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I didnt realise it had been so long since my last entry, well a lot has happened since then.
Firstly Nasca this was a short stop only one night but a lot of stuff to do, first the Nasca lines these were cool not like i imiagined, a lot more difficult to spot and taking photos was more luck than judgement, some were really well defined though and absoutely amazing i cant believe they managed to create these shapes so long ago without any way of seeing them from above and there are so many more that weren't finished probably cos they went wrong but still its fascinating, the plane ride was a really scary experience though and we had to wait ages at the airport to leave. The plane was so small only 4 of us in there, and evertime the pilot turned to let each side see the lines your stomach flipped and you could feel the plane tilting after every strong gust of wind, i actually felt a little sick and glad to get off after only an hour. Then in the afternoon at Nasca we went to a cemetery, were they had the bodies of all the anicent mummies in the area, it was a weird place to be and they didnt take any measures to preseve the bodies they were just open graves in the middle of the desert you would never see anything like that in England, it was like theyd only jus discovered them. They were strange too, some of the bodies still had flesh on the limbs whilst others had been weathered by the sand right back to the bones, there was also skeltons of parrots and guinnea pigs that they had been buried with and there was the headless bodies of little children who had been sacrificed, it was good to learn about the processes of it too.
After spending the night in Nasca at a nice hotel with a pool, the next day was full of travelling we were supposed to spend the night in a town called Pisco but this wasnt possible due to a road blockade that was going to happen the following day, so we stopped in Pisco for a couple of hours over lunchtime and tried the local alcholic drink Pisco Sour at a local brewery and headed straight for Lima.
Lima is a nice city, but so western compared to the rest of Peru its almost like being in a completely different country and was kind of a shock to the system. The city centre is covered in American fast food chains and the plaza on the beach front really reminded me of Barcelona, towered over by a giant hotel and casino complex, and as a city its massive to get to the different areas its about a 20 minute taxi journey.
Anyway this formed the end of the trip and to celebrate we had a really nice dinner at for us was quite a posh place and then a night out this was really fun, i had beef heart kebabs and shared a local specialtly called Cerviche, its a fish dish cooked in lemon and lime juice and spiced with a lot of hot chilis, both were really good. Then over the next few days we went to the beach, relaxed and went to a fascinating museum which had all about a war in Peru that i didnt even realise had happened it only finished in 1999, its surprising to think that it only happened 10 years ago and yet there is no real sign of the devestation that was caused, the photos were amazing, we wouldnt be allowed to show half of them if something that bad had happened in England nowadays.
So after a few days in Lima, i went to Caracas, the plane journey was amazing the best flight ever, loads of films you could start whenever you wanted and pause when you needed the toilet and really comfortable seats, and i was really excited to be on my own again. I got to Caracas and then had a few problems with getting money though luckily i managed to change the Peruvian money and the dollars i had left, and somehow got on a bus to Merida without even enough money, i was glad because i didnt want to spend a night in Caracas on the journey through the city on a bus and then a taxi, i could see its by far the poorest place i'd been in and the people just didnt look very friendly, there were a lot of homless people and more beggers than anywhere else.
I got to Merida the following day after a 15 hour bus journey but the bus broke down on the edge of the city, and then there was a police block due to a local demonstration it meant i had to walk for well over an hour up a hill in the boiling hot heat of the day carrying my bag, i was not happy, eventually i got passed the block and got a bus to the centre and finally got to a hotel, still without money i then spent the entire day trying to fond somewhere to get money, Venezuela is not good for tourists getting money, every tourist ive met has had problems with money. Anyway after a few days beeing really scared and without a penny to my name i got money and now everthing is ok, i liked Merida it was a good city with a lot going on apart from Sunday but apparenmtly this is the same everywhere in Venezuela, everything and i mean everthing closes its like being in a ghost town there is noone anywhere, no restaurants open, no shops to buy anything from, even the reception at the hotel was unmanned, it was like waking up and everyone being ubducted.
So now after a lot more travelling, 32 hours in fact, to completely the other side of the country i am in a place called Ciudad Bolivar. Its weird how my perception of distance has changed i dont even think about a journy under 10 hours as being anything other than round the corner now, and its only when travelling for over a day that you begin to think of it as a long journey. It seems like a nice quiet little town, and i am preparing to go to the Angel falls tomorrow, the highest waterfall in the world this is gonna be a 3 day trip and i cant wait.
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