Peru - Earthquakes and desert lines

Hola!

We´re currently in Arequipa, Peru & have just arrived back from 2 days in Colca Canyon where we saw huge Condors! I´m going to try & summarise the last week fairly quickly as we are off again tomorrow morning. Sorry!

We met up with our Intrepid group in Lima around a week ago and are in a group of 10 people with a local guide. Lima was interesting, but very dirty and under a constant mist/haze. Apparently it only rains for around 3 months of the year there. Not a city I'd like to spend a lot of time in. The most interesting part of our quick visit was seeing a statue with a Llama on its head (Pic on right). Apparently the local craftsman confused "Flame" with "Llama" as they are the same word in Spanish, so rather than a crown of flames, the poor statue ended up with a small Llama on her head! Very amusing.

From Lima we travelled to the coastal town of Pisco which you may have heard in the news recently as it was hit by an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the richter scale in August. The epicentre was Pisco. Much of the town was leveled, including the big church in the city center, with only rubble left. Trucks and bulldozers were working well into the night still trying to clear the rubble. Many people are living in tents or in temporary shelters which resemble a small garden shed. Surprisingly the people we met were quite upbeat & were working hard to get the town back on its feet as soon as possible.

From Pisco we took a boat out to the Ballestos Islands where we saw heaps of birds, and sea lions. The Ballestos Islands are also known as the Gallapagos Islands of Peru, however we´re not sure that they´re quite that good. We didn´t spend long as the area is protected so you can´t get out of the boat. From Ballestos Islands we headed on into the desert to do some sand boarding before lunch which was heaps of fun, although I managed to stack it on the way down my first dune. We continued on after a lovely lunch to the city of Nazca.

We stayed for 2 nights in Nazca in a nice hostel with a gorgeous big pool! In Nazca we took a flight out over the Nazca lines where we were astounded by the strange figures in the ground. The plane was a little six seater with me in the co-pilot seat (see pic on right) & 4 people crowded in behind. Also, to ensure passengers on both sides of the plane had a chance to view the lines, the pilot swung the plane from side to side which was extremely disorienting & quite sickening. We spent the rest of the day feeling rather ill.

In the afternoon we went out to one of the old cemetaries of the Nazca peoples. The mummies are very well preserved due to the hot dry temperatures which are fairly constant, however many of the graves have been plundered due to grave robbers. Archeologists have reconstructed some of the graves & mummies however, which makes for a rather spooky/morbid tour.

That night we hopped on an overnight bus to Arequipa at 2,700m above sea level, in the Andes. The next day we visited an old nunnery in the centre of town which was very colourful & our guide explained how the nuns lived in the 16th century. Very interesting stuff.

We headed out to Colca Canyon yesterday which took around 4 hours, with a peak at 4,800m above sea level. We were very breathless & Richard ended up with a slight headache for the rest of the day. In the afternoon we walked around some of the reconstructed Inca sights before resting in the hot thermal pools. Very relaxing.

In the evening we went to have dinner with a local family. They showed us how they live & also managed to get most of the group up for a traditional dance which was lots of fun. The group helped prepare dinner for the night, which was an Alpaca (similar to Llama - pic on right) soup, followed by the common dish of Guinea Pig. One of the group was lucky enough to get to pluck the guinea pig, after which it was pan fried whole (although minus entrails). Being vegetarian I was able to skip on the Alpaca & Guinea Pig and had a porridgy Quinoa with cheese & egg. The rest of the group told me that the Alpaca was quite nice and the Guinea Pig was a bit like chicken except for the paws and the many small bones. There was rather a lot of guinea pig left over (although that might have been due to lack of appetite due to altitude). One of the guides mentioned to us (after polishing off several pieces of guinea pig) that he could never imagine eating hamster as it was so cute. Bizarre.

Anyhow, completely exhausted (from the full day & the altitude), we all collapsed into bed. 5am this morning we were woken up to travel up into the Colca Canyon to Condor cross (see pic on left). The place where the condors tend to use the thermal air pockets in the mornings. We were lucky enough to see a number of Condors, Hawks and Falcons, which were all magnificent birds. Amazing.

We drove back to Arequipa this afternoon & are chilling for the evening before our 7am start tomorrow. We are taking an 11 hour bus on to Cusco which should be great fun.

Hope you´re all happy & well!

Lots of love

Richard & Corryn