South America
Hello everyone,
So as you all know we are in South Amreic and the good news is our spanish is slowly improving. We can read most of the menu particually if its translated to english and can get taxis and rooms in hostels! What more could you want! We are also really enjoying south ameria.
The bad news is that Chris is feeling a bit under the weather today sowe have cancelled our trip to the sacred valley to allow him to recover for Machu Pichu tommorrow. He is looking better already which is good because tis morning he was very hot and not looking so great but hes eating and drinking lots of water so I´m sure its just a 24 hour bug thing but we´ll play it by ear. Worst scenario we´ll have to get the train to Machu Pichu which only takes a day rather than a 4 day hike starting tommorrow but I think all should be good.
So, south america. The first day we arrived inLima and went straight to bed as it was about 2 in the morning. We got up the next day and explored Lima which had some nice squares and old buildings. We were a bit paranoid about taking photos but have a few. We wanted to buy our bus ticket to Pisco and were told to go to a bus station not far away. The streets were less usy and there was a group of boys stood at the end of one of them which made me feel a bit uncomfotable and the bus station didn´t sell the ticket. We went back to the information centre who told us another bus station we could try in a slightly rough area. I decided that I didn´t want to go there if she thought that was rough but the other wasn´t and I had felt uncomfortable on the way to the first. So we settled on a ticket to Paracas, 10mins from Pisco where you can get the trip to the Ballastas islands also which was the only reason we were going to Pisco. And the lady could sell us that. We spent the afternon wondering round squares.
The next morning we loked around Miraflores the part of Lima we were staying in. IT had a nice cliff walk and we saw vultures. We were also stopped by 3 teenagers who interviewed us on camera in english about our favourite music for a school project. We got the bus to Paracas.
The next day was really good. We had our trip to the ballestas islands where we saw penguins, seals, comorans, pelicans and dolphins! Then we took a bus to Huacachina an oasis in the desert. That afternoon we went on a sand dune buggy and went sand boarding which was high adreneline and essentially very dangerous but very fun! We loved Huacachina and went out for dinner with a group of people we met that day.
The next day we got a bus to Nazca with 5 others. When we arrived we went to the airport to book a flight over the Nazca lines. They were incredible and the plane tilted down both left and right so everyone could see them. This made us all feel pretty sick though and we were glad we opted for the 30mins trip to see 14 lines. It was definately worth doing though.
That evening we got the night bus to Arequipa. We spent the morning chilling out and then in the afternoon we explored the beautiful city. Again lovely squares and architecture. We visited the monastry which was massive! We went to bed early as in the morning we wanted to do the condor trip tio the colca canyon. It left at 1 in the morning to get there for 6 to see the birds fly early in the morning. The road was very bumpy but we did sleep a bit on the bus. And we saw the HUGE condors which was incredible!! The drive back was stunning. The canyon is beautiful and is the second deepest in the world although it didn´t look hugely deep but was just stunning. We got back at 12 and spent the afternoon sleeping in the hostel with all the guys from huacachina and nazca.
That night is was another night bus to Cuzco. We have been very careful and lucky up to now with our valuables since almost everyone here has a story to tell about lost bags but here our luck ran out. We had our small bags in our silk liners as always with us on top of them but we had never considered the fact that our smelly shoes maybe of value. When we woke up Chris found his trekking shoes had gone! Not ideal. so next time our shoes must go in the bags in the silks too but you live and learn!
We went to the poilce station and spent an hour and a half sorting it so we´ve now had a proper peru experiance. Whilst we were there we met a guy who had had his 450 euro camera stolen with all his photos on and no travel insurance. He said his bag strap was on his leg but they´d unzipped the bag, taken the camera and rezipped it. You really must be careful here and maybe our luck was in that it was only Chris´s smelly shoes that went. We´ve replaced them for less than 30pounds so at least there was no big problem in him not being able to replace them and then not being able to do machu pichu which was our first worry.
Cuzco seems nice. We walked to the main square yesterday, had some good food and really took it easy for an afternoon. Chris was feeling tired although now it seems he was coming down with something and today we are again relaxing so that he recovers for tommorrow.
Its very interesting travelling here as its soo different from home.
Hope ewveryone is well. I expect this afternoon I will put some photos online if Chris is still feeling like he wants to lie in bed watching films. At least we have a TV here-our first in south america but its important for Chris to be in a slightly nicer hostel with a tv and private room when he feels poorly.
Good luck to those of you with exams. How are they going gina and emma? Well I hope. Hope revision is coming on for the rest of you!
Lots of love
xxxxxxx