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Right here goes again.
This is gonna be a long one due to the amount of things we have done and seen and also the utter neglect I have shown my blog.
So last time I finished in Nasca, so I guess that would be the place to start. I left the internet cafe and headed for the hotel, which was nice. That night everyone went for dinner, but as we had a big lunch, me, Pete and Jacob (a lad from the group) went to a local bar and just chilled out for a bit over a beer and some mellow music (actually I think it was Ace of Base). Scrap the mellow part.
After that we Walked around the town and tried to teach a few local kids the finer points of the game of football. I didn't really pull it off in Flip Flops though. But did nearly slip over. Peru 1 - England 0 - I think.
That night we had an 8 hour bus journey to a place called Arequipa. We arrived shortly after 7 am and was shattered so decided to hit the sack.
I must say that the next part is not going to be the most exciting as we acted like utter tourists. We woke up about 1 o'clock, got ready as we had somewhere very important to be. We had to be at the local Irish bar to watch the Liverpool and Chelsea game, where we saw Liverpool give Chelsea a proper lesson in Football. Had a great Pizza there aswell.
It was then out for dinner with the group to a local restaurant for some good local cuisine.
There is a lot to catch up on so stay with me. (I will talk about the group very soon)
The next day, we packed a day bag and headed for the bus to take a trip to a place called Colca.
We arrived at a really nice hotel up in the hills at about midday, got changed into our hiking gear and had a brisk walk up into the hills to see the views and also enjoy a talk from our guide and a local lady.
Although this was a short walk, we felt the need to recover and had the perfect solution. Our guide had planned a trip to the local hot springs where we went to relax and unwind in the outdoor baths with a couple of beers. (Nice)
The group headed off for dinner, however one of the girls in the group was feeling unwell and Pete and I didn't feel it safe for her to go home alone (We were right, it was a 15 minute Taxi ride in the ropiest old car you have seen along the dodgiest roads ever made). To be honest it was the perfect excuse to get an early night in prepration for a long day of talks from our enthusiastic and very patriotic tour guide. (He rambles on about the amount of potatoes in Peru. I almost couldn't contain my excitement).
So the day was upon us and we were due to visit the world renound Colca Canyon. This is the deepest canyon in the world as the guide persisted on telling us (I think he is a bit p***ed off with the amount of credit that the grand canyon gets, as he kept on pointing out that this is the deepest canyon and the grand canyon is just the widest. (Hey Ho)
This was an amazing trip, however due to the altitude and lack of oxygen it starts to make the group feel a bit rough. Me Included. We are now at 3600 metres above sea level and got to this height in stages. We stopped about 4 times in total, whether to look at the sights, purchase goods from the locals or partake in a local beverage that helps relieve the altitude sickness. This is called Coca tea, which in simple terms is tea made with the leaves that are used to make Cocaine (after being chemically treated of course) Add sugar and it's not that bad, and it does help.
We saw some great sights, did some walking, oh and the bus broke down, which was fun. We were luckily invited onto a another groups bus to enjoy the rest of the tour, however their tour guide did seem to be a lot more annoying than ours (Polish Group).
We stopped to view the sights in the hope that we may see the most prescious bird to the Peruvian people and the second largest bird in the world. The Andean Condor. The guide said that we would be lucky to see one due to the time of year, however we saw two perched near the bus and eight in total flying around. It was a great sight, but they didn't seem to be all that rare afer all. (Just kidding - I consider myself extremely lucky).
After this wonderful tour, we headed back to our hotel in Arequipa. We got there in in the evening and had just enough time to get changed and out to a local restaurant, which seemed similar to a hard rock cafe (Peru Style). This was an excellent night and after some encouragement the majority of the group seemed to get rather drunk in the restaurant and hit the cocktail list. After this is seemed only fair to end the night in a club. This in retrospect wasn't the greatest idea, but let me carry on with the enjoyable part.
We hit the local club with the majority of the group in tow and absolutely tore up the dance floor with me entertaining two Peruvian ladies who seemed to be loving the moves and the rest of the groups pulling of some great innovative moves. This was the good part of the evening. Then some clever chap decided that Sambuca may be a good idea and let me just say, it wasn't. (I can't remember who suggested it - buit it was terrible as they were double shots)
The time had come to leave the club, feeling ever so slightly drunk (The altitude obviously helps get you there) On the way out we met a couple of girls from Aylesbury (Then we knew it was time to go) We got back to the hotel and decided to read a little into Pythagoras' Theorem.
Just joking we slept.
The next morning feeling very rough, we had to get up, pack our bags and board a plane for a 30 minute flight to Cuzco. Needless to say, myself and the majority of the group felt very rough, but cracked on, got on the plane and tried to behave. The alcohol still in our systems must have kicked back in, as we started to misbehave and annoy the people around us. We calmed ourselves with our iPods and Pete felt it a good idea to unknowingly sing a rendition of Elton John's - Nikita to half the plane. (Brilliant)
We landed safley in Cuzco, got a bus to the hotel (Also had an interesting discussion while imn transit with two of the girls as to whether smurfs wear hats or have white heads - I lost, they wear hats) We had a free afternoon, where we spent our time at a local market buying things that we would need for the coming few days hiking the Inca trail. (rain coats, gloves and Pete got some really fetching boots).
Oblivous to what was going on around us and consumed in my own laughter at Pete's boots, we failed to notice crowds forming and the atmosphere changing very quickly as there seemed to be a riot kicking off. They closed the front gates to the market and the riot Police came through. There seemed to be a shot from a gun.
We later found out that the riot was due to a family being evicted from the market and the noise that sounded like a gun was most probably a car back firing (If you could see the cars out here, you could understand our confusion).
With all of the gear purchased, we headed back for a briefing of the coming days from our oringinal guide and overall tour leader Jose (very funny and his English is not great - He says Tirty not 30, Reservate not reservation, orrange instead of arranged and many more quality Jose lines) We also had another two tour guides called Ernesto or Number 1 to me (He nicknamed me Puma - A great compliment I'm told) and also Javier (Strange but a nice bloke) These guides were to assist us with the upcoming trails. They are very profession and knowledge according to Jose. (Great Lines)
We then went for dinner, where one of the girls in the group (Harriett) was surprised by her boyfriend. He was doing a similar trip but was a day or so ahead. It was a very touching moment. Then came the dinner, which was very nice. Can't say too much about it as I am very hungry, so let's just say it was nice. It was then back to the hotel to rest for the up and coming Inca Trail.
I will leave it here for this blog, so catch me for another blog post where I will go into detail regarding Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail.
Take Care All
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