PERU: 16/01/09 - 06/02/09
Hi All, Thomas here. Just to let those know, who will be following our progress, that we will be blogging on this page in Peru. Thanks and enjoy!
Monday 9th February 2009 - Buenos Aires
Just to say we will now be blogging on the Argentina tab until we reach New Zealand. This should be on the 15t h February. Check it out.
Hey Thomas here,
Thought i would add to the blog that Anna completed earlier as we have a lot of time to kill in Lima today. Firstly, the flight from the Jungle was the worst turbulance of my life (much like being on a roller coaster, which i hate) and left me feeling sick as a dog by the end. Secondly, us writing about the jungle scarcely does it justice, it was phenomenal. We had a wonderful time, although the humidity starts to take its toll after 3 days, and are now looking forward to Argentina.
I saw Anna wrote about the termite and i imagine everyopne is thinking "why would you eat that, it's disgusting". To be honest you can't really taste them, it's just a crunch but they are really high in protein. Our guide told us that chicken in the jungle are fed on termites and as a result regularly have 30 - 40 chicks following them around at any one time. Can you imagine that! Unfortunatly we didnt see that but the tought alone was halarious.
Also talking about the tourist that have died in the jungle, Anna was right they all wondered off and in one case they found her camera. Having looked at the photos they discovered that she had been taking pictures of a amazon jungle snake, (very poisonous) at night, and you guessed it, with the flash on. Well the snake didnt like that! However, stories aside the jungle is really safe if you stick like glue to the guide.
Thanks for the messages as usual, really nice to hear the news from home. Hope your feeling better Tony after waiting 24 hours in Heathrow, with only starbucks as your friend. And steve, looking forward to seeing the video of the snow to show us in New Zealand. Once again thanks to Dad for the head torch as electricity in the jungle was very limited. Look forward to recieving more messages and take care
Thomas & Anna xxx
p.s. Happy birthday Jack for last Tuesday (how drunk were u?) and Happy birthday pop for tomorrow. Bye
Friday 6th Feb 2009 - last day in peru after the Jungle
Well firstly we would just like to let you know that we survived the Amazon jungle and it was absolutely amazing!!! The favouriate part of our trip so far!
Our flight arrived in the morning to Puerto Maldonado, a city in the Madre de Dios region of the rainforest. We got a bus down to the river and then hopped on a small motorised boat to take us downstream to the point where we would start our 1.5hour trek through the jungle. On the boat they gave us some lunch - it was the amazing vegetable rice wrapped and steamed in a big leaf from the jungle (steaming in the leaf gives it this really nice flavour). Once got off the boat on went the long trousers and welly boots. Yes i know what you were thinking, we were absolutely boiling! it is so humid there, especially in the afternoon, and within minutes we were dripping. However, there were loads of flying insects so was the lesser of too evils and decided we could handle the heat rather than getting bitten to death on the first day!! This time of year is the very beginning of the rainy season for them but they have been having a unusually hot period and so there actually weren´t too many mozzies.
The walk throught the jungle was really good tho. Mainly due to having the best guide ever called Ivan who was really enthusiastic and know so much. he kept making us be quiet and creep behind him to get really close the animals. On this walk we mainly saw monkeys and lots of different birds. after an hour or so we came to the end of our walk and clambered into a canoe to take us to Sandoval lake, where our lodge was situated. Was really pretty rowing across the lake although the water is a bit gross. Its more swampy than i thought it would be with in some parts and green filmy top. definately had no intension of going in!!! especially when there are anacondas, paranas and caymen (like crocodiles!!) as well to contend with.
The lodge we stayed in was absolutely incredible. If you have a moment look sandoval lake lodge in peru up on google as it has a website via incanatura travel and you can see the pictures (as at the mo putting pictures on here seems to be a bit of a challange. although have not managed to send them to thomas´s computer at home so hopefully will be making the rounds soon). The lodge is set back on the banks overlooking the lake and otherwise totally surrounded by the rainforest. The lodge is make of wood, bamboo and leaves. All the sides are open with just a net covering it so that is stays cool but stops the insects coming in, well most of them. The roof is thatched with waterproof leaves found in the jungle. Inside was really luxurious and had some hamocks looking out towards the lake. we did have a cheeky beer and cocktail sitting in them one afternoon.
That evening after dinner our guide Ivan took us out on a night walk. It did seem like the perfect setting for a horror movie and did freak myself out a bit at one point. The animal we saw most were these GIGANTIC tarantulas!!! seriously made me a little embarassed to be scared of the tiny pathetic ones the inhabit out downstairs loo at home! They are mainly nocternal and there are absolutely everywhere, on bushes, trees and on the floor. Was very glad at this point to have our wellies, although the thought of them coming down from a tree did cross my mind :-s!! We also saw this other type of spìder which is actually bigger than an tarantula as it has really really long thin legs and flat body. The whole thing is probably about 30cm in diameter!! gross! We saw a couple of frogs, one quite big one called a smokey forest frog, or something like that, which the guide informed me jumped 2ms while i was standing 2m from it. This as you can imagine made me take a quite step backwards!! In the shallow part of the lake we saw a baby caymen and also a stingray (the most deadly thing in the lake).
The following morning whe went out on the lake at 5.30am to see some monkeys. This is because at this time they all come to the edge of the lake so you have more chance of seeing them. We were really lucky and saw 4 different types: the squirrel monkey (little light brown ones), the red howller monkey, and 2 others i cant remember the names of. It really was awesome watching them jump through the trees. especially the squirel ones as the are in packs of 200-300 and seem the most playful jumping from branch to branch. We also saw lots of birds: parrots, kingfishers, the "stinky bird" - a big bird with a big crest, and a snake bird - which catches fish from the water and as it has a long neck when its in the water you could quite easily mistake it for a snake.
We then had a few hours to relax before going on an trek through the forest. this time mainly to look at the plants and trees. First we ate this fruit which the seeds help make chocolate. The fruit was really nice and sweet, kind of like a lychee, but i, by acident, bit into the seeds in the centre which are really really bitter! We saw lots of type of trees including the rubber tree and we saw how if the bark is sliced this white liquid oozes out and when it dries it turns to rubber! Also the brazil nut tree and we even used a machettee to open the shell that contains lots of brazil nuts. we then used out teeth to open the shells of the nut to eat it. They are delicious!! nothing like the ones we get at home as these have not been dehydrated. They really are so so good. We also got to suck on some bark of a tree, which was disgusting, that is used in antimalarial medicines. Now, thomas then decided to be a little too adventurous for my opinion. I think he got a little carried away and when the guide suggested eating a termite, yes you heard me correctly a TERMITE, he did!!! all he said was "mmm crunchy!"
We had the afternoon to relax again as in the afternoon it is so humid you dont want to trek and lots of the animal hide in the forest. Turned out the be a good thing tho as we had huge thunder storm for about 2 hours. It really was magical though being in the middle of the rainforest in a thunderstorm. youve never seen so much rain in 2 hours. even in england lol!
When dusk came we went back out on the boat as all the monkeys come back from the centre of the forest at this time. We saw LOADs and loads of squirrel monkeys jumping all over the place it was so much fun to watch. We also were lucky to see a capoccino monkey (like marcel in Friends) which is the most intelligent monkey. They are dark brown and much bigger. The sun set while we were coming back on the lake and so managed to get some really amazing photos. Also, this is the best time to see caymen too. we saw a quite big one (2.5m) swimming across the lake and a couple of baby ones near the edge.
That evening we ended up sitting up til midnight drinking cocktails followed by far too much rum and coke. The lodge is eco friendly and so only used electricity for a few ours each day. So at 10pm when the light went out we stayed up drinking by candle light. was lots of fun and the guide told us some of the scary things that had happened in the forest and also about the tourists who have died!!! dont panic we are back now!! But to be fair the people who have died and gone missing are ones who have gone off by themselves, first mistake, at night, very stupid, and not even told people where they were going - ridiculous. so really it is perfectly safe if you do what the guide tells you.
We had the same trek back out of the forest as we did coming in, although this time as it was early morning it was nowhere near as humid. Flight to cusco was a little dodge as there was loads of turbulance due to lots of clouds but the second flight back to lima was much better. Went out with everyone for dinner last night as if was the final night of the tour. We went to this really nice restaurant overlooking the ocean.
Catching a flight to Buenos Aires tonight which we are really looking forward to.
Hope you are all well back home and your having fun in the snow.
lots of love
Anna & Thomas xx
Us at Machupicchu.
29th, 30th, 31st, 1st - INCA TRAIL!!!
So, the day finally arrived!! We had a big breakfast in the hotel at 5am to fill us up nicely before we leftat 6am for the beginning of the trail. We could take our day packs with us and were provided a duffle bag which had to be a maximum of 6.5kgs the carry all the stuff we would need. Luckily that did not include anythinglike food or a tent as there were porters assigned to us to do that for us. We stopped off on route at the sacred valley to take a few pictures of the valley and te urubamba river which runs through it.
We started our trek from a place called Piskacuchu and were really lucky that we had good weather for walking, warm and dry but not hot. The first day of treking was actually fairly easy with not too many hills and nice scenary. We saw a inca ruin called Salapunku along the way down in the valley. The views were really impressive with the steepmountains andriver running below.We stopped after a while to have some lunch.The porters are amazing. We had 17 assigned to our 10 who carried 30-40kgs each and pretty much RUN the trail the get there and set up before us - very impressive The chef was really good too. We had amazing food and he cooked it from minial equipment inside a tent!! For lunch we had soup followed my trout, veg, rice and garlic bread. Very tastey.
We then continued our last bit of the day to arrive at our campsite at about 3am after walking a total of 11km. They provided us with afternoon teaof popcorn, biscuits and crackers with tea coffee or hot chocolate. We then had the afternoon to relax until we had dinner. Again had amazing food, chichen veg and soup. As you will see we had and serious amout of food provided for us, i swear we ate in 4days what i normally eat in 2 weeks!! nice dry evening made a nice dry warm night in the tent and a good nights sleep ready for the 2nd day (which at the time didnt realise howmuch we really needed it!!)
The following morning we had a huge breakfast and were introduced to the porters. They range from 24 to 55 years old and come from many surrounding communities. They are all really friendly and definately made the trail much easier for us.
The second day of walking wasonly 9kms, but dont let yourself think, ok easy enough. oh no no no!! the first 5km are up the steepesthill you haverever seen and a lot of it is big stone steps. We had to climb 1000m to reach the top point, dead womans pass at 4200m above sea level. Thomas towards the end was having a serious mental battle to keep going whereas i went into somerobotic state just concentrating about putting one foot infront of the other. We did have to have many rest points along the way to catch our breath too as at the altitude it was much harder. Now remember the porters, they run up this as if its easy!! crazy! We finally however made it to the top absolutely shattered, in the driving rain, but very pleased with ourselves and had some very deserved cookies. We were now looking forward to the down hill to the campsite. However it was all really steep steps and really slippery because of the rain and turned out to be nearly as bad as the going up. Loads of strain on the old calf muscles! unfortunatelyas this part of the trail isnt very long all the people walking it get a bit bunched upand you do feel as if you are walking with an entire army. This did take away the remoteness of the taila bit but our guide was going to make us get up earlier the next day so that we left first and spent most of the day on our own which would be much better. We did however make it to the campsite 2hours earlier than the guide expected of us so we were pretty happy with ourselves and spend the afternoon having a much need rest. It was still bucketing down however so had to spend the time in the tent playing cards and snoozing. our clothes were a bit damp but luckily by the morning they had pretty much dried out. We had a huge lunch and dinner before going to bed at 8am!! Seeing as we wer gettingup eachmorning at 5am we decided this was perfectly acceptable.
Thomas here, first off well done dad for the head torch. Was an absolutly genius buy and made our lives a lot easier. Well -day 3 was our favourite treking day as it wasn´t too steep up or down. For day 3 we walked mainly around the sides of the mountain along the trail which is 100% original but it was still painful on the old legs after day 2. Our tour leader david was brilliant and kept stopping to show us different flowers, animals and sites, my favourite was one of the 300 different types of orchid in Peru called (funnily enough) the Andian orchid. We walked 16 km this day and went through the dense forest, saw lagoons and went down inca tunnels (cut thorugh the mountain 500 years ago). We had a breakfast of panacakes which went down very well and then proceeded to Winaywayna, our final campsite, for dinner. We wore our "Poncho plastics" as the guide kept calling them for most of the day. But i´d rather walk in a bit of rain than hot sunshine which would have been murder. Having arrived at our site we had lunch (yes another 3 courses) and then walked to the inca site where we had an Inca lesson from David. I found out that if a terrace is convex it means different produce are grown than if it is concave and each layer of the terrace has its own micro climate. Anyway thats enough of the lesson. We were planning on taking a shower in the capsite to feel refreshed for the final push to Machupicchu, however due to a landslide earlier in the day we had no water supply. Thus the porters had to walk down into the vaslley to fetch water for drinking and cooking. These guys are pretty unbrelievable, you have to see it to believe it. We hit the sack around 8 (again) to be up for 4.
Day 4 started early and ended late. After 5km we made it to the sun gate (intipunku) which overlooks Machupicchu. This is the place where most photos are taken for postcards and the like. We had a tour around for about 2 hours from our guide exploiring the different temples and buildings. All very impressive and the entire site had a population from 1000 to 1200 most of ther time. We also learnt at this point that Machupicchu was never found by the spanish as the Inca destroyed all trails leading to it. We decided not to climb Waynapicchu (the mountain nextdoor) as our legs would have given up. We left around 11 having been there since 7 and headed to Aguas calientes fro the train back to our lovely hotel with running water. All the tourists who dont walk arrive arounhd 9 or so and it was really filling up.
Arrived back at 6 ish and got straight in the shower before heading out for a much deserved pizza and few beers (of course). We have a free day in Cusco today and then hit the Jungle tomorrow for a few days so will be out of blogging range. Thanks again for all the messages as usual. Im pleased that Dave and Nancy have conquered the internet and can read online. Enjoy the snow and well be blogging soon. Take care Thomas and Anna xxx
p.s. Dad (tony) really hope you get a flight soon and dont become a perminant resident of Heathrow airport!
28th January 2009 - Cusco
Good evening all thomas here, well its a good evening for me but its the middle of the night in the uk so i hope ur all enjoying a good nights sleep.
Anyway thought i´d give people an update as we´re off onm the Inca trail tomorrow morning at 5 and wont have inet access for 4 or 5 days. We left Puno early yesterday morning and spent 7 hours getting to Cusco. The setting in this city is absolutly amazing, just surrounded by the mountains. Well we had a free day so the group headed to an Irish pub (for some good old fashioned normal food) had lunch and a fair few drinks. In fact as we didnt have to be up early the next day we spend the entire evening in the pub. I know what your thinking that we were just drinking and drinking in the pub, which is true, however we would have left earlier except that it appears to be monsoon season (or something similar). So we waited it out for the good weather.
Today was spend relaxing and preparing for the trail, mainly getting acosted by street seller! So we´re up tomorrow morning and start walking around 7. We both itching to get going. Anyway thats all for now, sorry for the short blog but not much has happened.
Take care xxx
Monday 26th January - Puno (Again)
Hello to one and all,
Thomas here and again i must appologise as we´re at the same pathetic excuse for a computer so the typing may be a little suspect. As you can see i have managed to attach 2 photos with more tho come. The above photo was taken on Alamtani island last night by our mumma who looked after us on our home stay. I am rather fetchingly wearing a poncho and ridiculous hat whereas Anna has two skirts, very sexy blouse, belt (which she said was like a corset it was so tight!) and shawl. We would have fitted in, expect that we were double the height of the locals! The below photo was taken in Colca Valley when we trecked up to the maya cementary (the one with the deformed heads).
Right so let me fill you in on the exploits of yesterday. We awoke feeling nervous about our home stay and wondering how on earth we were going to communicate since they speak Quechua and little spanish and we speak even less spanish. But we didn´t have time to worry as we climbed into our tuctuc which took us down to the port to catch our boat to Tequile island.
We treked around the island in the hot sun and ate lunch (rainbow trout with the standard rice) overlooking the town square. We walked down the 700 or so steps to take the boat to Alamtani Insland for the home stay. On arrival we met with our Mumma who showed us to her house completed with 3 children and grandma. We had a quick change around as the tourists we due to play the locals at football. AS you can imagine football at high altitude is painfull and i spend most of the game breathing heavily having not really done much running. Whereas our opposition where sprinting everywhere, we put up a good show and managed to win the first game, draw the second and loose the third so all in all we called it a draw. Good fun but the two hours of playing really took its toll and i felt shattered!
We then went back to our ´homes´ for dinner with the family. Luckily ours turned out to know quite a bit of spanish and a bit of english so we didnt feel too much at a loss. We had a traditional dinner of bean soup followed by a potato stew and, yes again, rice. And as always we finished with a herbal tea (this time a herb that looked like a weed but tasted ok, thomas would probably disagree tho!). We then were given the outfits in the pic above and then went to a party they had arranged for us. We all looked so funny it was hilarious! We also had to dance their local way, luckily no whips involved this time! At some points they had us running around the room and i açcan safely say we were definately ready for bed after an hour we were so tired. i really dont know how they do it. They put us to shame, especially as many could have been our grandparents!
Our bed room was on the second floor and consisted of 3 beds and a table and chairs. There is no bathroom only an outside toilet with no light. It was also tiny! As you can imagine going to the loo in the night was crazy! Nan-ma these toilets would have been your idea of hell! Also the doors in the house were absolutely tiny too. It came up to my shoulder and thomas might as well have crawled through the amount he had to bend down. There was no heating and a metal door which only just kept out the wind. So you can imagine how cold it was last night. We had a sleeping liner, sheet, 4blankets and rug!!! Pancakes for breakfast and back on the boat and off to Uros islands - the floating islands and yes, they really are floating!
Uros islands are incredible. They are entirely made out of the reeds that grow in lake Titicaca, even the house, lookout towers and boats are made of the reeds. They also even eat it, not something we wanted to try i hasten to add. It is high in fluride and so all have the best looking teeth in peru! We did get temped by their handy craft since it is unique to that island and so both bought and right pretty cusion cover.
Finaly made it back on land at lunch time and took a well deserved shower!!! It has been 5 hours and both of us still feel like we are swaying having been on the boat for 4 hours today (and it was pretty choppy choppy - not something you expect from a lake!).
Off to Cusco tomorrow and a briefing for the inca tail which starts on Thursday. Both really looking forward to it.
hope your all well
lots of love Anna and Thomas xxx
Saturday 24th January - Puno
Right, we want to first apologise in advance for this blog since the computer is absolutely rubbish, cant see half the screen so some parts we may not be able to see what we are typing. Plus the key board presses more that one key down at a time so look forward to some ridiculous spelling even for us!
As you can see we survived the over night bus. It was actually really nice with reclining leather seats and both managed a good nights sleep. We arrived in Arequipa and disaster struck. Thomas´s ipod (exention of his arm) broke! coming hot on the heals of his phone not working in peru made him a seriously unhappy bunny! Arequipa is a really beautiful city, also known as the white city due to the white bricks, mined in the local mounatins, the buildings are made from. The view is amazing from there as it is surrounded not only by mountains but also by 3 volcanos - Misti (an active one, and yes mum i have you a photo), Pichu pichu and the other one which were dormant. We spent the day wandering round the city and looked round the santa catatina monastry there. We then went for lunch to try some guinea pig. Now, its crush at fried and so does actually look like a squashed guinea pig, teath, claws and everything! To be honest it put me off then and there! we did try it though, thomas managing far more than me. It tasted like really greasy chicken with not much flavour and the skin was pure grease and salty. Actually makes me a bit sick thinking about it now!
We spent the evening on the balcony drinking coca tea (good for altitude sickness and made from the coca leave that cocaine come from!! dont panic parents it doesnt actually conatin cocaine the drug). Its not overly nice and tastes like grass but decided that since all the locals sware by it we thought we probably should. Next came the second disaster. We believe the water in the tea was not boiled properly and both of us proceeded to spend the night awake - we will leave the rest to your imagination!! Although it may have been partly due to our new diet and altitude (2800m), who knows, either way both felt horrendous! and still havent quite recovered!
The next day, yes you guessed it, on the bus again!! We were heading towards colca canyon via a nature reserve where we saw lots of alpaca, llamas and vicunas (alot smaller). We also got up to the highest point of our tour - 4950m (16,000 feet!!!!). I was feeling really sick from the night before and made a token lap around the bus before getting back on while the others got out for a bit. Thomas said that walking around you had to go really slowly because you were out of breath within seconds. After this we made the final bit of our drive down to Colca Valley where we were staying. Here the total population is 900 and all are farmers. To get to it we had to go down a dirt track down the side of the mountain with pot holes and boulders. Seriously surprised the mini bus made it in one piece! It was totally worth it though since we ended up in the middle of nowhere surrounded by the andes. Upon arriving we had a 2 hour trek up round the sides of the mountain to a cemetary set back in the side of the mountain. The skulls we saw where deformed as the civilisation wanted to elongage or flatten it - very strange. We could definately tell we where high up since it was much more tiring than usual and made us feel very unfit. It did however give us a insight to what the inca trail is going to be like. It is also much colder up in the mountains too. We spend the rest of the evening in the hotel and had a nice buffet dinner before relaxing beside the fire - lovely.
Over to thomas,
Firstly let me put your minds at rest my ipod has just this minute decided to charge and more importantly play music so im in a fantastic mood! We awoke the next day at 5.30 yes thats right, to take a two hour ride to colca canyon (3 times deeper than the Grand canyon) where we treked for an hour to the condor cross view point. Where, surprise surprise, we had some amazing views of Condors. At one point they flew directly over our heads, massive birds with a 4.5m wing span ( the reason for our early wake up was they typically only fly until 9am). To descend from Condor cross we went by mountain bike, which was absolutly brilliant.( mainly because it was down hill) At this point disaster three struck Anna´s bikes chain was too long and so didnt change gear. After a change of bike she decided to get a flat tire (3 quarters of the way down). In fact this turned out to be a blessing as the last 10 minutes was all up hill and very nearly killed me.
We returned to the hotel where i slept and Anna went horse back riding with two other girls on the tour. She said her horse was very well trained and docile yet she still couldnt control it, and just did whatever it wanted to do. She was a little shocked when it started trotting and she could make it stop. But really enjoyed it. Before dinner we travelled to the hot springs, around 40 degrees C, and relaxed. ALthough the smell of sulphur kept drifting past our noses.
Dinner time and we ate in a local place which as well as Peruvian food held local dances. I did try some elses Alpaca which to be honest is similar to venison but not quite as strong and very lean. The evening took a turn for the better (for me) and worse (for anna) when she was picked by the male dancer to partake in the local dance. I have never seen her go so red and you´ll see why. The dance starts normally enough but then she had to lie on the floor and wriggle whilst he wipped her with a rope quite a few times! (not entirely sure what it was supposed to symbolise but i found it halarious).
This morning was another early start because of the 6 hour bus ride to Puno on the edge of Lake titicaca. The ride was made some what more exciting (scary) by the bus´s wheel nuts coming loose and making a racket. Anna especially, was particularly worried that the tire would fall off and we´d go sailing into the abyss. Luckly after much persuation from the group the driver decided to get the tire fixed and we carried on our way (if not with our heart rate pumping that little bit faster). On the way we saw some flamingos. (not the most interesting of animals)
Spend the rest of the day wandering around Puno preparing for our home stay tomorrow. This is on one of the islands on lake titicaca and we have to take rice, sugar and tuna as presents for our local familys. Well thats all folks thanks for the messages and lesson from Tony, well done Jon for reading the blog. Sorry that its a long one but so much ahs happened in four days. Take care
Love Thomas and Anna
Tuesday 20th January - Nasca
Hey Tom here,
so we caught the bus in the end to Pisco and spent the eveing in the hotel drinking pisco sours and rum untill the early hours.
The next morning we visited, at 7.30 in the morning, one of the Peruvian islands (Bellestas) which was 30 minutes by speed boat. On the way we saw some Dolphins which were absolutly amazing and something no one not even the guide expected! WE thought the day would peak there but it stayed just as amazing as we went round the island by boat seeing the Sea Lion colonies (literally hundreds of them all with young this time of year). Even more impressive were the penguins which Anna even managed to catch on camera diving into the water. The island is home to thousands of birds as well and provide a source of income for the town as every 6 years or so they collect the bird poo and sell it as a ferterliser. So as you can imagine the island absolutly ponged.
We then went to the Pisco factory and consumed a fair few samples of the different achololic beverages, before lunch i hasten to add. On our way to Nasca we stopped at an Oasis in between the sand dunes called Huacachina and had a dip in the very refreshuing pool. The reason for the stop was to travel into the dunes on sand buggies and go sand boarding. The sand boarding was loads of fun. For those of you who don´t know, you lie on your tummy on a board and they push you head first down the dunes. To get around the dune we went on these 8 men buggies which we liked the most - it was like the best rollercoaster ever.
We then got back on the mini bus to head to our hotel in Nasca. It is actually just outside and down some dirt track and feels like your in the middle of nowhere. We were all pretty shattered so stayed in the hotel for dinner (nice food but the worst service ever) before crashing out.
Today we had another early start leaving at 8am to go to a Nasca Cemetory, around 2000 years old. It is in the middle of nowhere and you are just surrounded by desert. In the middle are open tombs with very well preserved mummies in - all facing east to watch the sunrise - the sign of the afterlife apparently. It was absolutely baking and it was lucky that over each tomb there was a wooden cover. After this some people went up in a light aircraft to see the nasca line, although it was 70 dollars and we decided we werent that bothered especially as they have been worn away and the guys that went said that is was even hard to distinguish the shapes sometimes. The rest of the day was sent having a BBQ by the pool in the hotel and soaking up some more sun. Tonight we are off to catch a 9hour night bus (not looking forward to that bit so much) to get to our first stop up in the mountains.
Thanks for all the emails, (although Dad we didnt really understand the end of your email about one half of Derby and Joan?! sorry are we being really thick?)
hope your all well
lots of love Anna and Thomas x
Sunday 18th January - Lima
Hi everyone,
Well we finally arrived in Lima local time 7pm on firday. ABSOLUTELY shattered as by the time we got to bed it was 3am English time. Flight was long and watched the worst film ever - actually made the time go slower!! so for future reference do not watch Appaloosa. Met a few gap adventure tour buddies and were driven to the hotel by a hilarious peruvian man named Herman.
Yesterday, after a much needed lie in we decided to explore the city with 3 of our tour buddies and proceeded to get hiddiously burnt throughout the day since it was cloudy and didnt put any suncream on. Dont worry mummys we have now learn our lesson and are creaming up from now on. We first looked round a pre-inca settlement site called Huaca Pucllana, which was really interesting and even had a mini zoo of guinea pig, llama, alpaca and a llamaca (! a hybrid). They also have these horrible looking peruvian dogs with no hair and very dry skin. Very very strange. The settlement was a lima settlement andwas built with a pamoranic view of the sea because they worshiped it. Also the best fact of the day was it hasn´t rained in lima since 1970!!!!!!!! could do with a bit of that in England! although the humidity ranges between 90 and 95%!
Well we then got picked up by our friendly drivier Herman from yesterday and went to the agricultural museum. This had pieces of work from each of the civilisations in peru since 2 - 3000 years B.C upto the Inca´s. Very interesting tour and immersered ourself in the culture of Peru. The funny part was the ending of the tour where we when through the erotic gallery which had many, many potr representing different sexual aspects! We all felt like silly school children trying not to giggle.
Having taken in our portion of culture for the day we drove around a bit and grabbed lunch before heading back to the hotel for our meeting. It turns out Anna and I are the youngest on the tour but everyone seems really nice. After that everyone went out for dinner and had a few local beers. WE tried the local dish of Chivichi which is raw fish flavoured with lime juice, onion and sweet potato. Not bad tasting just very different but you´ll be suprised that I ate it. Anna also tried the local Peruvian corn drink which was fairly bland and a Pisco sour which tastes like tequilla with a frothy top. Which she later found out was egg white and was not best amused and was worried about too many new things for one stomach in one day! However she seems to be on top form at the moment.
We are now just waiting to catch a 4 hour bus ride to Pisco for more Pisco sours unfortunatly we may not get there because of bus strikes. So we´ll let you know lol! Not sure when we will be able to next update as internet access is restricted but we´ll do our best.
Bye from both of us and tune in soon. xx
