Hola Chicos y Chicas! Hope you are all well. Paul and I are now in Lima, which is the capital city of Peru. It spends 8 months of the year shrouded in a strange coastal mist, and to be honest, although the city has lots of beautiful buildings I think the incumbent weather has affected people here as there is a bit of a dour feeling around..lots of dodgy looking geezers hanging around as well, eyeing up bags and pockets, so we have had our extra careful radar on. anyhoo, we have had a great few days since cusco and lots to tell you, so get a cup of tea now. After Cusco we headed firstly for Chivay, back up to 4900 metres to the Colca Canyon (apparently the worlds deepest canyon, although at that altitude this does not surprise), to see condors soaring around early in the morning. I missed this trip, but by all accounts (and from the photos) it was worth the early start and the condors are very beautiful (and huge) birds. On the way back, Gus our truck, decided he didnīt feel terribly well and limped back to the hostal at about 5 miles an hour. It got fixed though, and we carried onto Arrequipa the next day (got a flat tyre on the way, sigh). This is the second largest city in Peru...very beautiful architecture and you can see there is a lot of money here, as it has been well preserved and looked after. The colonial buildings are terribly photogenic, plus there was a nice vibe around, lots of cool bars and cafes. The first night there was a "miss world" competition going on outide the cathdral..not terribly catholic, and apprantely higher forces agreed as during the last ten minutes when the awards were to be handed out, and the girls were in their swimsuits, there was a powercut and they had to disperse the crowd without a crown being given out...never mind.. We visited an old convent dating from around 1500 which used to house 500 nuns (now a museum). It is a lovely place, although there were some creepy pictures of dead nuns with their eyes shut which freaked me out a tad (one of them had her eyes open....shudder). Then we visited Jaunita, the ice princess. If you havenīt watched this episode of National Geographic, Juanita is a mummy who was found at the top of a nearby mountain by archeologists 7 years ago. she had been sacrificed some 500 years ago to appease the Inca God Apu. the Inkas walked this 12 year old girl up to the top of a massive volcano, gave her some funky beer, and then clubbed her round the side of the head and killed her. 500 years later while this scientist guy was looking for Inka artefacts, the rumbling of a nearby volcano loosened the ice which Juanitaīs body had been well preserved by, and a couple of days later the scientists found the body. It is now kept on display in this museum, in a glass case (temperature inside -20 degrees). They found lots of other bits and bobs too, figurines, pottery, clothing etc. that had been left. It was really interesting to see, and the mummy is bizarrely well preserved, but I thought it was a bit dodgy personally. How do these scientists know that Apu, the mountain God, isnīt going to realise that his sacrifice has been nicked some time soon, and then go on a revenge seeking rampage? That is what I would do if I was an Inka God. Anyhoo, its just my opinion...bleedin graverobbers! So, the next day action man Paul went white water rafting...had a ball and didnīt fall in (much to his disappointment), so i suspect we will now spend a majority of our time in New Zealand rafting! We left Arrequipa the next day and headed to Puerto Inca to camp by the beach (yay, no more altitude). Alas, Gusīs earlier problems raised their ugly head again, and by the next morning it was agreed that he was out of action for a few days, so we all had to cram into a wee minibus and head off to the next destination (Nasca). We went and visited _Chaucilla Cemetary, this bizarre place in the desert where they have uncovered huge tombs with lots of mummies in them. The weather damage means there are no bits of skin left like on Juanita, but it is suitably creepy nonetheless as they all still have their hair...see photos soon and make your own minds up! The next morning we took a flight out to see the Nasca Lines. These are massive shapes in the desert made from stones, the purpose of which there are many theories for...astonomical guidelines, solstice guidleines, guidelines for alien spaceships, offerings to the Gods...who knows? They looked cool from the plane, there is a monkey, a humming bird, a dog a cool alien looking guy...all sorts of weird stuff. I admit I was frozen to my seat in terror, as it was a tiny wee four seater job and we were terribly high up...not a parachute in sight either Dad!! Anyhoo, survived that (youīll see the photos soon) and belive that they are remnants from an ancient Tony Hart type rather than astonomical maps as originally suggested, then as a reward we all piled into two big cadillacs for the next leg of the journey (still no truck). We arrived in Ica, location of worldīs largest sand dune (aopparently), and went Sand boarding. This was most fun...we went in a wee dune buggy and got driven around at high speed, like being in a crazy rollercoaster, except scarier. There was a lot of shrieking and grinning, and Paul and I have agreed to buy a dune buggy as soon as we get back to UK for more of the same (not many sand dunes round Reading way we know, but we will buy some sand in I think....). The sand boarding itself was too difficult on our feet, so we went on our tummys down these massive sand dunes (very steep)...it was like extreme sledging, and you will all be very proud of Paul as he excelled at this to the point where he travelled the furthest on the board out of all us. Bless. So, another car journey later to Pisco, and a hostal stay there...then the next day (yesterday), with still no truck to take us to Lima, we were rescued by a rival overland company called Tucan Tours (little free advert for them). They had 11 people on a 25 people bus, and were off to Lima as well, so they kindly gave us a lift (and an insight into a clean, orderly and working truck). We went via a boat trip out to an island to see wildlife including birds, seals and dolphins...lovely, but did you know how bad seagull poo smells???? yuch. And so, here we are in Lima. The truck turned up last night, and apprantly is all sorted now, but if anyone knows if the AA does callouts here do let us know ,-) otherwise all is well, both happy and healthy and looking forwards to getting up to Ecuador and the jungle. It seems strange that we only have another 3 weeks in South America, but we will make the most of it. Will be in touch soon.....adios!!!
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