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Hola chicos,
Just sneaking in a cheeky blog before our Inca Trail to Machu Piccu starts tomorrow. We've been in Peru for over 10 days, how time flies when you aren't fearing for your possessions (yes Ecuador, we still don't like you very much)!
Crossing the border from Ecuador was a little hectic, after being pointed out a nice bus with reclining seats when we purchased our tickets, we unsurprisingly found ourselves on a rust-bucket for 9 hours! As anyone who has travelled Ecuador will know, the "local buses" stop to let people on every 10 metres, with half of the people getting on trying to sell you something or even resorting to singing a song for a few cents…this, over the space of 9 hours can get quite annoying! So, with the driver happy to fill the bus to triple the capacity and drive 90kmph with the doors open it was a journey not to be forgotten-least of all because Joe (having paid for a ticket) ended up standing for 2.5 hours because none of the locals would make way for a lady carrying a young child. Top English gent points scored, but he'll be sure not to do that again!
So after we waved goodbye to Ecuador and high-fived at not being robbed, we found ourselves in sunny Peru. A few hours past the border is a place called Mancora, a chill out haven which had come strongly recommended. The hostel we stayed in was the perfect location for 5 days of unadulterated chill-out! We topped up our tans, engaged in dangerous amounts of table tennis and met up with the Aussie couple (Mick and Laura) again to sample some local beers. One of Mancora highlights must be when Joe (who has been surviving on nearly steak alone) took a risk one morning and ordered something off the breakfast menu that I couldn't translate…it turned out to be steak! It was at this moment Joe fell in love with the Peruvian way of life!
There was a lot of contentment and loving life in Mancora, helped along by "happy nights" where it's 2-4-1 on drinks all night…not a bad spot if you're in the area. On Monday 14th (trying to inject some kind of time frame to this blog!) we hit the road for Lima, not before purchasing a series of the West Wing for my iPod (few will understand just how much joy this gave us on our 19 hour night bus, sad but true). After hearing more about cocaine overdoses than culture, we skipped on past Lima to a place called Huacachina 5 hours to the south. Huacachina is basically an oasis in the middle of a desert of sand dunes, and excellent fun. After a bit of a kerfuffle with hostels, involving a mad woman searching the town for us and cursing our names, we hit the hay.
I'd wanted to be somewhere peaceful yet a bit carpe-diem for November 16th as it was the 3rd anniversary of my Dad's death and my Grandad's funeral. My heart was truly at home with my lovely family. We had a quiet day reflecting on life and reminding ourselves that whether you live 51 years or 88 years, life is nothing without people and experiences-both of which we are truly blessed with.
The evening was less peaceful, but full throttle carpe-diem (that's for you Dad) as we went hurtling around these sand dunes in a buggy driven by a mad man! It was amazing, but you had to have full faith in the driver who threw you off huge blind peaks with not a care in the world! He dropped us off on big slopes so we could sand board down. Neither myself or Joe are graced with much balance or coordination and so we ended the day with massive smiles…and a lot of sand in our pants! The sunset and the views were just incredible! (The pictures do this more justice than words but this computer is particularly aged, so you shall have to wait-sorry)
The next night we had a brief pit-stop in Lima, no cocaine, just an early night ready for our flight the next day. The bus from Lima-Cusco was 66 US dollars and took 23 hours, the flight was $80 and took 1hour 10mins…a no brainer in our eyes. The airports were FULL of gringos (lots of people just come to Peru to do the Inca Trail) and the airport staff spoke English, which was a bit of a shock after being the only white people on most of our buses and constantly trying to find the right Spanish word on the spot. Even though we had been at altitudes above 3000m in Ecuador, the difference from sea-level Lima to lofty (3300m) Cusco totally did me in and I sadly spent most of Friday night with a vice-like headache and my head in the toilet. Well fit!
After a monster 13 hour sleep I felt a lot better and we ventured into town from our hostel. We met up once again with our Aussie mates and hit the markets where we haggled for Alpaca products-the array of things you can buy is just amazing, Peru is TOTALLY switched on to the tourist market. We've spent the last few days adapting to the climate and having briefings for the Inca Trail and have found it easy to pass the time in a very cool city.
Apologies again for lack of photos at this time, must dash as the bus for the Inca Trail picks us up in 7hours and I'm sure I've forgotten to pack something essential. If we survive Joe will be back to fill you in on our adventures, if not you can all fight over my fetching Alpaca jumper.
Lots of love,
Kate and Jose xxx
- comments
Helen Clark Good luck on the Inca trail!
snapper Keep up the good work kids:)