Natural Disaster strikes again

So it seems that natural disasters are trying to halt our plans once again. I suppose you´ve heard about the earthquake in Santiago, well we are meant to travel there in a couple of weeks. Not sure what will happen to our travel plans, will have to wait until we know the extent of the damage.
In the last post I forgot to say that while in Arequipa we had dinner with a local family. Amanda and myself helped prepare the guinea pig for dinner! And yes I did eat some because it would have been offensive not to. Guinea pig is used in celebration meals like birthdays and weddings and is very expensive. Ironic as it has no meat on it and they use it to feed lots of poeple. It tastes like pork, but a bit tougher.
Sorry if this blog is boring but im trying to waste some time before our group meeting and dinner. Plus im also starving because we didnt eat lunch as it started pissing down so we ran for the cover of our hotel when we were out and about today.
Before the rain we manged a walk around the town square in Cusco, found an Irish pub (go figure), visited another Cathedral and also a museum. I am very much churched out.
Off to the sacred valley tomorrow, then Lare´s trek for 4 days. Wont be updating for a while. Lets hope I complete the Trek and dont have to hire a horse!! Im not a fan of horses. Waiting to hear on a definate price for a helicopter ride to Machu Picchu, so maybe our next update will include pics of the Incan ruin. Fingers crossed.
Big shout out to Zane and Romana on the arrival of Lena. She is so cute.
Adios Amigos.

Arequipa

Since our last blog we took an overnight bus to Arequipa, the 2nd largest city in Peru. We had a free day to explor the city - so we visited Santa Catalina Nunnery (which is like a city within the city) and Juanita Museum. Juanita is an Incan mummy discovered in the 90s and dates back to 15th century. She was a 13 yr old girl sacrificed to appease the gods. There were also 3 other mummy children discovered in the same area (on the side of a volcano).
We then had a tour within a tour as we got a minivan to the Colca Canyon and stayed overnight in Chivay. ((Mel this will get your geo juices flowing). It is the deepest canyon in the world and lays at the foot of the Andes Mt range. The Andes are totally incrediable, very jagged and steep. We went for a hike and saw some Condors - which are the largest flying birds, and stil they manage to look graceful! We did have to get up at 5:30 to see them but it was worth it. Had a soak in the thermal baths and returned to Arequipa.
The last of our long bus trips is today, 12hrs to Cuzco. Luckily for the 1st 7hrs we have our own mini van. Should arrive about 10:30 tonight.
Praying that a miracle will happen and somehow the train line to Machu Picchu will be open. We will get to hike the Larre´s Track but no Machu Picchu at the end :(
Gotta go get some supplies for the bus trip.
Go the Nix.

Lima, Pisco and Nazca

Hi Team,

We have been very busy since our last update.

We stayed in Lima, the capital of Peru, and did a city tour and visited the zoo. We were only in Lima for the day so didnt do a whole lot.

We arrived in Pisco which is home to the local drink the Pisco Sour. Naturally we had to go to a distillery to try it :) We had a boat trip to Ballestas Island to see lots of seals, sea lions, pelicans, penguins and other birds. That afternoon we went dune buggying and sand boarding in Huacachina Oasis. Very cool, had heaps of fun.

Today we are in Nazca. This morning we took flight over the famous Nazca lines. It is the smallest aeroplane I have been on in my life and I wasnt keen on it. I could reach out and touch the pilot! Anyway, the lines were amazing and are over 2000 yrs old.

Tonight we have a night bus to Arequipa. From there we will visit the Colca Canyon (bigger than the Grand Canyon) and hopefully see some Condors.

The weather is still baking hot, almost not loving it. Don´t think I needed to bring my down jacket.

Sian - congrats on your new baby girl :) Hope all is going well.

Mich & Nath

Machu Picchu

Feeling a tad ripped off at the moment. We read on the internet that Machu Picchu wont be open til April so we told our tour leader and she seemed to already know, even tho the info we were getting from Intrepid travel said it would be likely we would get to hike the trail.
So trying not to get too gutted, but it was the main reason for coming to South America. We are seriously thinking of paying $ to get a helicopter ride to the ruins as this would be a cheaper than paying for flights back to Peru to hike it at a later time.
Got another bus trip today to Pisco (famous for its drink - Pisco sour) then another bus trip tomorrow to Nazca to see the famous Nazca lines. Will be very cool. Yes I will take the flight up to see the Nazca lines from the air (cause im getting tough with flying).
Have been watching some snippets of the winter olympics but the commentary is in Spanish. It is very amusing making up our own commentary. I still have hope that NZ will get one medal.
Adios.

Photos from Chan Chan and about

We are in Lima, a city of 9mil people. Poor little NZ fits twice into Lima.¨Our hostel has free internet access yay. Not that it has been too expensive, we have not piad more than $1 for an hr.

The 1st picture is of the main st in Mancora. As you can se there are a lot of road works happening. Amanda and I heading down to the surf.

2nd picture is a group shot at Chan Chan mud ruin city. The site of a pre ican community, dating 11-1500AD.

3rd pic is of a temple for the moon (dont know the south american spelling). dating 1-9C AD.

4th pic is of Jenny and her Fanny. We had a lot of fun with fanny jokes all afternoon. Jenny went to the supermarket and came back with a can of tuna labelled fanny. So some of the better calls of the day were ¨jenny get your fanny off the table¨ and jenny your fanny smells fishy. Feel free to come up your own ideas and add them via a comment below.

The pictures are uploaded in a snall size, if you want to see them bigger just click on the photo and it makes it bigger for those with eye sight probs.

Tomorrow we are going to explore the heart of Lima and have a free arvo (for shopping?)

Trujillo - PERU

Hi everyone,
This will be a very quick update, we have a bus to catch in 30min, not enough time to upload photos!
We have arrived in Peru. The boarder crossing from Ecuador to Peru went without problems. There wasnt even any guns on the gaurds.
On arrival in Peru we went to a beach side town called Mancora. It was very hot but luckily our hotel had a pool :)
We only spent one full day in Mancora then we travelled to Trujillo where we are now. Our bus broke down along the way so instead of being a four hour bus ride it was more like 8. Wan't the most fun day we've had.
In Trujillo we have visited some pre-Inca ruins at Chan Chan and saw the local fisherman in their kayaks going fishing. Trujillo is another beach side town, the last one we visit on our trip. Nath and Paul entertained themselves yesterday arvo by drinking a bottle of vodka and swimming in the pool. After dinner the swimming became skinny dipping.
Today we have a long bus ride (8hrs) to Lima. The weather should start to cool down as we head inland.
Better go,
Hope everyone is well.
Michelle.

More Photos

Sugar cane being made into lollies. It is boiled to make it more flexible.

Trying on Panama Hats

Nath practicing hunting with the blow dart back when we visited a family community living along the Napa River.

St in Quito

On our city tour of Cuenca this morning we stopped at a local food market selling fruit, veges and

meat. It was very crowded. We tried some local fruits that looked tropical. When I say we I mean Nath and the rest of the group. I still think fruit is yuck.

The local flower market is stunning. It takes place every day and you can get a bunch of 12 red roses for $4 (handy that valentines day is tomorrow!). All the flowers are cheap compared to NZ. I saw a blue rose and many other colourful flowers.
Hope you enjoyed the photos.
Happy Valentines Day,
Love Mich and Nath