South America - Peru

This morning it was time to leave this place as we got a small minibus to a a bigger bus and then it was time to cross another border. The formalities were very easy as we just walked across after some swift passport stamps. Then walked to a road intersection just outside the border and had to wait for a couple of hours for the main bus. The bus journey to the first major stop in Peru was pretty short and uneventful.

After 6 hours reached the gorgeous city of Arequipa. As soon as I saw it I knew I'd like this place. Checked into a very central hotel and went for a delicious pizza dinner near the city plaza. The views from the hotel rooftop were awesome as the light of the city washed over the cathedral and plaza. Managed to catch the second half of the England vs France game and went to sleep thoroughly disappointed (but at the same time happy I got to see England play).

Tonight booked a 2 day tour of the Colca Canyon for tomorrow morning. So looking forward to watching some Condor action.

Today is the start of the two day Colca Canyon tour. The minibus picked us up at 8am filled with the usual array of people and nationalities; Israelis, Peruvians, French and German. One of the Israelis was quite a character and would come out with nuggets of random comments like 'I do love the smell of napalm in the morning' or 'women with cold feet..mmmm' (weirdo but a well funny fellah). First stop was a shop stop to stock up on Coca products (we'll be entering some high altitudes). Bought myself some coca sweets and cakes (pretty tasty).

The scenery during the long drive to our destination was spectacular; huge cliff drops, snow topped mountains (the mighty Andes range), hordes (I think that's the right term) of Llamas and Alpacas lazing on the streets and donkeys just about everywhere. Saw loads of beautifully dressed indigenous women walking around or selling goods. We made quite a few stops in small villages along the way but apart from the scenic stops these were complete tourist traps; local kids carrying baby Llamas and then asking for cash for a generic cute photo, men and women with huge hawks on their shoulders (again asking for cash...but this I succumbed to and got a snap of me with a hawk on my head), children doing traditional dancing in a big circle (on would hop out of the line to get money). Nothing wrong with all this but definitely not my thing.

The main event for the evening for me was some hot spring action. After the altitude and cold this was sheer bliss (seriously hot with a capital Ho). After a swift hot shower to wash off the eggy sulphur pong the guide took us all to what was billed as live indigenous music and dancing with good grub (in reality it was 4 fellahs with pipes on a small stage, a couple dancing and pretty dire food). One of the Israelis helped our appetites by pulling out a hair from his soup and complaining to the staff (I suspect it was actually one of his...I'm sure there aren't a lot of kitchen staff in Peru with medium length blond hair..genius). After a while the music and dancing kind of warmed on me but was too staged to be fully enjoyed.

Sleep was a nightmare as the icy cold hotel room (possibly -30c) froze me to the bones. With the added shock of having to get up at 5.30 for the continuation of the tour I was feeling well rough. We made more stops at beautiful spots and then what we were all really waiting for...the Colca Canyon and its main inhabitants..the mighty, graceful condor. The canyon really was an amazing sight and the depth was huuuuuge...deeper than the Grand Canyon (vertigo time again).

The first glimpse of a condor caused a stir and stifled gasps from the group but as quick as it appeared the cheeky scamp flew off again. So, everyone waited patiently and quietly for an encore. So when after a half hour wait another huge bird appeared there were more gasps from everyone. But this one was a pro..putting on a show of Red Arrow's proportions; Swooping, diving, dipping its wings and the finale was an overhead fly-by. You could really sense the hugeness of it as it flew over our heads (3 metres) and with just the smallest tilt of its wings it would change direction instantly. Satisfied and chattering about this sight we all headed back to the minibus for the long trip back to Arequipa.

Six hours later and back at the very hospitable hotel I chilled out and waited for my bus departure time. With another overnight bus journey ahead of me I headed to the bus terminal. Had a tea at the terminal cafe and we had a random conversation with the middle aged owner (she would ramble on in Spanish then in mid sentence switch to English like a flash..nearly causing my brain to overload).

Arrived in Nazca (the place of mysterious desert line drawings) at 5am and immediately on exiting the bus was hounded by hotel touts (the bane of my life in these here parts). They were like half stalker, half vulture with a touch of hyena in them...beasts of the desert. After shaking off those pesky touts got a taxi and arrived at the fantastic hostel that is the Walk On Inn. Settled in and had a sleep of normality on a flat bed for a few hours. Its so nice to be in a warm climate and just need shorts and T for everyday wearing. Had a good splash around in the hostel pool (its been awhile for this Aquarian) and then had a wander around town.

Nazca isn't the prettiest or liveliest of towns but its warm and has quite a few worthwhile attractions, the main one being the Nazca Lines; very old line drawings in the desert sand mostly of humanoid shapes and animals. The best way to see them is a 35 minute flight in a small plane (sigh).

The plan was to book a flight tomorrow and just relax for today. Dinner was in a restaurant above the hostel. When Surekha ordered a shellfish omelette (the warning alarms should have sounded).

As predicted the combination of still trying to shake off a cold and eating bad shellfish caused Surekha to develop a very high fever, vomiting, diarriah, caughing...well, just about everything hurt. A swift trip to the pharmacy (never a shortage of them anywhere in Latin America) and the job of fixing her was on. In between swims and jaunts to town I popped my head in the dorm room to check on the patient. The great hostel that this was had Wifi, cable tv and a pool so in between patient checks I was kept occupied.

Sleep was easy to come by but not for long. The only unfortunate thing about this hostel is its location. It sits right opposite some form of chicken farm that breeds cocks with no sense of time who will start cockadoodledoing at any time of night. Sometimes at midnight, sometimes at 4am. Its a mystery why they do it and as much a mystery why I didn't go round there and strangle the noisy, feathered bastards.

In between the cock singing the stray dogs in the area would start with an hour of constant barking (damnit animals...let me sleep will you!).

Surekha's even worse this morning with a serious fever of near 40c so I ordered a proper doctor to come in and fix her. He was a likeable old fellah who'd lived and trained in Jacksonville, US. In what he was trained in I'm not sure but he checked and treated her properly with the biggest syringe I've seen in a long while. The usual antibiotics were prescribed as well. Looks like the Nazca lines flight will have to wait for a while more. I'm starting to think about how quickly my time in Latin America is coming to an end. I have my flight from Santiago to New Zealand booked for the 21st April and shit, is that time looming fast.

Another day of not doing much although my duty as Surekha's doctor means hanging around and popping out to buy essentials (fine by me...a good excuse to chill, read, swim and sleep). For the next week I'm going to fly over the Nazca Lines, then head swiftly to Cuzco (the Incan capital) to see if I can actually get onto the Inca Trail. If not I'll settle for an alternate hike to famous Incan ruins of Machupicchu.

Well, another day of nursing Surekha and pretending I have a doctors degree from the medical university of Lusaka, Nigeria. The patient seems to be getting better so we have taken the chance and booked the long awaited small plane flight over the Nazca lines for tomorrow morning. When I say there really is nothing to do here in Nazca please believe me...it is oh so true.

So again I just enjoyed some recreation time of swimming, reading, blog writing and watching TV (a lot of things I can't normally do while I'm on the road). Chatted to some new hostel arrivals and got loads of info on places to see in China (not even sure its on my itinery) and all sorts of other random info.

Well, today is the flight day. A serious warning was given not to have any breakfast and just stick to a Coca tea (the small plane pilots tend to go mental and dip, sway and dive the planes so the passengers get a good view). Arrived at the tiny airport (a hut with a sign of a plane on it just to prove it is what it is...it so filled me with confidence seeing that). After a 2 hour wait due to bad weather (not too bad because we got to watch a video of the history of the Nazca lines and some of it's myths). Some believe it was alien drawings or local tribes drawings seem to be the most likely). Why they were made nobody knows.

As is usual with small planes my whole body sweats like I've done 20 rounds with Tyson and then spent an hour in the sauna (I hate them). All went smoothly and after only 5 minutes the first lines came into view. Very impressive but difficult to get any perspective of size from up in the air. I do know they are huge. It was very difficult to focus on each of the lines because as the pilot announced each one he would dip the plane and dive like he was about to attack the rear of a Luftwaffe squadron. Pretty much from the first lines everyone on the plane made a grab for the complimentary sick bags.

Thankfully nobody yakked up because I doubt there would have been enough space in the small cockpit for everyone Saw the usual favourites; monkey, alien, condor, hummingbird, whale and spider but was quite happy to walk (well....sway) on land again. I would say its worth doing the flight but I did expect something more spectacular...or maybe the constant feeling of being sick distracted from the beauty of the sight.

Last day in Nazca and Surekha's feeling a lot better now. Last chance for a swim and a long walk around town (this place is so small we are starting to recognise everyone....Sweet Jesus, another week here and I'll know everyone by name and what their dog's called). Back at the hostel and for the rest of the afternoon it was packing time in readiness for tonight's long bus journey to Cuzco (the Incan capital). Arriving at the bus terminal on time we were told the bus was delayed. An hour later it arrived and it was goodbye Nazca and thanks for the fish.

Felt like I didn't get a single minutes sleep on the night bus (but must have otherwise I'd be barking at people with grumpiness). Arrived in Cuzco at around 10am and caught a taxi to the centre of town hoping to get a bed at the infamous Loki hostel (known as the party hostel of Cuzco). It was all fully booked with a waiting list of 14 people (either it is really good or people are more sheep like than I thought). Walking around we stumbled across a nice hostel on the Plaza San Francisco and checked in. Most of the afternoon after lunch was siesta time for me (needed some kip after the bus trip). Then went for a walk around town.

Cuzco really is a beautiful city with gorgeous plaza's, churches and cobbled streets. At night it really is accentuated with the street lights illuminating everything including a lovely fountain in the middle of the main plaza. One thing that's a given but is still a shame is that the place is full...I mean really full of tourists either going to Machupicchu or coming from there. Being cautious about food at the moment both of us opted for the traditional Peruvian dish passed down through hundreds of generations from mother to daughter...a pizza.

Surekha still being on the antibiotics no beers were to be had tonight so back to the hostel to relax and lounge around with other hostellers. Chatted to a friendly English lad called Tom (Tooting) for a while and we all made plans to catch the Champions league games tomorrow night.

Today the decision was made to book a hiking tour to Machupicchu. So with serious intentions and heads highly motivated we did the tour agency rounds. The motivation soon turned to despair when what we kind of already knew would happen. All proper Inca trails were booked up until August. So the second best option was a 4 day tour called Salkantay. Apparently a grueling substitute for the real hike. April 10th was the day of departure. To celebrate this and also Chelsea's possible victory over Fenerbache in the Champions league we made a beeline to a pub (serving draught ale and curry lunch).

Had a great afternoon of football watching Liverpool beat the Arses and Chelsea beat Fenerbache (...blue is the colour...football is the game). Stayed around for a fair few pints more chatting to Tom and an English fellah with his gorgeous Colombian wife. He used to deliver fruit and veg to a stall in Portobello so was nice to chat to him about that and also about my favourite country Colombia. His wife being the daughter of a police inspector in Medellin she told us what a bad life it was for the family having to hide from Pablo Escobar's drugs cartel with darkened windows and always the worry of a shootout (I felt mighty daft wearing my 'Pablo Escobar' T-shirt and tried to hide it at every moment).

This morning was provision, essentials and souvenir shopping day. Essentials had to be bought for the grueling 4 day hike (chocolate by the bucket load, torch (something I surprisingly have only needed once during my 9 months travels...and that was in Costa Rica), a wooly Incan hat, jumper and toilet paper. Souvenirs are something I've never been that fussed about, relying on just photos but I saw some goodies I couldn't resist.

Walking back from the shopping we came across people selling football tickets. If this had been for a standard Peruvian game I wouldn't have been fussed but this was for a cup game between Flamengo (the Brazilian team I sorely wanted to catch way back in Rio) vs the local team Calientes. At $6 a ticket how could I resist. Kickoff was at 7.45 so heading to the ground which was pretty close to the centre.

We arrived just in time for kickoff and boy was it crowded. It took 10 minutes just to find a place to see a small corner of the pitch. At one point I thought I found the perfect spot sitting on the edge of stairs overlooking the pitch...5 seconds later I was pelted with popcorn, bread and God knows what else for obstructing the view of hundreds of angry fans. We soon scampered off to a place less likely to cause a riot.

The usual Latino flares were lit and tons and tons of toilet paper flung as far onto the pitch as possible (I felt like running on and grabbing some for the hiking tomorrow). The game itself wasn't brilliant but there was the odd moment of latin flair. The end result was Flamengo 3 Calientes 0...so the locals weren't a happy lot. All in all it was a good night and a half decent game to watch.

Back at the hostel it was all go and some last ditch packing for the 4.30am...yes, 4 bloody 30 in the morning pickup.

Alarm was set to 3.45 but true to my habit I woke up at 4.15. Me and Surekha rushed madly and managed to get everything sorted and waited for the bus. As is also the habit of tours they arrive late, so at 5am a taxi picked us up and took us to a big bus to take us to the hike starting point. Halfway there the bus stopped and turned the engine off as everyone clambered out to see what the hold up was. Yes, a landslide had block the road up ahead so an hours wait was on the cards. Eventually our guide led us out, with packs to walk across the landslide to another bus on the other side. I saw a VW beetle try and 4 wheel drive its way in a Herbie style impatiently over the hill of earth and it very nearly slid down into a river below. If not for the brave road workers pushing it back it certainly would have toppled over (ahh, the art of patience).

Breakfast at the starting point was nice only for the fact that it was the chance to chat to all the other fellow hikers in our group; 2 Irish girls (Susan and Sarah), 2 Portuguese girls (Mafalda and Neves), a Canadian (Mike), a French fellah called Samir who I'd already met at El Misti hostel in Rio....shit, it really is a small world, Liuban his 'girlfriend' and 2 quiet Germans. The first day of hiking was fairly easy going and everyone was chatting and joking around. We were quite lucky to have such a good bunch of people on this hike...makes the whole thing more fun and easier through the tough bits. The landscape was pretty flat with the odd steep hike and we had quite a few breaks in between. Me and Surekha walked along the lines and chatted to everyone.

The camping stop finally came into view and at 5pm we all claimed our tents and headed to a hut for much needed tea and biscuits. Our bottle of rum was produced (yes, brought solely fro medicinal purposes of course) and someone else produced a bottle of Pisco (a local sour whiskey). The drinking didn't last because in the back of everyone's mind we remembered tomorrow was going to be the hardest day of hiking; steep and reaching the dizzy heights of 4,800 metres....sheeeeeet).

Bedtime was 8pm as we were all shattered and a 5.30am start was on the cards. Images of our guide waking us up in a military style sergeant major shout 'drop your cocks and grab your socks you low lives' were in my mind as I drifted into and out of sleep. It was a damned cold night for sleep.

The week ahead will be mostly finishing the 4 day hike with Machupicchu, then back to Cuzco for a day of rest. Then I head south towards Chile and my final 10 days in South America.

Well, it seems nobody got any sleep last night. It was freezing cold and our guides ghost tales of Banshees and wild dogs didn't help the girls get any kip. It was a foggy morning as we made our 5.30am ablutions and mumbled good mornings to each other. A swift breakfast and off we went for what was to be the hardest hike I've ever done. It started off steep and just kept going up and up into the higher altitudes. Some of our group were struggling, especially Susan and Sarah who had only just arrived into high altitudes a few days back. I kind of kept near the back dishing out Coca leaves to chew where needed. The girls were pretty close to giving up but soldiered on.

Eventually after 3 hours of going uphill and with what energy we had left we whooped and hollered when we reached the highest point. There was almost a rebellion and our guide Leo was nearly forcibly thrown over the edge for trying to shorten our break. Next was a nice downhill stretch but still at a dizzy height so breathing was tough. We now started going into normal altitude and hit some forest areas (mosquitoes everywhere).

It was during some seriously muddy and slippery rock parts that Susan sprained her ankle. We only had about 3 hours of daylight left and a fair distance to cover so it was tough going. Eventually just as it got dark we made it to the camp after 11 hours of hiking (I felt like I seriously needed a leg replacement op after that). Susan was treated as best we could with the little first aid kit available (toilet paper, bandage and painkillers...Mickey Mouse tour springs to mind). Dinner was eaten quickly as people needed their rest. There were a few moans about the toughness of the hike (all good natured though) and then bed. Thankfully its an easier day and later start tomorrow.

At the human time of 7.30am we all started on the most relaxed day of the hiking. It was through beautiful rolling hills of forest, with huge Andean mountains in the background and fields for resting on. Arriving at the final part it was time to catch a minibus to an out of the way hostel where it was time for the group to separate. Half the group were doing another day of hiking and the other half heading straight to Aguas Calientes (the base town for Machupicchu.

It was lovely to sit in a soft seat and be driven for a change. Then it was onto a train for the 40 minute ride to Aguas Calientes. Checking into our hostel (designated by our tour group) we were told there were no reservations. Pissed off and exhausted we left our bags, told the owner that our guide should meet us there at 8pm and me, Surekha, Susan and Sarah headed straight to the hot springs.

Needless to say we were there for a fair few hours (sharing a bottle of wine sitting in the beautiful soothing waters) and arrived back late for the guide meeting. Had a pretty decent dinner and then headed to another hostel where everyone crashed out immediately ready for tomorrows grand finale...Machupicchu.