Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Where the hell do we start? We are sorry to have neglected you guys but it has been a pretty manic couple of days. It is not often that in 4 days you can say you have been to an earthquake torn town, taken a boat ride to some of the worlds most ecologically dense islands, a sand buggie ride across the desert and a plane ride over an archaeological mystery but we seem to have managed it whilst still finding time for our signature pedalo ride- on a magical lagoon! (No where near as strenuous as our near death experience in Amsterdam!)
So...Pisco. Following last years earthquake in which around 500 people died Pisco has changed dramatically from its description in the guide book, which we discovered in dramatic style when the hostal we planned to stay in turned out to be a pile of rubble.
However destroyed this town may have seemed on first glance I was amazed how the people seemed to be just getting on with things very much make do and mend. The children had found a playground in the remainders of the houses.
At ths point i was still in a bit of a daze not quite realising that i was actually in peru so to sum up what i saw in this daze well... a church made out of bamboo to replace the one that had collapsed, a lovely bread man selling hot bread rolls made there on the street... a lovely mummsie cuddly lady in our cacoon of a hostel.. another lovely mummsie lady who made me good meat and potatoy substance on the street for my tea..and a mazzive cup of tee con leche umm good tea and finally for me was the 80´s tuc tuc ride playing Footloose...
I have a feeling much of Esther´s blogging will be food related! of course tummy first...
The following day was filled with Sea Lions, Pelicans and Penguins (and dolphins!!) before we travelled onwards to a desert oasis.
Huacachina was incredible. After the worlds largest bowl of porridge (now Im starting on the food!) we spent the day running across hills of sand and having pedalo races with the first people who would accept the challenge, on a magical lagoon...it must have been pretty magical as we managed to beat them by a mile!
The day was amazingly toped off with a adrenaline filledbuggy ride. Boucing and bumping around over sand dunes the size of sky scrappers (how ever you spell it) by the end of the 2 and a half hours i felt like i had been in a washing mechine but had worked out the code from the driver as to when to hold on for your life.. this was when he took his hat off as he lost it on a few occasions..this was not all the fun we had, we also basically snow boarded down sand as leigh will tell you ...
I think to say we actually sandboarded is giving us slightly more credit than we are due! My first go I bravely/stupidly was one of the first to go...though recommended to go down on our fronts first time I was up for being a bit clever and strapped in my feet...for the first half of the slope I was looking pretty good picking up speed...but perhaps a little too much speed...unsure how to stop I somehow dug the front of my board into the sand and stacked it head over heels face first into the sand...not a good idea to have been laughing as I swallowed half the desert. I managed to get up unscathed (and doing a mighty good impression of the samiead- from 5 children and it!)
Needless to sat I followed advice and stuck to my stomach from then on...I have to say though those first few feet of standing were amazing!
i however was not as brave as leigh who did look cool untill she headbutted the desert.. i do have many war wounds though, bruises on my hips and a nice lump on my collar bone. I did do a few impressions of my own as i dug m feet in to slow down and got up looking like i had a sumo costume on, that was actually sand padding me out. Sand can get into very dark places in ones body it is not good but well worth it. The climax of the day when i, yes me was rendered speechless as we watched the sunset over the desert.
No time to tell how cool the nasca lines were (but to say that the flight was like being thrown through the sky in a coke can) as we are off to get an over night bus to a place of culture Arequipa
so much love and good bye for now xxx
- comments