Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
The border crossing into Peru was qutie intense. . . We got stung, fake notes at the boarder cost us $40, but you live an learn. At Tombes (Peru) we jump in a local mini bus with Chickens and Fish and we make a 2.5 hour journey south along the coast and desert to Mancora (the Next Torquay) this is an up an coming surf/kite surf town with nothing else to do but enjoy the sun, drink, eat and practice surfing/Kite surfing. After Rach was lifted 2m high in the air by the kite on the beach with hotels and power lines around we decided to give it a miss, a little to dangerous for these two black ducks.
We jumped on a nice bus the serves dinner and breakfast and done 17 hours to Lima, the contrast of going from the desert to a city, watching the surrounding villages turn to towns and then to the city and seeing the poverty surrounding Lima we really didn't feel compelled to stay. So we jumped on a bus 45 minutes later and headed south again to Paracas. This is a small town, it has 1 block situated on a smelly beach and you can do a tour to the Bellestas Islands (Poor Mans Galapogos) there is a multitude of wild life, birds, seals, penguins, muscles etc, if you come from Oz then there is not a lot of different stuff to see and you could give this a miss, and the national park is just more of the same desert. The best bit of the desert coast was Huacachina, a little Oasis of green trees with a lagoon in the middle, plenty of hostels with pools and DUNE BUGGIES. This is one of the coolest things we have done and you have to completely trust the driver but when you go up and over these sand dunes and you can't see what is on the other side, tumbling into a vertical drop is a scary and exhilarating feeling. We moved on to Nazca from here and the plane ride was scarier then the dune buggy, we had strong winds and it was bloody hot, the drawings are surreal and intriguing. We only stayed long enough for the flight and then back on a bus for 15 hours to Cusco.
Cusco is a cool happening town, it is big enough so there are plenty of places to eat and go out but smaller then a city. Based at 3300m it is warm by day and cold at night and is the perfect place to base your self for hiking, mountain biking and the Inca trail. We had a couple of heavy nights out to Mama Africa's and Up town and couple of chilled days before we hit the Inca trail.
Machu Pichu Inca trail.
The four day trek to the Machu Pichu was a lot harder that we imagined. . . . Considering the Inca were such small people they built some bloody high stairs. There are quite a few Inca ruins along the trail and was a really amazing experience to walk into the sight of Machu Picchu. It is a spectacular place and truly amazing, a big recommendation if you are in the area but be prepared for a hard hike and some crazy weather.
Now we have to wait till Sunday 2nd of Nov for a flight to La Paz, the farmers of Peru are protesting and putting road blocks up so buses can not pass between Cusco - Puno - & Arequipa. It is the same road to Bolivia and things have got fairly hairy for a few of our fellow travelers, slashed tyre , rocks being thrown and windows smashed, one of our mates got a rock in the nose. So we are playing it safe and catching a flight over the top of all the hassle, like to see then through a rock at our plane ha ha ha.
- comments