Hi all,
So, whilst apparently England in having the longest and hottest heatwave ever, we are having to go out and purchase thermals and Lama wool jumpers, gloves and hats! And bearing in mind my rucksack only contained 20-odd bikinis, a pair of flip flops and the odd pair of shorts when we landed in Peru on Tuesday, we are literally freezing our arses off hear! How a country that drops below freezing at 5pm everything manages to survive without the aid of the odd radiator, or even a shop selling hotwater bottles, iīll never know.
So, what's been happening in the last week... well, as youīve probably already guessed, we have now started phase 3 of the trip, leaving Mexico for Lima, the first port of call for our south american adventure. But as usual, we cant leave anywhere quietly and we certainly couldnt leave Mexico without draining the entire country of their supply of Tequila and Corona could we?!? So after 4 FAB days in this amazing city, we, as usual, went out for one last quiet drink! About 10 shots of tequila each (and we are not talking stingy London measures here, times those by about 4) and god knows how many bottles of Corona, we are kicked out of the bar and decide to seach for an open offi! Christ itīs only midnight and we are still standing (in a fashion) so, we go in search of more Corona. We come across a little cafe so we stumble in and ask the waitress politely if she can sell us a few bottles of the stuff, she says no, then some yank (had to be!) decides to stick his ore in and acuses me of saying "f**k you" to the waitress, ok so Iīm dribbling and canīt string a sentence together but I did in fact, and Mr T will vouch for me, say "ok thank you!" I inform the yank of what I said and tell him to mind his own business swiftly followed by advising him that he "should have gone to specksavers" as he was wearing thee most hidious pair of glasses. He then calls me every name under the sun and refers to us both as "rude brits" so, Iain decides (and he did deserve it) to head butt him! (this is the watered down version - mates of Iain's, for full details, contact him direct!)
Anyway, we somehow manage to leave Mexico without getting arrested, but I did spend the entire night with my head down the toilet after trying to keep up with the man himself on the Corona. Never drinking again! We arrive in Lima at 6am the following day, feeling like S.H.I.T., we get ripped off by a taxi driver who charges us 20 quid to go about 4 miles (you can buy a house for that out here), we book tickets for an overnight bus to Arequipa, then we find a hotel to lay our poor heads for a few hours before the journey. The room is lovely at first glance, then we start to come across strange things, like an electronic messager by the bed, porn channels available at 9am in the morning, a sauna room, and along with the complimentary shower cap and bar of soap comes a strawberry flavored condom! One whole wall was also covered top to bottom in mirrors, and bearing in mind we booked a room for a few hours during the day as we had to catch the night bus at 10pm, the receptionist got totally the wrong idea!
We are now in Puno, a town on the edge of lake Titicaca, trying to get used to being 4000 meters above sea level is preperation for the Inka Trail on Friday. As soon as we arrived in Arequipa from Lima we booked a trip for the following day to the deepest canyon in the World, the Colca Canyon. This trip was a 2 day affair, which consisted of staying over night in the remote village of Chivay in the middle of the valley. We set off on a 4 hour bus journey from Arequipa to Chivay not really knowing what the trip entails, so we pack a little overnight rucksack and leave the rest of our things in the hotel in Arequipa. Iīm in my flip flops, shorts and a vest assuming that the weather in Peru is going to be Glorious. And that it is from about 10am to 3pm, the rest of the time itīs bloody freezing. So we board the coach and after a while start to notice that everyone on the trip is kitted out in full thermals, waterproofs and walking boots. People are looking at me strangly but are obviously thinking that I have some more appropriate footwear in my small rucksack for the HIKING we will be doing! Hiking!?! we werenīt told about any hiking! So I get through most of the day getting on and off the coach to view numerous herds of Alpaca and Lama, whilst my toes turn a shade of blue, then the guide informs us we shall be taking a hike up a mountain. The rest of the coach then realise that I am infact not joking and I am about to hike up a mountain in flip flops! And I do, and as soon as I get back to the town, and head straight for the nearest shoe shop and purchase a pair of hiking shoes! So, to end this story, for all those of you who insisted Iīd needed good footwear, and insisted that I'd be the one looking an idiot when trying my hardest to look cool, I eat my words, your right! The most important lesson Iīve learnt so far... itīs ok to look like a spod, everyone else does, and everyone is toasty warm with unharmed feet whilst you're the one looking the prat!
And the trials and tribulations donīt end there, thereīs more... Im very lucky to still have a boyfriend! The following day, on a trip to Condor Mountain, where hundreds of snap happy tourists are fighting with one another, whilst leaning over a drop of around 3000m to view condors flying round the canyon, one rather large mexican woman slipped on a rock and fell head first down a 4 meter sheer drop! Iain was sat behind her when she fell so she tried to grab him to stop herself on the way down. Seriously now, it shuck a lot of people up and the lady managed to smashed her head several times of the rocks on the way down. Iain, Mr Hero, Thomas dived to her rescue down the rock face, luckily she landed on a ledge, without the ledge, she would have fallen around 60 meters and would have almost certainly died. Iain tried to calm her in front on an audience of around 500 nosey people until the first aiders came and hoisted her up. She didnīt look in a good way at all.
So, today we climbed a mountain then Iain had me scrambling down another rock face as he thought it would be more exciting the using the path! Tommorrow we are going to visit the floating islands on Titicaca, and on Friday its the first day of our long awaited trip up the Inca Trail to Machu Pichu, which of course I really looking forward to. 3 nights in a tent, nothing to wash my hair with, freezing cold conditions, and probably just a hole in the ground for a toilet! At least though, after this weekīs excitment, Iīll know not to try hiking that in my flip flops!
Till after the Inca Trail, lots of love and happy reading...
(if you dont get anymore installments, Ive died of Hypothermia up the Inka Trail somewhere).
Love to all
Lyndsey & Iain
xxxx
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