Still in Peru- but the end of high altitude!
After the high of the Inca trail and letting our hair down in Cusco it was time to change gears for the next part of the tour, making our way from the highlands to the coast with numerous stops along the way.
The first, Arequepa- the beautiful White City and second biggest in Peru full of beautiful colonial architecture surrounding the picturesque main square. Far less touristy than Cusco and with more charm, we wandered the streets, visited an centuries old monastery and drank cocktails watching the sun set over the cathedral in the main square. The perfect end to a lovely relaxing day.
It was then off to the town of Chivay, our base to see the Colca Canyon, one of the deepest in the world and home to the endangered condor. Chivay was interesting…or maybe I should just use the word odd. It is a town planned to one day be a lovely little tourist jumping off point to see the canyon, but that is probably about 3–5 years away. Right now the town is more of a construction site, but still in a gorgeous location surrounded by beautiful mountains. Our hotel was about half finished. It didn’t even have a sign out the front indicating that it was a hotel, and the door to get in was basically a sliding sheet of iron. But fortunately the rooms had been finished and turned out to be the best rooms with the most deliciously comfy beds we had for the entire tour!! After we all slept like babies in our super comfy beds it was off to see the condors. Like every other tour group, we got there early for the best viewing. Devesh and I are not super excited for birds, but it was pretty cool seeing them when they first appeared. For almost an hour we sat and watched as they flew in and out of view of the stunning canyon.
Then it was time for the much awaited hike. The hike turned out to be just a short walk along the ridge. The views of the canyon and terraces below were absolutely beautiful.. Devesh and I were dying to make it into an all day exploration, but by midday we were back in construction land. Daamn! and at the same time...Hello comfy beds!!! Some of us did take advantage of some natural hot springs nearby in the afternoon which was rather lovely and the perfect antidote to the cold mountain air.
Dinner was hilarious. We finally decided on a pizza place, (limited choices) it had great reviews and smelt great. Perfect. Almost. After placing an order of 10 pizzas, we discovered that the pizza oven could only cook one at a time…oh dear. In 20 minute increments out they came one by one and nearly 3 hours later, as some of us were about to start chewing on the table cloth, we finally all had our food!!
The next day it was goodbye construction site and hello night bus! We made our way to next destination- the Nazca Lines by our favourite mode of transportation. Not a problem for me and two others who possess amazing sleeping powers but for the other 10- watching them saunter off the bus after 12 or so hours of very little or no sleep, all complaining about a baby that was crying for hours on end was not a pretty sight. (I had no idea of what they were talking about) By the end, one of the guys couldn’t hold it in anymore and muttered ‘just shut the fuck up!’ Obviously directed to the upset bub. Most of the group swore off ever having kids that day.
Eventually we made it to Nazca: famous for the Nazca lines- geometrical lines and shapes drawn into the ground all over the desert hundreds of years ago. Very mysterious. To this day no one really knows when they were created and the only way to see them due to their size is from a plane. 5 of us (all girls mind you) from the group braved both the tiny plane and learning our weight (they had to weigh us to decide where we would sit in the plane for the most even weight distribution!)to go up into the air and see these fascinating and ancient art installations in the desert. What an amazing experience!!
We stayed at a kind of resort seemingly in the middle of nowhere, again, slightly odd, but it did have a pool, a pool table, huge rooms and best of all, it was warm! Shorts and t-shirts for the first time in months!!! Then came lunch, an enormous spread of meat, potatoes, tamales, and other delicious things cooked in the traditional way, wrapped in banana leaves, surrounded by coals underground. Our plates looked like something from Christmas day- a mountain of food which we ate until we felt we would explode! Thankfully there were no explosions, but we definitely all rolled out of there quite content to spend the rest of the day outside basking in the warmth.
The fun continued the next day when we all went sandboarding. Never tried it before and it was pretty scary looking down the enormous dune before taking the plunge, but the final verdict: AWESOME!!!! Even more thrilling than the boarding was riding the dunes in the dune buggies. At first, we wondered what the need was for the rather complicated seatbelt. It didn’t take us long to find out as our bodies were thrown and jolted around by our crazed driver! Seriously cool.
Just when we thought the day couldn’t get any better it was time for a visit to a Pisco distillery to find out how they make the delicious drink, taste various Piscos till our heart’s content and at the end, settle into the comfy chairs with more Pisco sours and toast to a fab day…and to Pisco!
Our final destination before Lima was a little beachside town Paracas. Nice hotel, nice views, nice weather…questionable beach! Maybe I’ve just been spoilt with Australian beached but really, if you’re going to promote a town as a beach destination then don’t make your main beach look like rubbish bins have exploded all over it! Added to this was some tacky markets selling the usual beachy and ornamental crap and I’m sure you are getting a clear picture of the town. I will add that 2 of the girls did a morning boat tour to some nearby islands and said it was absolutely beautiful. They have the nickname of being ‘the poor man’s Galapagos’ and since our next stop is 3 weeks in the Galapagos, we decided to pass, but in hindsight, maybe we should’ve gone anyway.
Having said that, we had a blast! We spent the night out at a fantastic reggae bar ordering every variety of shot and cocktail to celebrate one of the guys in the group’s 30th birthday, and Devesh had loads of fun going quad biking with the boys the morning before we left, so overall, it was a fun last spot.
Lima- One last night, some Peruvian fried chicken and a final round of Pisco sours and beers with the group. What can I say…We’ve spent 3 weeks on an incredible tour in an incredible country with 11 other incredible people. I’d say that makes us pretty damn lucky.
Cheers to traveling, living life and being there for each other when things go wrong along the way. Love you all. x