Sand Boarding, Booting and the Ballestos

Ok its been a month so the goings on of the past 4 weeks wiill be arriving on here in installments, this is the first chapter of the last month.

After Cusco we took the road back towards Puno before heading down to Arequipa. We arrived late in the afternoon and Saxon, Dane, Rowan and I managed to get into town in time to book ourselves onto a 2 day hike into the Colca canyon, the 'deepest in the world'. On the way back we walked through the main plaza which is really beautiful with some amazing architecture. The trip was due to start early being picked up at 3 in the morning so we headed back to our campsite, which was in the grounds of an old english style country house for some grub then bed.

The drive over to the canyon was long and very uncomfortable, Danes hair froze to the window as we passed over 5000m in the early hours of the morning. After a quick breakfast and a look at some condors soaring on the edge of the canyon in the thermals we were ready for our hike. We kinda ended up with a private guide because we were the only English speakers so we took our usual tactics, go as fast as possible! It was a great walk down snaking back and forwards down the nearly vertical canyon wall. Dane managed to fall on his face in a very lanky ungraceful manner, one of the funniest things I have seen this trip! Rowan had been feeling a bit rotten for a day or two and started to feel it again about half way through the day when we got to the bottom of the canyon. The rest of the day involved a few steep climbs but generally just walking along at one level in the canyon, with a few emergency toilet stops for Rowan and now Saxon. We made it to our evening accomodation via a lunch stop for some alpacca by about 3-4 in the afternoon, just in time for a quick dip in the pool before the sun left the canyon floor (unfortuantely Rowan spent this whole time on the toilet) We were staying in a place called the oasis which was pretty idilic. We all had a decent nap after a long days walking and after a short dinner interruption we all passed out to get some sleep for our 5.30 wake up to climb the 1000m or so back out. At 12 I woke to violent stomach cramps and spent the rest of the night with both sets of cheeks taking turns visiting the toilet!

Rowan had managed to book himself a Mule ride out of the canyon the night before however as I was sick during the night they had no more Mules for me so I gave it my best go at walking out but with no sustainance inside me it was a near impossible task, walking at an embarassing pace at about 200-300m up I gave in and our guide managed to negotiate a Mule ride which although easier was not very fun! The poor animals have to walk up huge stone steps with a lazy tourist on their back and a massive drop into the canyon less than a metre away! 60 mins, 50 Soles and a sore arse later I was very happy to be getting off my Mule at the top, I spent the rest of the day with stomach cramps, my only restbite being some awesome herbal tea a lady in the breakfast cafe made for me. I think she felt sorry for me as I was lying on my bag and squeezed my hydration pouch and ended up lying in a puddle so she thought I had wet myself! We arrived back to Arequipa exhausted and after another delicious dinner produced by Nat which i couldnt fully enjoy we all passed out.

Our next stop was a place called Puerto Inca a historic fishing port. We camped just along the coast next to a little hotel wight on top of the beach with the waves nearly lapping our tents. The descent to sea level certainly made us all feel better and we played an awesome game of football with the staff which we lost 6-4 but the boys did score an awesome goal, coming to you on youtube one day soon! Nat excelled herself yet again with a stunning BBQ of fillet chicken and pork chops (shame to say mine and Rowans both made a reappearance onto the beach at some point in the night, what a waste). We sat round the camp fire enjoying whisky and cigars, one of our last nights before the end of the trip, and apart from being told by a English stranger that I was a Kiwi, we all had a great night remeniscing until one by one we fell asleep.

The next day we headed further up the coast to a place called Huacachina for sandboarding and dune buggying. The dune buggy driver was awesome, we hit the dunes an hour before sunset and the drive over them was so much fun, and we stopped 6 times to board down some progressively bigger dunes, which turned into a competition, standard, of who could get the furthest! We camped in the desert by a fire on our camp mats under the night sky and with unlimited pisco sours it wasnt difficult for us to all fall asleep.

The next day was the official last day for the group as it stood. We stopped off halfway for a 2 hour trip to the Ballestos islands with lots of smelly bird poo and seals......mmmmm. We arrived into Lima late that evening. The next few days were spent enjoying Limas sights, playing a lot more obligatory Poker and saying our farewells to Pete, Saxon, Mel and Pa. After 50 days non stop together it was certainly an odd feeling especially saying bye to my dog loving, Peruvian casanova tent buddy Pete....legend.

From here I decided to stay on the tour to Quito as I couldnt bare to say bye to the two lads and really wanted to see Ecuador. Next stop Huaraz!

HOOT TOOT