Peru Continued

After all the complaining in the last blog, I am happy to report that after 2 weeks of being sick the parasites are gone, and I am back to perfect health!

We have had an action packed week, and today we sadly had to say goodbye to everyone. There are some people that we have been travelling with since Brazil and have spent every day with for months. There are many people I will really miss. Luckily many people are English or Irish, so I am sure it won´t be long before we meet up again. Others I will have to visit or meet up with on future travels.

On 1st April we flew to Arequipa. It was a bizaar flight - it was first a 25 minute flight to the town of Juliaca, and then another 25 minute flight to Arequipa. It was generally uneventful, which is how I like flights to be! We spent the night in Arequipa before our trip to the Colca Canyon the next morning. We drove the 4 hour trip to the Colca Valley area with our driver Coco and our guide Renzo - both very friendly Peruvians that took us around the area for 2 days.

We made a few stops on the way, one of which was at 4900m in some fresh snow. We took photos, had a snowball fight and then left for a lower altitude and a bit more oxygen.

We had lunch in the town of Chivay which is the capital of the region (really just a dusty town with not much to do or see). We walked around the market and I bought a watch for US$3 - my watch battery died so thought this would do the trick until I am back in South Africa. We then continued onto our hotel which was literally in the middle of nowhere, with the most beautiful scenery. We spent the afternoon and evening sitting at the fire overlooking the valley, playing games and reading. It was really peaceful and relaxing.

The next morning we got up at 5am so we could get to the Mirador Cruz del Condor in the Colca Canyon in time to see the condors. We spent the early morning condor spotting. We saw about 15 condors, at times in groups. They are massive birds with a wing span of 3m! We watched then swooping around the canyon, and then did a short hike to get a better view of the canyon. The Colca Canyon is one of the world´s deepest canyons at about 1km from cliff edge to the river bottom. It is double the size and depth of the Grand Canyon in the US.

We went back to the town of Chivay for lunch. Our van got a puncture so it took about an hour to sort that out. We then headed back to the hotel. In the afternoon I went horse riding around the hotel area and to another viewing point. It was the first time I have ever ridden a horse, so I was very thankful that my horse was very calm and didn´t like to go too fast! It was a great experience. After the ride I went straight back to the fireplace, had dinner at the hotel and got an early night.

On 4th April Coco drove us the 4 hours back to Arequipa. We spent the day in the city which has 2 active snow-capped volcanoes (one of which had a minor eruption a few hours before we got there, and another one the day before - not very comforting!). We had lunch and then went to the famous Santa Catalina Monastery/convent which is 400 years old. It was created by the Spanish in 1579, less than 40 years after they conquered Peru. The convent is really a high walled town within the city. It´s made of sillar, white volcanic stone. The complex is built in a colonial architecturural style and is really beautiful. It has different streets named after different Spanish cities.

Until the 20th century, the second born in each family would be sent to the convent at the age of 12 - this would apparently ensure the family a place in heaven! Once the girls entered the convent, they would never be permitted to leave or see their families again. They would live their lives as cloistered nuns. The girls spent 4 years studying is isolation with one of the senior nuns, and once ordained they could interact with other nuns. They were however only allowed 30 minutes per day of free time where they were permitted to walk around the monastery and sit in the sun in the courtyard. Many had pin mats which they slept on when they had "bad thoughts". It sounds a lot like jail to me!!

That evening we went to see 300 - the movie. There were at least 4 people in the theatre filming the movie on cameras and phones. I couldn´t believe my eyes! At 9pm we took our final night bus to the town of Nazca.

We arrived in Nazca at 5:15am and went to our hotel to get some sleep. Nazca is in the desert and at sea level - oh the joy of oxygen and hot weather! I was in my element!! We´ve spent almost a month at high altitude, and it was enough. I love sea level!

At 11:30am we went to the Nazca airstrip for our flight over the Nazca lines. The Nazca lines are one of the mysteries of South America. They are a series of animal figures and geometric shapes up to 200m in length, drawn across 500 square km of the stony Pampa de San Jose. Each image is drawn as a single continuous line. They were created by the Nazca people over many centuries, but today we are not sure why, what their significance is, or how they were created so precisely.

We flew in a 6 seater Cessna (including the pilot seat). I went with Juliet, Erin, Marie and Jaclyn. We had to sit in specific seats so that the plane would be correctly balanced. It was honestly quite terrifying to fly in such a small plane with just one little propeller at the front. We flew for about 30 or 40 minutes, and the pilot showed us the various shapes. It was a bit turbulent, and we did many loops and tilting so that our windows were parallel to the shapes on the ground. It was quite nauseating and I was glad to be back on solid ground by the time we landed! The Nazca lines were really interesting to see, and I am glad I did the flight.

We spent that afternoon lying at the hotel pool and swimming - what a pleasure! That evening we went to the Maria Reiche Planetarium where there was a show about the Nazca lines and it´s links to the constellation. It was very interesting. We also looked at the night sky through their telescope, and we saw Saturn and could see the ring around the planet - not something I´d seen before. We then went out for dinner which was accompanied by the usual cheasy Peruvian restaurant entertainment.

On 6th April we left in the morning and stopped off at a viewing tower where we could see 3 of the main Nazca shapes. It´s amazing how easy it is to climb a tower at sea level! We drove on into the Ica province (north along the coast) and stopped in a small town where we had lunch. A few of us then went on dune buggies. I went with Ysabel, Jaclyn, John and Steve. It was a lot of fun, but quite scary. I cannot believe that these buggies do not flip at the angles and speed they are driven. We were all strapped in, and my stomach was in my throat for most of the ride. Some people also did sand boarding which looked like fun. I must say, I am all adrenalined out!

Our buggy broke down after about 45 minutes, and we were stranded in the dessert (only for about half an hour). Another buggy came to fetch us.

We then went back to the restaurant where we´d had lunch and swam in their pool to cool down and get rid of some of the sand.

In the late afternoon we headed towards Pisco, and stopped on the way at a Pisco distillery. We saw the Pisco making process and did some tasting. We finally made it to El Chaco, the village where we were spending the night. We stayed in a B&B (but without the breakfast). The house was literally right on the sea. The sea air was fantastic, and we sat outside and ate and walked along the sea front.

Yesterday morning we left El Chaco and headed to the capital city of Peru, Lima. We first took a bus (literally from the dark ages) to Pisco, where we had to wait on the side of the highway for our bus to Lima. The bus took an extra hour and we only got to Lima at 3pm. It was a local bus and stopped every 5 minutes to pick up people and food sellers. It was like a bazaar on the bus, people were permanently trying to sell us stuff. I was glad to get to Lima!

Last night we went out in Miraflores, the bohemian night life area of Lima. It was our last night all together. We went to a Mexican restaurant and then onto a Salsa club. It was a nice evening, although 2 people got pickpocketed - they both danced with local guys so they were probably pickpocketed then.

Today we spent the day in Lima, sightseeing. Tomorrow morning (well 3:30am if you can call that the morning) Juliet and I are heading off to the airport to catch a flight to Iquitos in the Peruvian jungle. We are going to stay at a jungle lodge for 4 days, before heading back to Lima for a day. We leave on Friday night for Sao Paulo, Brazil and then onto South Africa where we arrive back on Sunday lunchtime. We´ve booked in at the Marriott at Sao Paulo airport for the day on Saturday - a little bit of luxury for our last day! I can´t believe we´ll be back in SA in a week. It´s been a fantastic trip, hopefully our last week will be as good as the past few months!