tony in Lima who are both English teachers who we stayed with. They were extremely hospitible and lovely. In the taxi on the way to Magdalena del Mar, where they live they were
telling us about all the different neighbourhoods we were in and some information about Lima. That afternoon we went to a lovely part of town called Miraflores where we had a wander and a coffee and found a lovely shopping centre with a good view.
We went into the city centre the next day to the cathedral, saw the changing of the guard which took about 40 minutes and wandered down to the other plaza. We went to San Francisco monestary where we had a rubbish guide and were with a group of missionaries from the US. The monestry was lovely though. In the library one of the Americans said to his friend "doesn't it just make you think Harry Potter?"! NO! obviously the only old thing he knew. Got take away pizza and drank wine with Lupe in the evening and we also met her daughter and grand daughter who live in the same appartment building. Then we flew to Buenos Aires the next day!!
All the photos have the wrong names and as I want to go and do something else I am going to leave it to you intelligent people to work out which one is
which.
Love Jen xxxx
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Sally
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Happy Christmas
HI Jenny Glad you are still having fun. I'm so impressed by the geography / geology / history lessons you are giving us. I think you'd make a fab tour guide. Your expression re the Americans who were 'a few biscuits short of a biscuit tin' really made me laugh!!! Don't knock guana - it was the incredible wealth made from it, that made a Victorian man so rich that he had Tyntesfield built - it is now a huge National Trust pile just outside Bristol. So where are you for Christmas? I thought you were going to be with relatives in Aussie. Wherever you are, have a peaceful and blessed time. We've just been decorating Cotham - a lovely new nativity scene, African style, below the altar. But it will be a small congregation - so many have moved in the last few weeks: Robin and Eliz; Emily; Ann King. Lois has also moved from her flat into an Abbeyfield Home near the Downs. lots of love Sally xxx