Well as we are busy acclimatizing to dizzy heights again in Cuzco, ready for the 3 day walk along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu on Saturday, it seems a perfect opportunity to let you all know what we have been up to. And it has been indeed been a manic 1.5 weeks. We have covered thousands of miles (2/3rds of Peru!), culminating with a 14 hour bus ride here last night. Fortunately we decided to treat ourselves to the ´luxury´ seats this time after having done 2 other night buses and feeling like zombies the next day. And we think the extra space was worthwhile. However despite our section only having 8 people in it, one had to be a chronic snorer. Even during the films this morning he was still asleep merrily snoring away and driving everyone else insane! The trials and tribulations of traveling eh? Are you feeling sympathy?!! ;o)
Other than long bus journeys though we have fitted in plenty of sightseeing – seen some of the famous temples – the Moche Pyramids – Temple of the Sun and the Moon (a bit like the Egyptian Pyramids (photo above)), Chan Chan and another temple called Tucume. A lot of them looked rather liked heaps of rubble from the outside to be honest. But inside, where excavations have been done, there were some fantastic carvings and paintings. I would say that my favourite was the Moche Pyramids and Mark´s was Chan Chan.
Also visited a few North Peruvian towns and were initially sure that everyone was being suspiciously friendly and chatty. They were also very keen to shake our hands. However in fact they just do seem to be friendlier people than the Ecuadorians and sincerely interested in chatting to us. Especially the little kiddies who get well excited to be saying Hello in English. How sweet!
Also visited Lima – the capital city which we had heard bad reports about and so thought we would not like. However we were pleasantly surprised. It had a lovely square and quite a few very pretty buildings. Miraflores the tourist area was nice and we did a tour which took us very high up to look over the city. There were a lot of Shanty Towns but they very intriguing. The only thing not to like about Lima was somehow I picked up a bug/food poisoning etc which I am hurriedly trying to shift as I don’t think it´ll help much on Saturday! Oh dear! Feeling better today though so fingers crossed.
Other than long bus journeys though we have fitted in plenty of sightseeing – seen some of the famous temples – the Moche Pyramids – Temple of the Sun and the Moon (a bit like the Egyptian Pyramids (photo above)), Chan Chan and another temple called Tucume. A lot of them looked rather liked heaps of rubble from the outside to be honest. But inside, where excavations have been done, there were some fantastic carvings and paintings. I would say that my favourite was the Moche Pyramids and Mark´s was Chan Chan.
Also visited a few North Peruvian towns and were initially sure that everyone was being suspiciously friendly and chatty. They were also very keen to shake our hands. However in fact they just do seem to be friendlier people than the Ecuadorians and sincerely interested in chatting to us. Especially the little kiddies who get well excited to be saying Hello in English. How sweet!
Also visited Lima – the capital city which we had heard bad reports about and so thought we would not like. However we were pleasantly surprised. It had a lovely square and quite a few very pretty buildings. Miraflores the tourist area was nice and we did a tour which took us very high up to look over the city. There were a lot of Shanty Towns but they very intriguing. The only thing not to like about Lima was somehow I picked up a bug/food poisoning etc which I am hurriedly trying to shift as I don’t think it´ll help much on Saturday! Oh dear! Feeling better today though so fingers crossed.
Yesterday we were in Nasca doing an early morning flight to see the Nasca Lines - drawings of a huge monkey, spider, dog, etc in the middle of the desert. Don´t know whether you´ve heard of it? Was very interesting.
But the highlight of the last week or so was the 4 days we spend in a town called Huaraz (pronounced Awaz!) located in the Cordillera Blanca, a huge mountain range that has over 50 mountains of greater height than 5700m and the highest tropical mountain in the world, Hauscaran at 6800m. It was absolutely fantastic. We did a walk through a gorgeous valley in the Hauscaran National Park, up the mountains past waterfalls and streams, with huge snow tops towering above us until we finally reached Lagoon 69, a gorgeous bright blue lake, nestled beneath the snow topped mountain Piscan. It really was awe inspiring and oh such a relief to get there!! Hot hot hot!!
Then the next day we mountain biked down the Cordillera Negro mountain range, which is a slightly smaller range and runs parallel to the C. Blanca. Therefore we had fantastic views of the C.B and also of the Cordillera Huaylash – another huge range close by, which for those of you have seen the film or read the book ´Touching the Void´, is apparently where that took place.
So there you are, that´s us up to date and attempting to psyche ourselves ready for our huge hike/camping/possibly getting very wet (its rainy season) experience over the next few days. But hey we all love a challenge?!! It was rainy season in Huaraz too and yet it was gorgeous weather so fingers crossed. Then on our return from Machu Picchu we are looking into our first Amazon experience. Should be fun?! We saw lots of photos of all the gorgeous?! creepy crawlies we could possibly see today. Tarantulas, Coral Snakes, humungous caterpillars …. Yurkkk!
Remember you guys you are all very welcome to join us on route. We must have half persuaded you that there´s so much to see out there?!! Well until that last sentence anyway?!
So for now we will say ´Buenos Noches´or ´Good Night´
But the highlight of the last week or so was the 4 days we spend in a town called Huaraz (pronounced Awaz!) located in the Cordillera Blanca, a huge mountain range that has over 50 mountains of greater height than 5700m and the highest tropical mountain in the world, Hauscaran at 6800m. It was absolutely fantastic. We did a walk through a gorgeous valley in the Hauscaran National Park, up the mountains past waterfalls and streams, with huge snow tops towering above us until we finally reached Lagoon 69, a gorgeous bright blue lake, nestled beneath the snow topped mountain Piscan. It really was awe inspiring and oh such a relief to get there!! Hot hot hot!!
Then the next day we mountain biked down the Cordillera Negro mountain range, which is a slightly smaller range and runs parallel to the C. Blanca. Therefore we had fantastic views of the C.B and also of the Cordillera Huaylash – another huge range close by, which for those of you have seen the film or read the book ´Touching the Void´, is apparently where that took place.
So there you are, that´s us up to date and attempting to psyche ourselves ready for our huge hike/camping/possibly getting very wet (its rainy season) experience over the next few days. But hey we all love a challenge?!! It was rainy season in Huaraz too and yet it was gorgeous weather so fingers crossed. Then on our return from Machu Picchu we are looking into our first Amazon experience. Should be fun?! We saw lots of photos of all the gorgeous?! creepy crawlies we could possibly see today. Tarantulas, Coral Snakes, humungous caterpillars …. Yurkkk!
Remember you guys you are all very welcome to join us on route. We must have half persuaded you that there´s so much to see out there?!! Well until that last sentence anyway?!
So for now we will say ´Buenos Noches´or ´Good Night´