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Following my fantastic adventure in Ecuador and the Galapogas Islands I made my way into Northern Peru. I arrived in Mancora, a popular surfing destination for natives and tourists alike.
I chilled out in Máncora for a few days. As I gazed out my bedroom window at a spectacular display of kite surfers carving the waves with such style and panache, I decided there and then that surfing was an activity I was definitely going to persue. My soft teddy bear paws padded down the beach with my surf board in hand. I was eager and enthusiastic to catch as many waves as I could. My ideal and the reality unfortunately differed alot. I just lay on my surf board for the most part and accidently took out a few of the other more advanced surfers as my board sped quickly back to the shore. I shook the water out of my fur and made my way back along the beach to my apartment. That was the extent of my surfing experience. Surfing is not for everyone!
Lima, was my next port of call. It was a mere eighteen hour bus ride to the capital of Peru. I was becoming a dab hand at the long bus journeys. I indulged in another teddy bears picnic of fish and honey to pass the time. In Lima, I strolled around the city spotting some Llama and peruvian Inca ruins on my journey. The Inca people populated a large portion of Western South America until the Spanish conquest between 1529 and 1533. Peru is seeped in so much history and I enjoyed soaking it all up. It was easy to see that the Incas were masters of many trades by looking at the archetecture and agriculture of the land. Following my short but enjoyable trip to the Peruvian capital I boarded, you guessed it, yet another bus to the beautiful oasis that is 'Huacachina'.
Huacachina is a stunning lagoon nestled between a vast array of rolling sand dunnes. Huacachina has a desert like terrain and enjoys a lovely tropical climate. As I strolled through Huacachina sweat seeping through my fur I decided it was high time to get a pair or sun glasses fit for a teddy bear like myself. I also took the time to shed some of my winter fur coat. I was soon to find out that in Huacahina you can not leave without experiencing Sandboarding. I booked myself in for an evening trip to the Sanddunes giving the sand a chance to cool down after the midday sun. I hopped on the dunne buggy and set off on a bumpy journey. Speeding up and down the sand dunnes as I watched the sun set on the stunningly beautiful desert valley of Huacachina.
While the surfing in Máncora was not to my teddy bear liking Sandboarding in Huacachina was easily one of my favourite activities to date. I strapped my paws on the board, jumped my board up onto the sand and zipped and zagged down the sand dunes like a pro. Flying down those sand dunes I took a few knocks to the sandy floor. Although with the knowledge that I was falling onto a soft, cushiony, sandy surface I didn't mind the falls at all. I even fell head first on a few occasions giving myself a sandy facial as I fell. Needless to say I left a puddle of sand on my bed as I slept that night and I was shaking fur out of my fur for days to come, but it was worth it all.
After an enjoyable few days it was time to make a move, next stop the small town of Nasca, made famous by the mysterous Nasca Lines. The Nasca Lines are drawings on the ground made by removing rocks and earth to create a 'negative' image. Since the lines are virtually impossible to identify from ground, pilots flying commercial planes over Peru in the 1930's were the first to discover this historical conumdrum. The lines are believed to have been man made. However the lines came to being the real astonishing fact is that they have remained intact for between 500 to 2000 years. The reason the lines have lasted the test of time is largely put down to the weather conditions in Nasca. There is hardly any wind and with as little as an inch of rain a year there is has been very minimal chance of errosion. I decided to board the tiniest plane I have ever been on in my life to get a birds eye view of the lines. The sights I witnessed from above were just fascinating. I spotted the outline of some of the 70 different animals that are created from the lines, including a spider, a humming bird and a monkey to name but a few. I have never seen anything like it before in my short bear life. It is crazy to think that these shapes and patterns have remained imbedded in the ground for so many years. Another incredible piece of information imparted to me while in Nasca is that they recieve around twenty minutes worth of rainfall a year. On hearing those figures its glaringly obvious that weather forecasters in Nasca, Peru and the weather forecaters in Berrings, Ireland would recieve EXTREMELY different weather readings. After my whistle stop tour of the Nasca LInes it was time to pack up my bear bag and hop on a bus to Arequipa.
The main square in Arequipa was very impressive. However I really couldn't wait to see the famous 'Ice princess' in the local museum and learn some more about the old Peruvian culture. After a quick plod around the town it was time to visit the big attraction in Arequipa Juanita, The Ice Princess. A long time, when the Inca people were the main habitats of Peru, there lived a girl called Juanita. The Inca people had a very bizarre belief system. They believed that the mountains were God like and sacrifices needed to be made to the mountains to protect the villages of the Inca people. If an Inca child was choosen to be sacrificed to the mountains it was seen as a great honour to both the child and the family. The children who were to be 'given up' to the mountains had to walk for 2 to 3 months before a grave was dug for them, special ornaments placed around them and there on the mountain they met their end. Juanita was aged between 12 and 14 when she was sacrificed on the mountain of Ampato. Juanita was only discovered in 1995, 500 years after her burial. The extraordinary events that led up to Juanita's discovery are astonishing. She was buried so far up the mountain, her body was covered in ice and snow. When the Sabancaya volcano next to the Ampato mountain erupted it melted the ice on Ampato and Juanita's body finally discovered. Another eerie and incredible fact was when Juanita was found in 1995 the ice and snow had preserved her body so well that there was still flesh on her body 500 years on. Eighteen sacrifices like Juanita have been found to date, fifteen girls in Peru and three girls in Argentina. It is believed that these sacrifices were made by the Inca's every four to seven years in the hope that mother nature would look favourably on them and keep them safe. I was left gobsmacked after such an engrossing tour.
An early night was definitely in need. Luckily I'm not due to hibernate for another few months as the Colca Canyon tour left Arequipa at the early hour of 2:30am. I boarded the bus like a zombie, was given a blanket and slept most of the journey until we reached our destination at 7am, just in time for breakfast. The scenery around the Colca Canyon was breathtaking and it was a real treat seeing the Peruvian people go about their daily lives. The Canyon itself is 4000 metres in depth, deeper than the famous Grand Canyon in the U.S. I throughly enjoyed the trip, it was a real taste of Peru.
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