We made it accross the border no trouble and are now visiting the coast line of Peru. Staying in nice relaxed beach huts, which also have swimming pools with a view over the beach. Towns are cool but very set up for the tourisits. Reminds us abit of Europe really but nice to relax for abit. The beach is nice and not many people so there is a bonus being in the low season
We are now in NAzca. Loads of People went on the flight to see the lines, but we were good and decided we didnt really know what they were and decided to save money. It was quite expensive to do... So have a day of nothing today.
we then went to Huachina or something. An oasis in the middle of the desert. Was really cool, massive sand dunes that went for miles. We hired buggys and also we sand boarding. Similar to snow boarding except on sand. we were both rubbish so ended up going on our stomachs. Was about 100 metres. Tried abou 4 sand slopes. Was awesome though.
We have a massive overnight bus tonight to Arequipa and Colca canyon. Other than that thats all the news. Eating well mainly pasta at the moment. Just trying to eat normal food. Everyone is still cool, and having a fantastic time. Peru is amazing. Ive never seen so much of nothing between towns. Its just completely desert!!!
Lima we found to be just a city nothing to special. Just wondered around the city, then to to the beach. Had a wee night out there at the bohemiam suberb which was probably the highlight of Lima.
Then it was time for us to doi the Inca Trail. This was definately the highlight so far. We had so many problams getting to the start. The first one being Karla falling into a massive canal with all her bags of dry cothes at 4 am while trying to get onto the bus!! All worked out, lickily they were all in dry bags and only the clothes she was wearing got wet. Then peru was having a massive stike the day we were due to start. There were rocks blocking the road everywhere, so had to walk an extra 5 km to the entrance. - As if it wasnt going to be hard enough all ready. The only way to enter the trailm is to walk accross a bridge. We were the first tour group to arrive so we were able to cross without any problems unfortunately all our porters and other tour groupls couldnt get across as they were stopped by the protestors. We did not have any food or tents we were the only tour group on the trail for the majorilty of the day. The strike finally finished about 4 pm by which time it was pouring rain. We were ok but the porter had to sprint the fist day tpo make it to the camp site to put the tents andf cook us dinner by dark. The porters were brilliant. They carriied 25 kilos of stuff every day. We needed 30 porter for our group of 17 to carry camping gear and food and all our clothes. They always rushed ahead of us to set up camp and have food ready. We did not have to life a finger it was brilliant and the food was amazing!!! The second day of the trail was the most challenging. Because alot of time was wasted ont he first day waiting for the porter we hadnt reached our proper destination, so we had to walk an extra 2 hours to get us back on track. In total we walked 11 hour that day beginning at 5 am!! We had to go over 2 massive passes (mountains) ONe being dead womens pass - the most famous!! Renay was part of the fromt group being the fit person she is. Karla was with the back lot "helping" the unhealthy bunch at the back that were stuggling - Shes such a good nurse!!! In the afternoon it was so dangerious because of the rain and we were doing alot of downhill trekking on slippery rocks and small waterfalls, felt like we were canyoning again. by the time we all reached the campsite we were all drenched a freezing cold. Most of our camping gear also got wet so it was not a pleasant night. The next day we had to put back on out saturated clothes and continue our trekk.
Anyway the whole trekk was amazing we finally made it to Macchu Picchu on day 4 day after another mountain and 6 km of trekking before sunsrise!! It was exactly how the pictures look and was absolutely amazing. We spent the day walking around the ruins dazed and confused, we loked alot worse for wear than the tourists who caught the train. But we were both extremely plerased with our selves to have made it the whole way!!!
From the Trail we made our way lake Titicaca. Its a massive lake, 8000sq km and the highest in the world. 3800metres!! We cant dodge the altitude anywhere!!! Is an awesome place. We stayed on a homestay. We all had separate families. Karla and Renay were together thank goodness. Was really cool We helped cook as much to our disgust - we havnt done that for a while!!! Went fishing with the dad, played with the 5 year old son. Ate with the family. During the day we sowed crops of corn and helped around the farm. We also prepared the fish nets for later. Was actually cool workiong and helping the families out. Not sure how much help we were though. At night we all got together with the others and their families had a camp fire, dancing etc. Was pretty cool really. Was real community stuff, not much there at all, really simple houses and ways of living, we survived and had a cool time. That is where we left Peru and made it to Bolivia
