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Hello
This is my first entry on my blog. Forgive any spelling errors, writing from a Spanish keyboard, can't put my own pics up either. So we left Heathrow on 23rd April. We saw Rachel Stevens was getting on our flight and I thought it would be better to have her as my first picture, rather than one of me. She was very nice and talkative, wishing us well on our jouneys.  We arrived in LA that evening and went out for dinner and drinks (naturally). We stayed in a place called Hermosa beach, which is on the West Coast. The next day was all about getting to work on my tan, fell asleep and ended up getting a bit (well more than a bit) sunburnt, I'm still feeling the effects a week later.
On Wednesday we decided to go take a look at Downtown LA. I thought I'd seen a few things in life, but that place was different. $3 dollars for a day pass on the metro system, bargain. We went to Hollywood and done the whole Boulevard thing, then went up town to the LA Dodgers baseball game. They played the San Franciso Giants (lost 7 to 5), this was a derby match and I can still here words 'Gi...ants suck, Gi...ants suck'ringing in my ears. The best thing about this game was that I got to see Barry Bonds (second greatest player ever after Babe Ruth) hit a home run.  then I had the pleasue of getting the metro through the ghetto'at nighttime to get 'back to Hermosa.
The next day we booked out of the hostel and decided to go up North to see Venice Beach in Santa Monica. I saw Elijah Wood in the post office, he's a tiny little fella. I realised I'd brought far to many clothes, so have sent some home.
On Friday (27th), Andy and I had a flight to Lima (Peru). Our South American adventure will consist of a 3 week trip, going down the west coast and through the Andes into Bolivia via Machu Pichu. We arrived after midnight and so went straight to bed. We had a walk around Lima the following morning and had lunch (unbelievely cheap). We met up with the rest of our tour (14 people in total) and tour guide (Jose) and had a 4 hour bus journey to Pisco (famous for it's drink, also called Pisco). The 14 of us are all pretty young, it's a good mix of people and we've got on well, so far.
Usually I'd be berating a 4 hour bus journey, but this was different. Every back drop had a spectacular mountain to look up at, and as the sun was setting, the whole sky turned dark red, it was pretty amazing to see. We arrived in Pisco, had a group dinner on a roof terrace and started on the Pisco, lethal stuff. We soon found ourselves in a local Peruvian bar, where they put on a small, intimate ancient Peruvian dance show for us. I was whisked off my feet to join in, my nibble an well balanced dancing was no match for theirs, I had a few cheers though, as I was being chased around the room by a Peruvian woman trying to set my bum on fire with a candle, I still can't get all the wax off my trousers. We went on to a nightclub and mingled with the locals.
Having forgotten what time I got in that night (4am I'm told), I was rudely awoken by Jose, to be told that I was about to miss the boat trip to the Ballistas Islands (starting at 7am). I made it. I've never seen so many birds in one place, although I wasn't too pleased about getting pooped on (it least it's suppossed to be good luck though), especially seeing as though the Pisco was still doing what it does.
In the afternoon we went to the sand dunes. We went on some sand buggies and got to do some sand boarding. The best part had be be going down a massive sand dune on a board at about 80mph, although the injuries I recieved (only minor ones mum, I promise) would suggest otherwise. The view from the top of the dunes were spectacular, I could see for miles, over mountain after mountain. Then we went to a vineyard to try out the vocal wines and Pisco etc...) The evening entailed a further 4 hour bus journey to Nasca.
Today I took a flight over the Nasca lines (weird archealogical drawings of animals etc... so large that they can only be seen from the sky). Some people believe that extra trestrials were responsible for creating these, however I think otherwise. I've just come back from an ancient nasca graveyard, containing mummies from 2000 years ago.
So that's it for now. Hope my English isn't too bad on this keyboard. I feel as though I forgetting to tell you about something, I'll let you know if I have. I've kinda forgotten what reality is like, times gone so quick and I still haven't realised that I'm away from home for a whole year. All in all, I know I made the right decision to do this, I already feel like a wiser person (if it was possbile).
Tonight we have a night bus journey to Arequipa (a city in the Andes, which is the first place we go to with any significant altitute (2000m)). I wonder if anyone will be sick (like to fella next to me on the plane was ealier). All the best for now.
xPx
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