a lie in till 7 today seems a novelty. we are then took on a bus to catch another bus as is the norm here. we were told last night the the local miners are striking over government reforms for them to need to be registered, they have no problems with this as such but want heatlhcare in return if they pay more taxes. this meant that our bus might not leave or even arrive, so we sat at the bus station in anticipation of what might come. the bus did arrive and we duely set off out of puno, well we got a about 5 minutes away and then we saw them. there must have been 10s of 1000s of minors coming down the hill from Julliaca. setting off firecrackers, chanting. we stood their watching in amazement really for 3 1/2 hrs before we finally managed to leave.
the bus journey was similar to the Arriquipa night bus. the drivers were daring and i got the front seat again to catch all the action as it happened. we went through some lovely mountain towns and seemed to pass inummerable dogs in the middle of nowhere. when we got to Cuzco it was dark(we were 3 hrs late), though once you got to the centre you could see how pretty it was, it had been the Inca captial nd then the spanish had come and put their stamp on it. i knew we would like it here. after putting our bags in we went off in seach of dinner ( ihadnt eaten in 7 hrs which for uk was strange nevermind peru). so wehen we saw an chinese (chifa) we jumped at it. BIG mistake, the food which arrived was shocking and in over an hour and a half, only 3 peoples mains had arrived. so we all left and paid for our starters, and headed to McDonalds(trust me you would have aswell). some of us then hit some local .
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Up at 6:30 am as has been usual on this trip ( if not earlier). and head down to breakfast, we have the most amazing fried bread which is nothing like the greasy muck we get with our engish breakfast. this is hard and soo soo tasty, portion sizes again seem a little on the large size as each one of these is the size of a cob roll and i am given 8 (really).
after breakfast we are taken on a short walk to see the island by our sister. we then wait for our fathers return to spend an hour helping in some way. we see some of the others hearding cattle and sheep or baby sitting for one of the youngsters. so we think we may get a relaxing farming activity, so when our father turns up with two cows and two calfs all looks well. execpt for the window frame on his shoulder. this is where the fun starts, he explains that he needs us to transport some sand from the track below up to his house. each wheelbarrow load is about 60-80kg, so this is no easy feat at sea level, but at 3800 m in the blisterng sun, this is exhausting. after about 10 trips and half a tonne of sand later we are given our reprive and told to go on a wander on our own. In retrospect i actually enjoyed it and actually think i helped out the family in some way which is good. after our walk we have lunch (note breakfast was only 3 hrs ago), and again Quinoa soup is on the menu this time followed by a stew served with the local cheese fried, Peru is known as the cullinary capital of south amerrica and i can really bellieve it. we are then walked down to the port and we practice our Aymara(their first language isnt even spanish) and say our goodbyes. after getting back to puno and finding out this time i no longer have the cuboard with birsto table we head out for some food(really we just ate and ate and ate all trip). we then all met up again and had a few drinks (a few too many probably :)) and heading back to the hotel all in anticipation of reaching cuzco which had be it seems no one slept well last night. me in my broom cuboard was expected, but the others less so, i think the car driving around plaiying tribute acts to dead singers, a peruvain Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse, Reallly!. Also admitedly we had a few jars in the local rock and reggae bar last night, though this was just fior team bonding obviously, Some guests checked out about 4, which is my excuse for the lack of sleep as my broom cuboard was by the front door (or was the front door- who knows). Luckily today was mostly on a boat just sitting down in the sun (well it has been sunny every day since the coast by the way, and this is their winter so this isnt really a surpise)
So we packed our bags and got picked up in cycle rickshaws to take us the mile to the docks. our driver is speedy gonalez and we arrive well ahead of the rest of the pack, on landing we are accosted by locals selling ben 10 pen sets which confuses me till later when i realise we are supposed to give pens over sweets at the home stay as they are getting bad tooth decay due to the change in diet. first step of the day is to the floating uros islands, these people choose to live on small islands made of reeds from the lake, wehn we ariive we see 10s of these little islands clumped together each with its own community set up for tourism, our captian chooses his island of choice and we are greeted to a colourful display of the ladies waiting to meet us. the islands themselves are fairly remarkable due to the hard work which is needed to keep them afloat. it comes as a surpise though that due to hte influx of cash from tourism they now have solar panels for tv. we are treated to a small demonstration of how the islands are made and then we get taken in a double hulled canoe with a viewing platform on top which looks like something you would sit on top of an elephant. all the monies are shared between the islands to improve the quality of life for the people and also try and stop the migration of the people to the mainland. after Uros, we hope back on our boat for the 3 hr ride to Taquile island for our lunchstop. this island is basically a hill, with all the centre of the village and restaurants at the top. walking up this in the blistering heat and the fact that the base of the lake is already 3800 m up is killer, so when we finally reach our restaurant we all need a cool drink. Two options are for lunch, Trout from the lake or omlette, i have to come clean this is the first meal where i take the easy option, and go for the omlette, I WISH I HADN'T, i try some of the grilled trout and it is amazing, nothing like i would imagine, really meaty. after lunch we headed down what seemed like endless steps to get back to our boat(training for Machu Pichu they said) and boarded our boat to our homestay. i was quite nervous about this part but luckily i was not alone and had been paired with Richard who i got on well with. we ariived at the peninsular where we were staying and told we would be playing a football match against the locals. so off we trotted to the concrete pitch to meet the oppostion. we kick off and realise that if walking is hard at 3800m the running is a lot lot worse, my heart felt like it was just by my ear it was that loud. in the end though we played for about 50 minutes with only really a 5-10 min gap when Garry and Jessie came on (they are not footie fans). the amzing thing is, We Won! mostly thanks to the ice hockey gaol keeping of Ed and the tireless running of liam who seemed never to get our of breath. \ after football we met some of our family and then got dressed up in local attaire(pics to follow im sure). then as if football wasnt enough we had to take part in some peruvian dancing which i think knocked us all for six. after all the festivites we got taken by our sisters to our family house for the night, we are introduced to our mama, and shown to our room. this is where i get my first surprise, we have normal beds, i expected a matress on the floor but it seems the built a house especially for their guests (they dont use this themselves though and we are never shown to their house- though we later hear it is a lot more basic). we hand over our gifts of fruit and veg bought at the market yesterday (no tips are given in cash here) and then get ready for dinner. southern Peru has been proven to tbe home of domestication of the potato so we expected to eat a lot here, though not as much as we did here. the portion sizes made supersize me look like diet food. it was amazing, we had a Quinoa (also local) soup to start which would suffice much most appetites, but afterwards, we were given a stew which was supreme, lots of corriander and pototaes. the only downside was the awkwardness of the encounter as we didnt really have the communication skils to converse correctly, but we gave it ago. after dinner i loked at the night sky and the dad pointed out the southern cross. i also got my first ever glimpse of the milky way, which was stunning. our bed sheets were the weight of lead. but the tranquility of the area meant we had one of our best nights sleeps on the tour Puno is a bustling little city by the massive lake Titicaca. this lake is 120km long i think so no small undertaking. getting their involved another long bus ride from Chivay.{everything involves a long bus here} though this time we were on our own private bus so it was a bit more relaxed. we stopped at a beautiful lake on near the top of the mountain, it gave me a chance to try our my polarising lens for my camera, so lets see if the pics turn out any good. on arrival in Puno i found that i had been given a secret closet as a room, it was hilarious, you wouldn't even realise you passed it if you didn't know where to look. it wasnt to be a big problem though as we ever spend much time in them. we ariived early after noon and we had till 7 before we had to meet up. so off we went to get traditional Peruvian pizza. after our meal we had a look round and 3 of us {on some stupid advice from me} decided to walk up 200 steps to a condor statue overlooking the city. Puno is at 3800 meters so this is no easy feat. you could hear you heart beating so much it felt like it was going to pop out. the view was worth it as you could see the whole city and the lake beyond. on the way down we caught a tuk tuk back to town which was hilarious as these 3 wheelers never seem safe.
after getting back to the hotel we went for a nice meal as a group. we heading to a rock and reggae bar, and danced and drunk our way back to the hotel. i realise i haven't mentioned the group much, the reason being is they are just a real great bunch of people. we seem to have hit gold for our group as we seem to do everything together, which no other group seems to. there is one or 2 characters but in reality i thought i might like a few of the group, when in fact they are all an amazing group of people. anyway i gtg as their is only one computer here and i have to share with the whole hotel. ciao stew so in answer the grammar issues, most keyboards, including this one have the letters worn off so i don't always know what i am writing. it is also a Spanish keyboard so the letters are different.
in answer to Cats question i have sampled the local delicacy of Cuy which actually was very nice. back to the trip. Chivay is the center of the colca region, which includes the worlds biggest canyon. we have to get up really early for our trip into the mountains to look for condors. off we get on our small bus for the 3 hr journey. after what is a really bumpy ride we reach the colca canyon which is massive. also at this point we see 2 condors which are the worlds biggest flying bird of prey. they are the most majestic bird of prey. after a while 9 turned up. i think there must have been some bait for them as there seemed no reason that they would pick that spot over others, after going for a walk along the top of the canyon we headed back down the hill to a small village where a man selling bracelets couldnt move his arm so this aussie couldnt pay him. they had a nice church, much like what you would find in a western. dinner was held in a trational way with muchos dancing and audience participation. lucklilly though i didnt have to pretend to have malaria so didnt get whipped. had the heater on back at the hotel this time so i didnt feel i was sleeping in the antartic. anyway off to puno tomorrow ciao Realxing start to the day where dont have to get up till 7:00. ovely breakfast on the sun terrace before heading off to catch our bus to the mountains, more specifically, Colca Canyon. first stop though is the highest point of our trip at 4900 meters, our bus arrives and it is a small private coach which is just for us which is nice. we leave ariquiipa behind with the backdrop of volcanoes enveloping our journey.after about 3 hrs we spot our first alpaccas and lamas and also a rare animal whose name escapes me. We stop to take some pictures before heding to our high point.it seems strange travelling this high by bus as it took us 5 days to walk to this this point on kilimanjaro. we finally reach our summit and the view is amasing, mountains and volvcanos are in every direction, some higher some on a leval plane with us. it is quie cold, though not unbearable with the sun out. we try ad take it easy as our lungs are not used to this sort of altitude.
after abut 20 mins we get back in our bus and head back down the mountain to our destination for 2 nights, chivay, on arrival i find i have been given a king size bed which seems to have been a mix up as i find out later one of the couples is in singles. after having a quick rest we head off on a short walk to lear a bit about the capital of the Colca Region. that night dinner is just a snack as we are all stuffed from our buffet lunch. anyway got to catch a bus now, i am a few days behind on the blog So its 10 pm and we board bus and find out i have the front seats on the first floor, which gives the best views for our journey, even at night.
we have just had the largest meal known to man, but as soon as we move off the waitress comes round with a meal which really isnt appreciated , but i grab a rice pudding anyway. then off we head towards ariquipa which is 12 hrs away. in the uk this would be more than london to edinburgh and back. the eats are comfy and the view is amazing, well it is night originally so not that great at first. the bus weaves its way like a F1 cat round the twisty roads, i am surprised to see my g adventures buddies sleeping but it seems most people were faking. after about 4hrs the bus stops for over an hour in a traffic jam, then for the next 1 1-2 hrs we slowly move until we see our blockage, a massive boulder has fallen off the cliff and takes up most of one lane of the road so they are having to let traffic through both ways slowly. after we make it though the jam, the sun starts to rise and we see we are still on the coast. we soon veer off into the hills as we have to get to over 2000 metres today, we pass though some wonderful valleys with their grenery cutting though the usual barren landscape we have become acustomed too. 11 am and 2- 1-2 hrs late we arrive at ariquipa, Peru´s second largest city, it has more the colonial style i was expecting and has some very pretty parts, after checking into our sweet little hotel we head off for lunch and i get my chance to try guinea pig, it is really just like chicken, though that may be due to the fact everything is fried here. it is lovely, though not the most appealing to look at. after lunch we go grab some ice cream and sit on the main square before looking around a few churches. one very gold and ostentatios, the cathedral though is very understated. that night we go grab a hot chocolate before some of us head to a bar for a few beers and a bit of dancing before heading back to the hotel at 1.30 am so it has been a very long day. beunos noches. stew so we have a more relaxing day today with not much travelling. first stop is the airport to get weighed for our flight. we then head out to a ancient burial ground where we see lots of skeletons. our guide is knowledgable though later found to be drunk at 10am. after seeing what seems like to be an endless supply of skeletons we head back to the airport. i am in th first group so off we go to check in. we walk through quite stringent security and arrive at our little 6 seater cesna. our main pilot is columban and seems friendly. the engines start and off we go into the desert to look at the Nazca lines. these lines are 1000s of years old and were drawn for the gods, they cant be seen from the ground so the architects would not see them. our flight is a little bumpy but it twists and turns it way over each shape and drawing. it lasts a half hour before returning us safely to ground. it is only after landing it seems that we were the only flight to have too pilots which was a good. after our flight we get in some random guy´s car to take us to Nazca town. somehow we made as always seems to the case here.
nice lunch in a tourist restaurant where we all ended up seperatly. back to the town later on. after picking our things up from the hotel we went to a chicken restaurant were the portion sizes were AMAZING. after dinner we board our night bus for the next 12 - 14 hours adios so its been few days, but it has been hard to update my blog. We finally leave Lima and also our guides as they managed to miss the bus getting our tickets. Luckily another tour guide was on from the same company so he looked after us. after changing bus we catch a little bus to our hotel, passing what i can only describe as the worst smell in the world, a fish powder factory. also on route we pass an air base, with no fencing, which is strange as most other industry is heavily guarded, just notthe military.
we arrived to our first stop, paracass, a little fishing village which has become a tourist haven due to its proximity to the ballestas islands, which is a nature reserve we go to. as for tonight we eat on the seafront with the sunsetting over the pacific. at night rudely awaken by a party with fireworks at 2am, decide to look for ear plugs but in darkness i struggle, so vow to move them to somewhere memorable tomorrow. next morning we have an early start for desayuno (breakfast) at 7 as we need to get boat at 8, we assume that a little ferry will be taking us, but this 30 seater speed boat turns up, and we motor off into the pacific. first stopis a factory island with lots of pelicans, then we spot our first cormorant, which is going to be a common sight, we then see our first Nasca line in the cliff face about 100m tall and a bit like the giant horse in the uk. our driver revs his engines as we hit open water and we speed out to the islands.these two islands, hold 1000s of birds,also tiny Humbolt Penquins and sea lions, all of which we see a plenty. then on the way back we are treated to a rare sight of 100000s of birds in aline landing besides us to wash themselves. it is a truely amasing spectacle. after reaching land we head off towards Nazca, passing the lunar llike landscape as we go. First stop is a winnery and Pisco distillery where we get a tour and taster session. the pisco isthe local spirt, similar in production to brandy but more like grappa in taste. we reach lunch at a oasis in the desert and sit down to dinner to the backdrop of 80s rock. aftert lunch we hit the Dune Buggies, these are amazing and drive down near verticle sand dunes. it is scary but amazing funat the same time. we then get a go at sand boarding or rather sand sledging. this is fun but i think most peoplewant back in the buggies, especially as we have a nuts driver. back on out bus again to Nazca, home of the lines. we arrive quite late to our rural hotel, lovely quite location, sit downto an average dinner of fried chicken and then go off to bar to play some table football where someof the players dont spin and a peruvian game of toad where you have to throw some coins into a hole from a distance, i seemto be better the further away i stand. anyway offto bed, Wake up stupidly early in hotel, well stupidly early for Lima, about right for UK. manage to lie in bed for what seemed like an eternity before deciding it was time to rise when the building work started. head down to breakfast to find bacon and egg out, they know how to cater for tourists.
Then I head to the beach. When I say beach, i´m sure people are thinking of Cocacobana in Rio, or the Costa del Sol. Well i can tell you there was no sun, and really no sand either, mostly stones. Still i walk along the top of the cliffs looking over the coastline and spot the Cross which had been lit up like Vegas the night before, these catholics really like to celebrate their affimation to their faith. take a few snaps of the 100s of surfers below, from up here they look like seals, with their black wetsuits bobbing up and down in the waves, seems a competition is on. move on round past a light house which has some inscription i cant read, think that is going to be a running theme here. head down a vast amount of steps to get to the sea front. walk along the front and spot a sign noting the Tsunami evacuation points, note a earthquake has happened in the philipines so could be heding this way, decide it could be a while so carry on regardless. for lunch i attemp my best spanish to order a chicken sandwich all is going well until she askes about extras, she confuses me with tomato, even though it is the same word, DOH. she reverts to english and I get Lunch. walk along what loo,s like the M25 going though the centre of lima, the Via Ariquipa. find out that this is not one of the main roads, just Lima is busy. end up walking along this road for what seems like an hour, i really should have picked up a Map. millions of small buses pass, with conductors shouting out to passers destinations which mean nothing to me. the local seems to make sense of this madness some how. decide to come off this monument to the car at KPMG lima, take a snap and hope to upload it to fb to see if anyone finds it amusing. after a short coffee stop at Starbucks ( i know but no one else seems to do mocha) i head back to the hotel. realise when i get in how humid it is here. my back has been drenched. read a sign in lobby reminding me to be there for talk at half 6, so decide to go upstairs shower and watch some more CNN. 6.30 i head to lobby and recognise some faces from my flight. we get shuffled into a board room and are introduced. Most of you know how bad i am with names. from what i recall we have Ed who is a Candaian lawyer from Alberta, who wants to leave law, other than that the names escape me. though we do have about 5 brits, and then a mixture of Canadians, Americans, Irish and a Norwegian, so a good mix. find out from a scot in our group that he is a Doctor specialising in Public health in Edinburgh, so have a quick chat with him about the Legionaires out break after out chat we head out to dinner. food is good and beer is, well th same as the uk as Cusquenea is sold in Leeds. head back to hotel and try and get some kip for moving on tomorrow |
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July 2012
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