more peru!

Buenos dias!

Como estan? Things here in Peru are going great.

On our way south from Lima a couple of weeks ago we stopped at Ica for a few hours to climb the sand dunes surrounding the desert oasis: Huacachina. I have never seen a real sand desert before, let alone an oasis! Ica, the city next to Huacachina is also in the middle of the desert, but being a fairly substantial size you just don't notice. We sat on the dunes for an hour or so counting grains of sand (kidding). It's very beautiful. We continued on to Nazca later that afternoon, and then first thing the following morning we jumped in a tiny cessna plane and circled over the Nazca Lines a few times!! Those things are fascinating, and look a lot smaller from the plane than they actually are, which means they're even MORE amazing! We saw the main ones like the dog, the astronaut, hummingbird, condor, monkey etc, but there are thousands of lines and patterns that were not even pointed out. It's a real wonder how the Inca made them and how they have lasted so long! I have put some pics up on the gallery :). The actual plane ride was not so fun though... the constant circling and dipping had poor Ranga gagging into a bag, and me very near to it! We needed a lie down once back at the hostal.

While in Nazca we also visited an old Incan cemetery... Cementerio de Chauchilla. Its full of underground tombs in which mummies were placed, along with offerings of food, pottery and gold. Unfortunately hundreds of the tombs have been plundered by grave robbers and in the sand you can see so much cotton stuffing which had been ripped from mummies insides, and even bits of human bones litter the sand, thanks to the grave robbers. Only relatively recently have the authorities put in measures to protect the remaining tombs. Now, for the tourists, a few of the tombs have been opened so that you can view the mummies and offerings. It's fascinating of course, but also kind of disturbing, especially the tiny child ones. The hair and remaining skin bits made me feel quite ill.

We decided to head to Cusco a day early in order to catch their biggest annual festival: Inti Raymi. Hundreds of people re-enact the ancient Incan Winter Solstice Ceremony on the ruins overlooking the city. Apparently even Cameron Diaz, John Travolta and Bill Gates attended this year! We didn't bump into them, but Ranga MIGHT have a pic of Cameron Diaz in the crowd... we have to see the photo on a computer screen to confirm. The festival was quite a buzz. There were thousands of people there, sitting amonst the ruins (including us) and the performance was very colourful. It was just as fun to watch the crowd though! And we bumped into our friends Beth and James (from the amazon boat trip) there!!

Cusco is a gorgeous city. Its 3300 meters above sea level and both Ranga and I had a bout of altitude sickness during the first 5 days. I'm pleased to say that we are now aclimatised :). The cobblestone streets are threaded with remains of old incan walls, in fact, most existing buildings have been built on Incan foundations, utilising the incredibly strong Incan engineering! Its awesome to see. We spent our 5 days in Cusco before our trek strolling through the streets, visiting historical sights such as churches and convents, and the Incan museum, dining out with Beth and James, and sifting through the markets. There is so much culture and tradition here.

We set off on the Inca Trail (El Camino del Inca) last Friday, and were wandering the mountains for 4 days. It was a very early start, we were picked up at 4am that Friday, and the following days weren't much later! (Ouch). The first day's hiking was the toughest for Ranga and I, which really worried us because we were told that the second day would be the killer. We hiked to 3,800 metres, passing a couple of ruins sites along the way. It was really tough uphill grind, the only relief came when we spotted a HUMMINGBIRD!!!! I have never seen one before and I instantly forgot all my aches and pains and the inability to breathe and was filled with amazement! They are so tiny!! Like little flying jewels. It actually gave us strength! That night I suffered a little nausea, from the altitude I presume, but for the rest of the trek I was fine. The second day was actually not as bad as Ranga and I expected. We did climb to the highest altitude of the trek - 4215 metres at Dead Woman's Pass, but for some reason we seemed a little stronger. There are many ruins sites along the trail and each one is very different... resting places, astronomy observatories, soldiers stations... our Qechuan guide 'Edgar' was very knowledgable and enthusiastically told us about the history of the sites, and the history of his people as we sat in the sun at each ruin. It was a lot to take in, but so interesting. I also have to mention the food. I think we must have had a gourmet chef with us because each meal consisted of about 5 different imaginative dishes, cooked to perfection. I have never eaten so well in my life! Not what any of us expected, roughing it in the Peruvian Andes!!! Along with the gourmet chef we had 2 guides (Edgar and Edwin - Edwin swept up the stragglers at the back - usually me and Ranga and a New York couple!), 16 porters carrying unbelievable loads (Ranga and I are proud to say we carried our own stuff, when most of the other hikers had extra porters), and there were 13 of us hikers: 9 Americans and 4 Kiwis. We all got on very well. On the 4th day we had to tear ourselves out of our sleepingbags at 4am!!! We had to start hiking the one and a half hours to Machu Picchu so that we could arrive before most of the crowds who would be catching the bus up. We hiked for about an hour in the early morning darkness which was quite scary at times coz the Inca trail often tends to drop off at a sheer cliff on one side... not good for half-asleep hikers stumbling in the narrow torchbeams! (I tripped 4 times). But we made it, and when I came up over the final rise and saw Machu Picchu laid out ahead of me I almost fell backwards back down all the steps I had just painfully climbed! It's an indescribable place. I felt so awed by it, there is definately magic there. We had a tour through it with Edgar, and already by 7am there were a few other guided tours happening. They get thousands of people up there every day, but it had definately paid for us to get there so early. It was a beautiful day, and we even got to see the sun rise up over the incredible mountains. The mountains are just as magnificent as the Lost City of the Incas. It's so impressive that the Inca could build a city up there in such unlikely terrain, I can see why it was always considered such a sacred place. After strolling around for as long as our tired legs would permit we caught a bus down to the nearby town, Aguas Calientes, (which means hot waters) and had a soak in the hot pools!! Just the thing our aching muscles needed. We met the rest of our group at a restaurant and said goodbye to our guides, then we caught the train back to Cusco! The trail was finished. I was kinda sad. I think I'm kinda sad coz it also means our time in Cusco has come to an end. It's so peaceful here, I don't really want to go, but there are new places to explore.

Tomorrow we are catching a bus with Beth and James to Puno, this side of Lake Titicaca. From there we will head into Bolivia and then the home stretch through the north of Argentina back to Buenos Aires by the 21st July to meet Ger!! I can't believe there are only about 3 weeks of the big South American Adventure left.

Photos:
Lima: http://wedged.showcard.co.nz/gallery/album42
Ica and Nazca: http://wedged.showcard.co.nz/gallery/album43
Cusco: http://wedged.showcard.co.nz/gallery/album44
El Camino del Inca: http://wedged.showcard.co.nz/gallery/album45

Hope everyone is happy and well. I'm looking forward to seeing some of you soon when I get home :)

Love d xxx