Pictures from Huacachina

An older post explains more about the town.. we were here weeks ago now!

A church in Ica, rocked by the same 7.9 earthquake that hit Pisco.

The main square in Ica.

A kitty at our hostal!

Huacachina is featured on the back of the 50 soles bill.

Our hostal, our room was on the right. COLD water! :(

We climbed the sand dunes around the town a few times.

The view of Ica from the Huacachina sand dunes.

A Peruvian ¨dog man¨, who came up the dunes followed by several dogs... he sat and meditated for about an hour with the sunset and his dogs, before running back down the dunes with his dogs barking and playing after him.

Peru - Days 24 - 26

An extra day in Puno!

We were going to go straight to Cuzco, but decided that we had to see more of Puno, since we´d taken the awfully long bus ride to get there. So, we took the least expensive tour... a tour of Islas Flotantes... exactly as it sounds - floating islands! Otherwise known as Islas Los Uros, they are islands made entirely by humans with reeds.

The reeds are bundled together and form the ground of the islands... depending on where you step, you might get a bit wet if they have rotted through in that spot. The reeds are replaced with new ones on top as the bottom reeds rot away. It makes for a really cushy ground.. way better than regular ground! :) The islands were originally created by the Uros people to get away from several threatening tribes on the mainland that would have killed them. The islands continue today as a very strange place, supposedly unique in the world! People live in huts made of reeds on the islands, and go about in reed boats... Dave wants to bring a houseboat there and live there with the Uros people. We found it very relaxing.

That night we watched a movie called Stripper Zombies. Yes, it´s exactly what it sounds like, it´s pretty funny and horrible. What we found funny was that after commercials there would be an ad for the station and it would say, ¨Puno TV - culture and education¨. Then it would return to the stripper zombies. Our television in Puno had no english subtitles or english movies, so we had to watch movies that were less about plotline and more about action!

The next day we set off for Cuzco very early in the morning.. (p.s. buses here are so el cheapo, we paid 15 soles per person for a 7 hour bus ride thats $5 Cdn). I (Carol) somehow managed to attract another little girl on the bus who hung out with us for almost the whole ride. She did my hair a million different ways and she played with my camera and took pictures of her mama and tia back at their seats for us to see. (tia = aunt)

Cuzco has been interesting... the thing I hate about it is the touts, the people who try and sell you things just because you´re white... you can´t walk anywhere without people trying to get your attention, I´m almost at the end of my rope. It´s worse here than anywhere else, which I can understand why - there are more tourists here than any other spot we´ve been. I miss Arequipa where we were only approached one single time the whole time for a sale!

I also feel like giving lessons to these tourists... they are super super ignorant of safety practices here. Dave and I walked past the police station and we heard a British woman trying to explain to 5 Spanish officers in English that her purse had just been snatched in the main square. My thought was, why the heck were you wearing your purse?? People must come to Cuzco with a one week vacation itinerary and not realize anything about the dangers here. I see tourists walking about with their wallets in their back pockets and their thousand dollar cameras hanging aroung their necks - hellooooo these people don´t make that much money here in a year! It´s just a gross display of wealth. Any way, enough of my ranting, David and I just feel very fortunate to have been taught in the ways of safety by Daniels father, a retired police sergeant, we are much wiser now!

This morning David and I hiked to the top of a mountain (high hill) here for a beautiful view of Cuzco. Cuzco is in a valley, surrounded by mountains, so some of the town has breakneck stairs and steep steep narrow roads.

We also stumbled upon Quorikancha (sp?) what we thought was first only a church, that actually was first the ancient center of the Inca empire here in Cuzco.. it was a sacred place, and the foundation is all Incan built. The Spanish built a church on top of the remains, after stripping down the gold and silver that used to cover the walls. All the remains now of the Incas is the awesome stonework of theirs from beneath the gold... it remains unshaken through hundreds of years and several awful earthquakes that have taken down the colonial built bricks around it. It was amazing, we spent hours there. They also had beautiful paintings from 15-18th century Cuzco Christian artists.

Food here in Cuzco so far sucks - it´s twice as expensive and the two first meals we had here actually had rotten food in it. The restaurants around the Plaza make their living off of tourists who never come back so they don´t need to be good. Luckily we found a place by Quorikancha that was unassuming and had locals in it, we couldn´t get in there fast enough. For half the price, we had an amazing meal.

Anyway, that´s enough, tomorrow we´ll post some pictures, not of Cuzco yet, but of a few weeks ago on our trip - of Huacachina, the desert lagoon city!

Pictures are here, sooner than expected!

We ended up staying another night in Puno, and we found a place that transfers memory cards onto CD so... here are some pictures!!

This is a church in Pisco. Remember, Pisco was in ruins because of the 7.9 earthquake a couple years ago - a beautiful old colonial building next to this church completely came down in the earthquake.

This is the harbour at Paracas, just outside of Pisco. This is the day after the sandstorm - beautiful skies for our Islas Ballestas tour.

The Islas Ballestas. A chain of islands, covered in birds.

Penguins!

A ladder for Peruvians to climb up and collect the guano (bird poop).

We saw many seals!

This was a long beach, FULL of seals. The birds flying through the air were common - hundreds were constantly streaming to these islands from over the ocean.

Peru days 17-23

Colca Canyon!

We started the day with a little hitch. We had to make it to Plaza des Armas by 8:20am to catch our tour bus, we were ready to leave the hostel by 5 to 8 but there was a slight problem: the front door was locked from the inside and no one was around to let us out. The lady who ran the place had her bedroom by the front door with a little doorbell outside and you would have to ring her to get in and out but this morning she was nowhere to be found. After ringing her doorbell around 20 times Carol and I went off to look for a possible escape route. We found one by going through a garage at the back and then we had to climb an 8 foot high fence to make it out. We hailed a cab and made to the plaza right at 8:20. Phew!

Then began a scenic 5 hour bus ride to our first destination: the town of Chivay. The road wound its way around desert hill after desert hill - some stretches of the road were only dirt and gravel. We saw many many llamas, alpacas, and vicuñas (close relatives), and sheep. We have some ridiculous pictures, but it´ll still be a couple weeks before we can empty our memory card.

Cañon del Colca is the second deepest canyon in the world - the deepest one is only about a hundred kilometres from it, still in Peru - just a bit less accessible for tourists. Colca canyon is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the US according to Wikkipedia, but who knows how accurate that is!

We got to go to a hot springs in Chivay, then visited the Canyon the next day, travelling a couple hours to a point where condors soar on air currents rising from the canyon. The condors at points were SO close to the tourists, it was insane. Condors have a wing span of about 8 feet... there was one sitting on a ledge, hidden from the tourists close to it, but from our viewpoint we could see just how big it was compared to the people. MUCH wider than a person, it´s whole body was bigger than the torso of a person standing up... it was crazy. It was beautiful to watch them soar over the canyon. At one point a male and female condor were on the same air current, so they soared in perfect unison together, tipping their wings this way and that at the same moment.

Carol sat down to enjoy the view but unfortunately sat under a cactus... which had been shedding its needles onto the ground. She got up again really quickly!

Since returning from our tour of Chivay, we spent a few more days in Arequipa since we really enjoyed that city. Very affordable food ($1 - $3 per meal for both of us together), and $10 cdn a night for the magic combination of 1) hot showers 2) comfortable bed 3) quiet room 4) cable televisions with many movies with NO commercials - Peru has better TV in some ways!

Now we are in Puno, a 7 hour (slow, and awful) bus ride from Arequipa. The highlight of the bus ride for Carol was a little girl who called us gringos (the first time we´ve heard that term!) and who was very interested in our skin colour. She pet Carol´s arm and showed us her teeth, lets just say - it´s important to brush your teeth!!!!! She was a sweetheart though.

We visited Lake Titicaca today, the highest navigable lake in the world. We´re staying overnight in Puno, and hopefully tomorrow we will be off to Cuzco, and soon the height of our trip - Machu Picchu!

Peru Days 14 - 16

Since Huacachina, we travelled to Nazca where we spent one night in a room con desayuno (with breakfast) and the best shower ever! The water was hot and strong and powerful - if we were in Canada it would probably have been too powerful for our liking, but as it was, it was perfect to get all the desert sand out of our hair and bodies from many many many days in the desert.

Unfortunately as soon as we went back outside we were covered in dust and sand again.

Que sera sera!

In Nazca we churned over the idea of taking a flight to see the Nazca lines, but in the end we decided that 1) they are lines in the dirt 2) since most Peruvians don´t have the money to see the lines this way, why should we? and 3) we´ll skip the flying sickness from a small plane - we know how they drive here!

So instead we went out to the Mirador tower in the desert and climbed the tower for 1 soles each and got to see a few of the designs on the ground. We´ve figured it out - the Nazca´s just liked art. That´s what we think. And it´s such a huge desert, they were probably for directions as well. It definately wasn´t aliens!!!!!!! We went to a museum in Ica that had Nazca art, and the lines in the sand are just the same as the pictures on their clay pottery and blankets.

After a night in Nazca we caught the afternoon bus to Arequipa. A long, long ride of about 9 hours, we arrived in the dark to Arequipa. Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru, and it is a mountain city - we are 3,000+ feet above sea level right now, so for the past couple days we have been acclimatizing and taking our altitude pills to help.

Today we toured all around Arequipa, visiting colonial houses which were a real treat, with many open courtyards, beautiful gardens, and rooftop views. We also visited some churches, and we saw not even half of what Arequipa has to offer yet. The food and accommodations and internet cafes are better here than elsewhere, so we´ll probably stay a couple more days. The background of mountains is beautiful - we only wish we could see more of the mountains from the city!

Next though... tomorrow morning we paid for a tour of Canyon del Colca. Then we´ll see many many mountains! We´ll tell you all about it later, after we´ve done it!!! xoxoxoxo

Days 8 - 12

Day 8-

Arrived at a spot on the Panamerican highway on the outskirts of Pisco after dark. We had to negotiate a taxi to drive us in to Pisco, city center. The first driver offered us a ride in for 10 soles and I just laughed and went on to the next one - the next offered 6, the next agreed to 4, woot woot we´re getting better at bargaining! The driver took us down a dark bumpy road (reminiscent of our Cuba arrival) and we half wondered if he was taking us to a deserted area to rob us. But no, thank God, he was just taking us to Pisco! Which is a WRECK! No offense, Pisco.

Two years ago there was a violent earthquake, a 7.9 on the Richter scale!! Many fine buildings were destroyed and what was once a beautiful town now has a lot of cleaning up to do. Many houses are now just walls with no roofs, and no one inside of them. They lost a beautiful church in their Plaza des Armas (main square).

We went to a first hotel that turned out to be full, the staff there accompanied us in the taxi to another hotel which is owned by the same company. The driver wanted more money for this second leg of the trip, but since he got lost trying to get to the first place we were annoyed with him and said muchas gracias Bibo! (Thank you very much Cheater!) We were taught this word by the Chavez´s, it works well when taxis try to rip you off - but on reconsideration we probably should have given the fellow another sole as his look was so downtrodden after our refusal! Unfortunately here it´s a struggle between getting ripped off and giving people their correct due!

That night we finally got settled into a hotel room, negotiated down to 40 soles from 45 (still not a very good deal) but we learned later that we had missed the anniversary of Pisco by only a day, so prices were still high for the festival.

We went out that night to grab a bite to eat, and we were right in the city center in the hustle and bustle. Our hotel was on a dirt road (due to earthquake repairs, and the next day we would see a bulldozer going past a wild dog sleeping on the street, nonplussed) and there was this awesome street shop with hamburgers, hotdogs, and chicken for super low prices. David ordered a Hamburger Royale which ended up meaning that there was a fried egg and chips on top of his hamburger - it cost 2.50 soles. (less than a dollar canadian)

That night we were walking with our food and saw a street vendor selling drinks. Because we were in Pisco we asked if they were selling Pisco Sour. They laughed really hard at this and said no, it was actually a hot non-alcoholic drink that seemed to be mixed with maybe egg whites? It was a very thick drink, but really good. We got to talking with them, and met a friend named Jaime.

In Peru on every street corner it seems, there are people sitting on little stools with cell phones in front of them. They are human telephone booths! You pay them .50 soles per minute to use their cell phone. Jaime did this in the night and by day was a banana seller in the market. His house was destroyed in the earthquake. He kindly bought us another warm drink and we had fun talking to him.

Day 9 & 10

We went to Paracas intending to see the Reserva Nationales Parc there, but on Day 9 there was a terrible sand storm. The town was deserted and there was sand blowing everywhere, it got in our hair and noses and ears! We still stayed for lunch there and ate delicious ceviche.

Day 10 however weather was on our side, which was a good thing because we had purchased an Islas Ballestas tour. The Islas Ballestas tour took us off of Paracas in a huge speed boat with more other white people than we´d seen since leaving Canada.

We went out to some islands where we saw sea lions sunning themselves and barking, penguins waddling oh so cutely, thousands and thousands of tropical cormorants and seagulls who make the islands their home. And not to forget the Peruvian pelican, funny looking dudes!

The islands STUNK though, which you don´t get to put up with from seeing the beautiful pictures. Just imagine- bird poop! Guano (bird poop) is collected by Peruvians for use of fertilizer. Even with the stink, we had an incredible time. It was awe inspiring seeing thousands of birds flying towards these ocean islands. Dave only got a little poo on his hat.

Day 11-12

Since then, we have travelled to Ica and Huacachina, where we have found our oasis in the desert. Something we may not have mentioned about Peru yet is that the vastness of everything we have seen is DESERT. Quite shocking for the Canadians used to green lushness! We have now found the perfect spot for rest and relaxation - Huacachina. Huacachina is a little tourist town off of Ica, and it is essentially a lagoon in the middle of huge sand dunes.

Our time here has been pure delight, suntanning and climbing mountain dunes for beautiful views and sunsets. Pictures are better descriptors, and we will post these soon.

Peru - family pics! Day 7 - leaving to go to Pisco!

Here are some random pics of family!

Today we leave Lima to go to Pisco first, then Ica. I'm posting a map of our route and our stops that Dave made! We might not be able to post updates very often - and we might not be able to empty our camera of pictures for awhile!! But we'll get on every few days! xoxoxo

Peru - Day 7 (Central Lima, shopping district)

Today we went SHOPPING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not a big shopper, but Lima definately deserves the capitals and the exclamation marks associated with that word. David and I have gone without new clothes for quite awhile for this trip - and now we can see that it is well worth it. Today David bought 2 brand name T-shirts, a dress shirt, and a really nice sweatshirt, for about $30 CDN dollars. I bought a beautiful skirt that in Canada would be about $50.. here for only $7. I also bought my Hopie's flower girl dress for our wedding for a huge sum of 70 soles.... which is about $25 Cdn dollars.

The amount of people in the shopping district is incredible... it reminds me of what i've seen of Tokyo on television. You are constantly swarmed with people jibbering on in Spanish so quickly trying to sell you things.. I have no idea why they all assume we speak Spanish well enough to understand their slick fast speaking sales! They must think we're Europeans who've spent time in Spain perhaps. Each store usually has a person standing outside the store.. they're duty is two pronged as I see it - to try and convince people to come inside, and to act as extra security in case of shoplifters. Things are tight here... you need to show a receipt to get into the bathrooms at a food court.. and Bembos doesn't have free refills! Bembos is the Peruvian fast food chain like Mcdonalds, and Dave and I shared a Huacamba I think it was called today. Burger, fries, and Inca Cola. Don't ask what the burger had on top... I think Mama Chavez said it was salchipapa but it didn't seem like hotdog to me.. it seemed like scrambled egg?! and little crunchy chips. It was good! We also had cerviche for the first time today... yummy yummy!!! Fish and seafood marinated and raw.. but cooked through marination with lime juice. The juice was so yummy Claudia sucked it up with a straw!!

Our snack was that huge corn on the cob.. you can't really tell in the picture but the corn kernels must be almost 3 times the size of kernels here... and they serve it to you in a little bag with chile in it, a bit of green hot sauce that you smear over the cob as you eat it. A perfect street snack!

There was also some eggs for sale in the street.. little spotted eggs... pigeon eggs? Not sure how they would be ate when sold!

There were so many stores, and the buildings all had multiple levels with stores on each level (or the same store on each level) or underground twists and turns of 100 little stores in a basement, each store like a little stall with hundreds of clothes piled around the merchants. There were so many mannequins everywhere... and most were really really freaky looking!

Peru day 6 (Mireflores)

Today Papa Chavez took us to Miraflores to see what he called "Caribana", a parade celebrating all of Peru's different cultures and history and products, it was AMAZING!!!! There were different dancers from different parts of the country in their traditional costumes... Papa Chavez knew which people were from which city, it was awesome. We arrived at 4:20pm, the parade started at 3pm, and when we left at 6:15pm the parade was STILL going. Papa Chavez said that it wouldn't end until this evening probably at 8 or 9pm, and then there are fireworks at midnight. Compare that to Canadian parades that only last about half an hour!!! This was INCREDIBLE!

A funny moment came when Miss Peru 2009 came by on her float... Papa Chavez was "woo woooing" to get the attention of people on the floats... he went Woo Wooo! And said, "David, woo woo!" And so I covered David's eyes and Miss Peru saw me cover his eyes... I caught this picture of her laughing and pointing at us!

I'll include some videos to speak for themselves!

Peru - Day 5 (Barranco)

Today David and Carol got their hair cut, and pedicures! It was David's first pedicure, and his nerves were very bad through the ordeal, as his feet are extremely ticklish - but when it was done he said his feet felt wonderful. We both got our hair cut and styled, Dave his beard trimmed, and both of us pedicures, all for 101 soles, which comes to be about 40 Cdn dollars. Not bad eh!

I figured out why the taxi drivers are so crazy here... how you get a cab here is that you negotiate a price before getting in the taxi. Once the price is agreed upon, you hop on in. There are no meters within the taxis, so they often overcharge gringos - we've been fortunate to be with the Chavez's and have their expert info on how much trips should cost! The taxi's go so fast because the faster they go, the more money they make in a night! Taxis also usually cost more in the night than in the day.

We took a taxi at night to Barranco. As Fernando said, he thought our taxi driver believed he was on a motorcycle. Our taxi frequently made lanes where there were none, and on a two lane road he would drive in between cars in both lanes! By flashing their high beams on and off, and honking often, taxis are able to manouver in ways that would have a Canadian calling the police after getting out. But here it's normal! All the drivers are very aware of their blind spots... growing up in this kind of traffic makes a different kind of driver!

Barranco is Lima's version of the Byward Market. It's a street lined with bars, pubs, and dance clubs. We went with Fernando and Cynthia, and we had a blast! The clubs here (as with buying alcohol and cigarettes from the store) do not enforce the country's age requirements. The first bar we were in, we saw a boy who must have been only thirteen years old!

David had his first (and second) Pisco Sour, and he loved it! David and I are getting to be much better dancers by watching Latin Americans dance... first in Cuba, now here - the rhythm is amazing! David spun me around the dance floor to my little gringo hearts content.

Peru - Day 4 (Surco)

Peru - Day 4
Glad to hear you guys are all enjoying our posts.. it makes it fun to post when we hear from you!!! :)

We had a lovely lazy day today... we took a nice walk in the morning.. here's some random photos from our walk.

The chicken here come with their heads on!

This is chirimoya... another fruit we had never had before. It is sweet, but with an interesting texture... sort of like avocado, but with a little more consistency. There are slightly smaller than penny sized black seeds scattered throughout the flesh.

We love the family dynamic here... everyone is very close. Mama Chavez has a three storey house and they are building another storey - Mama Chavez wishes that her 3 sons and daughter would live on each floor and they would all be together. We watched 2 movies tonight, 4 of us bundled up on a bed in front of the telly. And the afternoon siesta is alive and well here! We also love how lunch is the biggest meal of the day, and it's eaten around 1-2pm. Love it!

Hoping to get a haircut tomorrow, the both of us, and maybe pedicures yay! :)

( salchipapa, a meal at Norky's... Peru fast food!)

(Papa Chavez gets us special privileges!)

Day 3 in Peru (Central Lima)

Yesterday Claudia, Papa Chavez, David and Carol took a taxi to Central Lima (downtown). The taxi stopped to get gas (the first time I've been in a taxi that stopped to get gas!) and it was interesting to note that some cars use natural gas here, which is piped into the front engine. It's to help the pollution supposedly... which is SO bad here!

On the way downtown we saw this young man doing soccer tricks on the crosswalk to the cars waiting for coins.... I would not want to be lying on the streets here - too dangerous!!!

We saw la catacomba (the catacombs) in the Monasterio de San Francisco. There is a monastery, church, and underneath it all - the catacombs. It was built int 1672! The catacombs used to be where they buried everyone - there are 25,000 remains underneath the church. (That's what I heard during the tour, but our Lonely Planet book says 70,000) The conservationists rearranged the bones for display for some crazy reason, as seen here.

The catacombs are beneath the church.. as you're walking through the church, which was large and beautiful with a ceiling made of a Peruvian bamboo like material to withstand earthquakes, there were some metal grates in the floor of the church through which you could see the bones beneath in the catacomb. Claudia asked a monk for me if we could take his picture but he said, "No, I'm not famous." The monks wore brown robes with rope around their waist.

Outside the church there were hundreds of pidgeons that people came to feed.

Dave & Papa Chavez in front of the church.

There was a huge painting of the last supper in the monastery - but a Peruvian version, much different from European paintings. The last supper in the painting is around a round table... the servers are children to represent innocence.. the devil peers in a window to the upper right of Jesus overtop of Judas.. and the food they are eating in the picture is... drumroll... guinea pigs and cerviche! Two very Peruvian dishes. :)

The library in the monastery contains the first Spanish dictionary, as well as the original Gutenburg printing press's Bible! Although there were no photographs allowed, we took some sneaky shots!!

This is the residence of the Peruvian Presedente, Alan Garcia.

And this is the fountain where come Independance Day it is filled with Pisco Sour, the national alcoholic beverage.

We took a double decker tour bus around Central Lima, but it was not that good - there were noisy belligerent American teenagers behind us and we couldn't hear the tour guide - who was speaking in Spanish any way, even though they said some was in English - only about 10 words were! It started to get dark, and rain, and we were cold on top of the bus. By rain, I mean the only rain that ever happens in Lima - mist. It never rains here, only mists. When we got stuck in traffic on the tour bus we decided that was enough - we asked to be let off and we were closer to home that way anyway!

Mount Christopher