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Right I think its about time I caught up on my news since I last posted 11 days ago!
We left Cusco and drove for a very long time to Arequipa (we definitely have the slowest overland truck in the Americas!) Arequipa is a very Spanish town with a huge Colonial influence, its really pretty. We spent a day looking round the monastery, cathedral and saw Juanita the Ice Maiden. Juanita was an Inca sacrifice but was frozen soon after death so is freakily well preserved. Very scary!
The next day we drove up to Chivay and spent a few hours in the thermal springs drinking beer. Chivay was our base for visiting Colca Canyon the next day. Colca Canyon is famous for its condors and we weren't disappointed! We saw about 8 birds at one time and with their 3m wing spans theyre very impressive. We returned to Arequipa that night and for some reason one drink turned into lots and quiet chat turned into karaoke and a nightclub! Oops!
The next day was a long drive to the coast and northwards. It was a beautiful sight to suddenly come to the top of a sand dune and see the ocean stretching for miles and miles! Hadnt seen the sea in 6 weeks so I was happy again! We had lunch on the beach of a town which had been hit by a tsunami - very eerie - then continued to our beachside campsite.
The next day we arrived in Nazca for our flight over the Nazca lines. I love flying, it doesnt scare me at all and Ive never been sick in a plane..... but oh my god did I come close then! Bleurgh! However the Nazca lines were impressive - how, why and what on earth??!! The eve was spent shopping for the next nights food (I always draw the short straw!) then drinking because it was Brendas bday. Ending up in the pool at 2am was one step too far though probably! Oh well!
Got up too early the next morning to cook bacon and eggs (the truck rota does not consider hangovers!) then had another morning of driving (via the Nazca observation platform and museum). We arrived at our new campsite at noon. And what a place! It was at an oasis in the middle of the desert and was beautiful (except for me nearly getting bitten by a macaw!!) Then the afternoon joins the long list of South America highlights - dune buggying and sandboarding! Very cool but very painful! And so much harder than snowboarding since turning or controlling the board is impossible and getting sand embedded everywhere is not pleasant!
So we're nearly at the present.... we drove to Lima via the beautiful Ballestas islands where we saw penguins (happy feet!!!), cormorants, a hundred other birds, dolphins and sea lions. It was the shear volume of birds in one place that knocked me out! However our first glimpses of Lima were not as hot! Having spent 3 nights here now though its not too bad, its just a big, smoggy city and the people like mugging you! Ive been lucky though so far.
Ive spent the past 2 days organising my life! I decided not to take my flight home yesterday but unfortunately Iberia are fully booked for months so I could not change my flight to another, I had to buy a new one. Luckily I found one for $720 (half the price of the others) with some obscure spanish airline so thats booked for 4th July - party on the Friday 6th July??? Now I have to book my Galapagos trip (yey yey yey!) and Jungle trip (hopefully will avoid the sickness!). Cant remember if I mentioned before, I decided to leave the truck as planned and am now travelling with a guy from Leeds who was on the truck too. Its a lot harder travelling independently but the challenge will do me good and im already improving my Spanish (Tilly and Sarah - dont test me though!!) We're booked on the overnight bus to Huaraz, leaving at 10pm.
Right better go pack - gotta find my earplugs! Hope all of you are well, miss you loads, wish you could be here with me! Keep me updated on all the news.
Take care, lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxx
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