09/04/08

Puno - Our base for visiting the floating islands made from reeds

The reed islands on Lake Titicaca are impressive works. Each island can house between five and thirty families. We were givien a tour showing how the locals live followed by some friendly haggling for various wares.

The main reason for the existence of some islands now is purely for tourism but historically they were a form of protection against enemy attack. Its easy to escape an enemy when your on an island that can also be moved!

10-11/04/08

Cusco

Cusco, the ancient Inca capital sitting at an altitude of 3,310m is a major tourism centre and popular starting point for trips to Machu Picchu.

I really enjoyed this this vibrant and attractive city. Almost every street contains the reminants of the Inca civilisation. You will find plenty of places to party and shop till you drop. We certainly did a lot of both! Eating out was also a taste of heaven for the pallete. I would happily make the journey back to Cusco.

12-17/04/08

The Pumahuanca Trail Community (Lares Valley) trek/Machu Picchu/Ollyantaytambo.

12th Today we start our journey towards Machu Picchu. We left Cusco early and made our first stop on the outskirts of Cusco at the Sacsahuaman Inca ruins which afforded great views of Cusco. The ruins were impressive and as always the perfection of the Inca stone work has to be seen to be believed. Along with our site seeing we also were allowed to try out a slide which was formed out of stone. Good fun but can result in a numb bum!

Next we headed to Pisac (a small town) for lunch. An interesting little town and our first in the sacred valley. After a great lunch and some shopping in the local market we continued onto Quisharani (3,850m), our first camp site and direct exposure to the locals. Here we had dinner followed by some Quechua language lessons. Quechua is the local language used before the spanish arrived.

These remote Adean farming communities have traditions dating back to the Incas. They are primarily Quechua speaking but they also speak spanish. There daily lives consist of potato cultivation, weaving, and the farming of Llamas, Alpacas, and sheep. Although considered by the Peruvian government to be living in extreme poverty, these people are welcoming, friendly, and have a very strong sense of community.

13th This morning we helped the locals with the construction of a toilet block which will eventually be used by tourists. Everyone enjoyed themselves and it was great to be able to help out.

After cleaning ourselves up we headed for our next destination, Cuncani. To get to Cuncani we had to cross over the Huillquicasa Pass (4,400m) which provided us with some wonderful views. Our lunch stop today was also amazing in view and in food quality.

We eventually arrived in Cuncani (3,780m) in the afternoon. After removing some mystery rocks from my backpack we started a game of soccer against the locals. Being active at this altitude is hard work indeed! We won our game against the locals but i have a feeling we will be paying for our efforts physically for some time to come.

After dinner we donated materials to the local school before enjoying some star gazing.

14th Today we head to Paccha via the Pumahuaca pass (4,650m). A long walk but again the views were spectacular. Lunch yet again was awesome. It was towards the end of today that i realised that our wonderful Dragoman guide Vernon had been putting rocks in my backpack all day again. Cheeky so and so.

15th Paccha to Ollantaytambo

A relatively easy day today as we hiked for a few hours before meeting our bus ride to Ollantaytambo (2,900m).

At Ollantaytambo we had a tour of the Inca ruins surrounding the city followed by free time in the afternoon to explore this small but very interesting city.

16th Machu Picchu

Finally the big day has arrived. An early five am start to ensure we make our six am train which will take us from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Callientes. From here it is a short bus ride up to Machu Picchu. The train ride is amazing as you follow the Urubamba river towards Machu Picchu.

After arriving at Machu Picchu you are very quickly struck by the sheer magnifigance of this place. It has a magical feel as Machu Picchu is obscured by clouds one moment and fully revealed again soon after. Hopefully the photos will reveal some of the magic i experienced today.

We also took in the view of Machu Picchu from Wynapicchu and the Sun gate which are located on opposite sides and above Machu Picchu.

An amazing day which ended with the funniest train ride i have ever been on. The train staff served us a meal and then proceeded to put on a fashion show of Alpaca wears. They strutted there stuff up and down the carriage. It became the party train!

We returned to Cusco around ten pm and convinced ourselves to head out on a fancy dress night which turned out to be rather large and very comical indeed.

17th One last day in Cusco to shop and have some R&R. We had another big night out to celebrate Brooks birthday and farewell.

18/04/08

This morning we head to Raqchi for a family homestay and a tour of the nearby ruins. I am starting to get a bit ruined out now. It was a nice drive and although we were all rather tired i enjoyed the ruins and the scenery around Raqchi.

After our tour we met our host mother for our homestay and shortly after went to our hosts house to meet the rest of the family. Estelle our host mother had three kids who we met and gave some packets of biscuits to. The kids demolished the biscuits in record time.

At four pm we went and had some pottery leasons before i purchased far too much. Around six, Ian and i headed down to the main/only square for a meal. Well there might be only one resturant in this town but they sure did manage to make one of the freshest soups i have ever had.

After eating, we joined our truck in the main square for the truck dinner which was also great. Am definitely not hungry now!

Shortly after dinner we were joined by our host mothers who, after dressing us up in the local garb, danced with us and sang some local songs. We then entertained them with a song of our own (Funky Town) which we all laughed and danced to. To top it off we taught our host mothers the Hoki Poki.

19-20/04/08

Chivay

Not too much happening here. Chivay is our base for visiting Colca Canyon, the location for viewing Condors. Travelling to Chivay we drove through the Pata Pampa pass (4,825m) before decending to 3,500m at Chivay. The condors were great to see as they soared effortlessly through the skies. There huge size compensated for by there massive wing span.

The second night in Chivay was nicely spent in good company learning more about the stars.

21-22/04/08

Arequipa (2,380m)

A beautiful city located at the foot of El Misti volcano, a snow capped perfect cone 5,822m high. On either side of El Misti are the are the impressive mountains of Chachani (6,057m) and Pichu-Pichu (5,669m). These three when viewed from the city are impressive indeed. Arequipa was built almost exclusively using the pearly white volcanic material called sillar.

The drive from Chivay was short so we had the afternoon of the 21st to explore. I took in a couple of Churches/Cathedrals but by far the most interesting visit for the day was to Conventa de Santa Catalina. This Convent was only opened to the public in 1970 after four centuries of mystery. It is a town within the city and covers over two hectares. You do not see any nuns though as they have retreated to one section of the convent to continue there seclusion.

I spent the morning of the 22nd white water rafting with some of the Dragoman crew. Although the rapids were not very intense it was a great half day out.

A spot worth giving over a couple of hours to is Plaza de Armas. It is a beautiful Plaza worth spending some time in with a book or to just chill out and enjoy the activities of the locals as young and old happily enjoy the atmosphere of Plaza de Armas.

Arequipa is definitely worth a visit!

23/04/08

Puerto Inca

A lovely little beachside resort that was our over night stop on the way to Nazca. Great night on the beach with a few ruins to explore as well.

24/04/08

Nazca - home of the world famous Nazca lines

Best viewed from the air, the large number of line. geometrical figures, and designs such as a dog and a parrot are thought to have been created by three different groups - the Paracas people 900 - 200 BC, the Nazcas 200 BC - AD 600, and the Huari settlers from Ayacucho AD 630.

The flight over the Nazcas lines is worth the money on its own as by the time you land your stomach as done more than a couple of loops.

25/04/08

Huacachina

This place was great. Here we went sand boarding and dune buggying. We spent the night in the desert which was awesome.

Flying through a desert landscape on a dune buggy and sandboarding down massive dunes is something i would highly recomend.

26/04/08

Poor mans Galapagos (the Baleros Islands)

This place was better than i expected as although we did not go ashore the amount of bird life was amazing! The photos tell the rest...

Lima

The capital of Peru, Lima is a very large citywith a population of around 8 millionin the metropolitan area. It is impossible to say you have seen this city in just 2 days. The main areas we did explore were Central and Miraflores. In Central we explored Plaza de Aemas, Plaza San Martin, China Town and the areas in between.

In Miraflores we explored many of the markets and also went para gliding, laser bowling. As you would expect we also explored the nightlife as well.

Lima has that big city feel and if thats what you like then allow a good few days to further explore the city.

28-29/04/08

Huanchaco

Here we visited the Chan Chan ruins and the sun and moon pyramids. I didn't really rate this place - lots of restored mud walls...

30/04/08 to 02/05/08

Punta Sal

A lovely beachside spot where we enjoyed 2 days of R&R and a day out game fishing with Ian and Vernon. We only caught one Bonito and frustratingly had five marlin trail our lures. So, a little painful to come so clos but you have got to be in it to win it.