Movements for the next few days...

Behave. Not those.

You may have noticed a sudden rush of blogs. Well, we've been without internet since Colca & it has felt like I've been cut off from the world! Having just got internet back today as we arrived in Puno, I've uploaded all the blogs up to date - with the exception of today because I'm too tired & I need to go to bed!

From tomorrow we're going to be out of contact again for a few days as we travel across Lake Titicaca with various stops along the way before arriving at Amantani for our 'back to basics' home stay with Peruvian locals. Food, facilities & accommodation will be very very basic & our hosts don't speak any English - so this will be a very interesting few days I think!

Anyway, I'll update you when we return on Monday - with photos too of course! Wish us all the best...

Gb.

Updated photos...

For some reason, the iPad had a wap when I uploaded some of my photos, so here's some new files - I hope these work ok:

Day 5 - Nazca:

Day 8 - Condors & Colca Canyon

I hope these work this time...! Gb :)

Day 8 - a condor moment in the Colca Canyon.

Bang on the door 'wakey wakey'. 5:30am. No morning tea - harsher conditions than Base Camp! At least we got morning tea when we were woken early there!

F Sharp Minor - E Flat went the reply.

Why so early? Today - before visiting the second deepest canyon IN THE WORLD, we are going to see the Andean Condors in their natural habitat at a place called Cruz del Condor. Not only do we hope to see them but we hope to see them flying through the canyon - close up! The condors only do this at a certain time of day - if we are too late, even by 15 minutes, we'll miss it. Then the chance will be gone & we won't be able to get it back.

With Brianna still not good, we left her back at the hostel resting, but everyone else climbed aboard.

Condors are magnificent birds. With a largest recorded wingspan of 3.85m, they among the largest birds IN THE WORLD.

When we arrived at the viewpoint, many many other tourists had exactly the same plan & it was packed. But there, on a ledge, were about 5 condors. One by one they would drop off the rock ledge on which they were perched & pick up a warm air current, then soar over our heads near enough to touch, or so it felt. I waited patiently behind a couple who had a very good view at the front of the railing, when they moved I was able to get some really good close up shots of the birds as they perched. As they flew I managed to get some too, but they were soo fast I will need to look at them more closely on my iPad to see whether they are in focus. What magnificent birds.

One by one the condors left, until it was just a bunch of tourists on a rock ledge. It was a surreal moment though - & it felt like I'd been part of a really special moment in time. I can't wait to look at the pictures!

From here we embarked upon another, shorter, trek. Just over an hour, along the edge of the Canyon.

Colca Canyon, at a depth of 4160m, is twice the depth of the Grand Canyon. The 100km long Canyon is set among high volcanoes (Coropuna at 6613m & Ampato - where Juanita was discovered - at 6310m being the two highest) & ranges from 1000m to over 4000m in depth. Where-ever we looked beneath us, terrace after terrace covered the slopes. All rich & green in colour, all contributing towards the independent eco-systems within the Canyon's walls. As we walked we were amazed by how plush the land around us was - how green. Thousands of cactus, flowers, insect & bird activity - just incredible. & the views down the Canyon itself... wow!

Returning to the bus - E flat - we drove on to the village of Chivay for lunch. A combination of the altitude & the packet of chocolate covered biscuits Mike gave me on the bus just minutes before, meant that I wasn't too hungry. So, whilst everyone else tucked in to the buffet of Peruvian delights, I was content with chicken & noodle soup... at least I think it was chicken... :|

After lunch we headed back to the hostel, with a brief stop at Civay's Plaza Major. Even here - in this tiny rural village - the inside of the church was adorned with the gold leaf covered frames & figurines. Outside, the usual stalls selling souvenirs, but a new addition were the animals. Sadly, animals & birds are captured & used as a means to earn solas (Peruvian currency). Tourists come, take photographs of the animals, & pay some solas. But it isn't legal. Animals such as alpaca & small lambs, birds such as hawks, are tethered at the roadside. We have been asked not to take photographs of these animals as a gesture of protest.

From Chivay we headed again back to the hostel for a bit of free time. Mike had a catch up kip & an F Sharp Major whilst I blogged & joined in with the odd E Flat.

Our last excursion of the day was to be a trip to the hot spring pools of La Calera. The water of the springs is heated using the sulphur from the neighbouring (active!) volcano.

As we stood waiting for everyone to gather before boarding the bus to the springs, Mike & I looked at each other & commented that we didn't much fancy sitting in an outdoor swimming pool & standing around in wet swim shorts at these sort of temperatures. Even though we stood there in fleeces & long trousers, it was still pretty parky. However, we collected our towels from reception & boarded the bus.

When we arrived, the first thing that struck me was the terrible pong. Bad eggs. That, of course, was the smell of the sulphur. As we descended in to the pools area, all around us were gullies containing steaming water that was coming out from holes in the rocks everywhere. These gullies then fed into a network of pipes that went on to distribute the water around the site. It was only a small site, but quite surreal - one minute we were driving along a bumpy, rocky dirt track, the next we were standing amongst hot water pools surrounded by mountains & volcanoes!

We collected a locker key, took a deep breath, stripped down to swimmers &, after a quick rinse in the shower, in we went. It was breathtaking - literally. The water was sooo hot - hotter than the hottest bath I think I've ever had! We ordered some drinks - mainly cactus juice would you believe! It was delicious - then just sat back & relaxed. It was amazing. After a few minutes it became too hot so I decided to hotch up on to one of the steps that ran around the outside of the pool. I had thought I would be cold, but as I sat there bottom half in top half out, it was just perfect.

One of the pool attendants wandered around, attending to things, zipped up to his chin with fleeces & thermals, & there we were with just our swimmers on, half submerged, drinking cactus juice... madness!

As I sat there, I looked around. Mountains & volcanoes surrounded us on all sides, steam rising from the surface of the water. It was just surreal, totally surreal. I thought about my Polly & wished she was there with me so we could have shared the moment...

Then, as if it couldn't get any more obscure, a bloke recognised Mike & swam over for a chat. Turns out he used to live on Spencefield Lane in Evington, a few doors down from Mike, & worked for Mike as a trainee vet back in the mid nineties! How amazing is THAT! Of all the pools, in all the world... or was that bars?! Small world :)

It was hard going getting everyone out of the thermal pool I can tell you, but once out the need to get dry & dressed was a very very urgent one. The warmth of the pool vanished in minutes - as did some other things...! - as we stood dripping wet in the chilly air, swimmers getting colder by the second. A very quick dry off & change back in to trek-wear meant we didn't stay cold for long. A warm fuzzy feeling had decended upon the bus as we travelled back & we didn't even mind the driver's obscure iPod playlist - which prior to that point had become a bit of a drain to say the least. I don't think it's that anyone minded Madonnas, Bon Jovi & Michael Jackson per se, but mixed together, - on the same playlist? What's that about?

Anyway, we sang along to 'You give love a bad name', 'Thriller' & 'Material girl' all the way back to the hostel :)

The hot springs had left us all so chilled out that not everyone appeared for the evening meal, opting instead to an early night. A chunk of those who made it to eat stayed on to watch Peru vs Paraguay - a 2-0 victory to Peru, much to the delight of all the Peruvians there! The normal celebrations that I feel sure would normally have followed were tempered out of consideration for the guests of the hostel, but I think the odd bottle of Inca Cola was clinked in celebration!

With an early start AGAIN tomorrow, I decided to retire early to pack up my old kit bag & smile smile smile. Tomorrow we'll be up at 6:00am ready for a 7:00am departure as we retrace our steps from a few days ago & pick up the Pan American Highway to Puno, next to Lake Titicaca - & get internet too! Yay! It's a 6 hour journey which will pretty much be constant with the odd loo stop. Hopefully we'll see some Andean geese again at some point...

Remember - keep those comments coming... please :)

Gb.

Day 7 - finally we get to trek! Colca Canyon...

Up early today as we have a long drive ahead of us. An estimated 6hrs will be the journey time to our next hostel: La Casablanca De Mamayacchi in the Valle De Colca, in the village of Coporaque, hoping to arrive by 1pm in time for some lunch.

Although long, the journey was broken up by quite a few stops & the scenery, as always, was just breathtaking. Today we have learnt the difference between llama, alpaca, vicuna & guanaco. Before today I would have said - whichever one you showed me - it was a llama. However, having now seen each of them full on in yer face close up... I'm actually still not sure. Everyone else seemed to get it, but I think I'm just a bit slow.

I've got many many great pictures of the wildlife here. The birds are amazing. We had one stop where we were introduced to Andean Geese. I settled myself in to a good position, zoomed in to full lens extension, framed the shot & click. Got it. Great I thought. That'll be a good one. It wasn't until later on when I transferred my photos to my iPad & flicked through them that I realised what I'd actually taken a photo of was a white plastic bag :|

John very kindly said I could have one of his. Thanks John.

I've been really pleased with my camera - I bought it just before coming away & I've got some great shots. Thanks Steve & gang for the pointer :) Large Pisco Sour coming your way...!

Our guide for the journey to & through the Colca Canyon (tomorrow) is Daniel. He has an amazing knowledge. If I remember just a fraction (which is unlikely actually) of what he tells us, I'll be able to bore you all for days. He's really really interesting - & is very in touch with Mother Earth. He also looks like a Peruvian Keith Richards. But he is very cool. He has today told us all about the benefits of Coca leaves, so a number of us have bought some & will be trying them very soon no doubt. Maybe he is closer to Keith Richards than I first thought!

In order to get to our destination, we have to travel over the highest point of the Canyon - at 4910m. After we passed this point we stopped for a breather - which at over 4500m is harder than it sounds! There was lots of puffing & panting - & a fair bit of giddiness too - but Coca tea is apparently very good for all of this, so we each felt compelled to try it as we rested. Daniel said the best way to enjoy Coca tea was to leave the leaves (ha) in the boiling water, in the cup, with the saucer over the top of the cup for 10 minutes. Then, remove the saucer, give it a stir, & drink. We did as we were told. I have to say, it's not my cup of tea - boom boom! No, seriously, it was rank.

For all of you out there that like your green tea & your herbal howsyourfathers, I'm sure you'd love it. But form me - a simple strong black coffee with 2 sugars guy - it just didn't float my boat. So I went & bought a bottle of Coke & a packet of salted farver beans. Not that I've every had farver beans before, but I thought they were peanuts &, to be honest, I'd have eaten anything right then just to get rid of the taste!

With the taste of privet hedge leaves still lingering on my taste buds, we reboarded the bus & set off again.

The hostel was really really nice. Beautiful views of the Colca Valley all around & nice rooms too. The temperature is noticeably lower than it has been & there's a wind too - not just Mike either! We arrived in time for lunch, so before we unpacked or got settled proper, we ate. The food was buffet - nothing labelled of course, my worst nightmare - but there didn't appear to be anything that even remotely resembled a guinea pig or a cow's udder, so I was happy to be adventurous. There was also an outside grill going, so after loading my plate with pasta & salad I headed out to see what was on offer. Chicken or alpaca - well, I had to try the alpaca didn't I?! Llama to those, who like me, still can't work out the difference. It was absolutely delicious. Quite salty, very 'gamey' - reminded me of venison a little. Very good for you apparently - no cholesterol, zero fat. Happy chappy :)

After a full tummy it was off to 'unpack' (it's only ever pants & socks that get unpacked - the rest just gets swapped around a bit!). Mike had the first shower & reported it was 'the best so far' so I thought I'd have a go. BOY WAS THE SHOWER AMAZING! It about took my head off when I turned it on full! I stayed in for about 10 minutes jetting away all the aches of sitting on bus after bus for hours on end - &, for those who followed the Everest blog, I managed to stay conscious for the entire time! A true result indeed!

We weren't due to meet up again until about 3:30pm when we would be going on a 2 hour trek through the valley - the first trek of the trip! I was very excited about this prospect. With a couple of hours to kill, Mike grabbed a catch up nap as he was feeling a bit 'out of sorts' with the altitude & we both had headaches. I thought to myself 'if I lie down I won't get up again!' so I decided to catch up on the blog. There's sadly no internet here, so this blog won't reach you for a few days - it also means I won't get to see any of your comments from the last few days, or my daily email from my Polly :(

Please keep your comments coming, they're so nice to read & I've been sharing them with Mike & John too. You're great company all of you, & it's fantastic to have you along on the journey with us, so please send more!

3:30pm arrived & we gathered outside the hostel - boots & poles at the ready (except my poles are leaning up against the back door in Bushby where I left them) - & off we set. I'd forgotten just how hard walking up hill at low altitude was. It was only minutes before everyone was panting away. I really missed my poles, it was even harder without them. The walk had been described to us - in the words of Psang the Everest Sherpa - a little bit up, a little bit more up, a rest, some more up before a gentle walk down. We slipped in to a natural walking order & I felt exhilarated - it was great to be trekking again!

Shortly we came upon a couple of young Peruvin girls, in traditional costume, with an array of their local produce in front of them - not to sell, just to show us. Daniel explained what each thing was, varying from fruit to seeds. The girls were keen to sing for us, which was delightful. We thanked them & moved on. One of the group, Chris, wasn't feeling too good, so he went back, but the rest of us carried on to complete the trek.

The views were spectacular. Looking across the valley, seeing thousands of terrace fields, a seemingly infinite array of colours changing across the landscape, the soaring peaks of the Andes mountains contrasting against a cloudless deep blue sky, the tiny villages beneath, the huge overhangs of rock above... just breathtaking.

I walked a while with Daniel up front - his knowledge I'd truly amazing - & he explained to me a lot of things & patiently answered my questions. I was keen to understand the time line of Pre-Inca & Inca, so he explained to me that Pre-Inca was around 500BC-1400AD & Inca was around 1400AD-1530AD. It was a vast race of people & no one really knows how they communicated because they had no written language at all. It was only with the arrival of the Spanish that a civilisation began.

It wasn't long before we came upon an Inca cemetery. Sadly long since looted, but we were able to see how the graves would have been left. The mountain people created tombs in the rock overhangs & built them up using larger rocks too to make walls. Inside these they would lay their dead. On the eastern face of the mountainside obviously.

We returned to the hostel & settled ourselves in for the evening. Sadly quite a few of our number had started to suffer: Francis was feverish, Brianna was proper sick poorly, Ruth was struggling in a similar way but not quite as bad, a large number had started to feel the effects of the altitude with headaches & everyone generally was experiencing a real lethargy. And of course, the chorus had started! I'd forgotten all about that part of travelling at high altitude! I think Mike is coming in at about an F Sharp Minor, whilst I'm more of an E Flat. Everyone else is managing to keep it pretty much 'under wraps', but no doubt things will start to slip very soon... hopefully not too much though :|

A 5:30am alarm call in the morning - together with today's trek & the altitude acclimatisation - meant that everyone was pretty pooped & for the second night running I think everyone was out by 9:30pm. The sickies were in for a long night, so I really felt for them having experienced it myself on the Base Camp trek. But better they get it out of the way now in good time for the Inca Trail next week.

An F Sharp Minor & an E Flat later & Mike & I were kicking out the zzzzzzzzs...

Night all. Gb.

Day 6 - to Arequipa, it's around the corner. No not this one...

& so we settled ourselves in. Francis & I were to sit next to each other, but I couldn't work out which seat number was window & which was aisle. So in a very British way I gave him the choice. He said he didn't mind, then I said I didn't mind, then I said it again... & so we continued for a bit, until it was decided Francis would have the aisle seat. I was a bit put out at this because I wanted the aisle seat... but that's the British for you!

Ruth & Anna were sat in front, Helena (I've remember her name - she's the German interior designer on her honeymoon) & Rene were sat
Behind. Off came my shoes, on went my blackout eye things, in went my ear plugs, around went my blanket, back went my seat, up came the leg rest. Ladies & gentlemen, g'night...

I lay there. & I lay there. & I lay there. No sleep came. I thought, I know, I'll change my position & turn to the side a bit & see if that helps. However, Ruth had reclined her seat. The effect of this was to 'lock me in' to my laying position. I breathed through the feeling of claustrophobia I felt rising in slow panic from the pit of my stomach... "breath, breath, breath" I repeated to myself. It seemed to work. I started to drift. Then I think I must have gone off, because I was awoken by the feeling of being lurched from one side of my seat to the other.

When I next get the chance I need to look at the route we took via Google Earth. It must have been THE windiest (& I don't mean flatulence!) road IN THE WORLD (you know what to do...). We went left, we went right, we went left, we went right... Hairpin bend after hairpin bend - it went on for hours... & hours... & hours...

I thought to myself, I'm not even going to think about the possibility of feeling travel sick here... I'm just not going to allow it into my psyche... & it was hard... but again, I overcame. I must have drifted off again because the next time I awoke the bus was stationary & I thought 'yay, we must be here! I made it!' - so I lifted one of my eye covers & peeked. It was pitch black on the coach, but there was a dull orange glow from outside - I guessed we must have been at a service station changing drivers or something because a few minutes later the bus pulled back on to the road. I thought to myself, shall I take a peek at the time...? I decided not to because I thought knowing my luck it would be something like 11pm & I'd be really miffed - then every time I checked after that it would only be, like, 15 minutes after... which would drive me bonkers! So I drifted off again.

Left... right... left... right... again I woke up. This time I couldn't resist a peek at the time: 3:30am. Not as far in to the journey as I had hoped but, nevertheless, still over half way. I drifted off again. I only awoke once more before morning & that was by a heavy weight on my right side. It was Francis. I lifted up my eye cover to see & yes, there he was, in all his glory. Mouth wide open. I guess he must have been snoring but I couldn't hear because of my ear plugs. I left him where he was - it seemed easier. I was also aware that the bus was really really hot & that the air con wasn't on - I was wringing wet & I could feel the claustrophobia returning... breath... breath... breath... I drifted off again :)

Next thing I knew, I was being tapped on the forehead by something. I lifted my eye cover to see it was daylight! & that it was the stewardess tapping me on the forehead with a box containing my breakfast... strange, I thought, but I guess it's another one of those 'Peruvian things' they do?!

I lifted my chair up, put away the leg rest, removed my blackout eye thing, folded away my blanket, removed my ear plugs - including the one that had somehow made it's way round to my left nostril - & settled down ready to feast upon my, no doubt, culinary delight in a box. I felt somewhat let down by the shrivelled bread roll containing a hot dog sausage, the dry sponge cake & the boiled sweet. However, they were gratefully consumed as I was more than ready for them. The road was still very windy - which I seemed to have got used to by this point - but I guessed by the presence of the white bag under Ruth's nose the same couldn't be said for her.

I helpfully commented to her that if she insisted on smelling of sick for the rest of the trek we may have to hang an air freshener from her, but it didn't seem to make any difference - & I couldn't tell if she found it funny or not because the bag didn't move. Oh well :|

After breakfast the next job was a visit to the little boy's room, so on went my shoes. I had some difficulty with this as my feet seemed to have grown several sizes over night, but eventually they went on. Whilst I'm sure the toilet would have very pleasant at the beginning of the journey, I will leave to your imagination the state it was in by the time a coach full of men had used it through the night-long shikane... all I will say is that I'm glad I put my shoes on!

At last we pulled in to Arequipa. I have to say it was a very impressive town. With a population close to 1 million it is the second highest populated city in the country. Arequipa lies in the Andes mountains at an altitude of 2380m above sea level. The volcano 'Misti' overlooks the city & many of the colonial-era Spanish buildings were built using sillar, a pearly White volcanic rock from which Arequipa gets the nickname 'La Ciudad Blanca' meaning 'The White City'.

There are actually 3 main volcanos that surround Arequipa: Misti, which I've already mentioned, Chachani & PichuPichu. Volcanoes are visible from almost every place in the city.

After checking in to our hostel, we had a couple of hours in which to shower & change - & for some grab a kip - before we were going to head in to Arequipa town for a 'looky see see'. The hostel was lovely - a real authentic Spanish influenced building with a mid courtyard, lovely quaint rooms & a killer view from the rooftop. For some reason there had been a bit of a swap round with room mates & - being British - we didn't ask why, so I was sharing with Mike & John was to share with Francis. Ruth was to share with Angelina (previously Anneka) & later on in the day commented on how she'd forgotten how long young girls take in the bathroom - she barely made it to the 10:30am meeting time for the town excursion!

So, into the town we ventured. A long line of pale, rucksack wearing, camera bearing tourists. We blended in very well because everywhere you looked there were people who looked the same - although I'm convinced we didn't look as ridiculous as them! Lol.

The town was absolutely beautiful. It was clean, picturesque, both modern & traditional architecture but unlike Lima it all just fitted together. There were churches, a cathedral, a monastery, historical building after historical building... the list just goes on & on. Out of all the towns we had visited so far, Mike & I both agreed this was our favourite - & one we could picture ourselves visiting again one day. After a while walking around as a group we decided to go & grab some food before having some free time for ourselves until the evening.

The restaurant we went to was a traditional Peruvian restaurant. The waiters & waitresses were all dressed in traditional Peruvian costume & the menu was... shall we say unusual at the very least. We watched open mouthed as the lady on the adjacent table had her guinea pig main course served - & it was literally a guinea pig spread eagled on a plate, with chips!

Angel (GAP guide) recommended we order a selection of dishes from the menu & then just have a bit each. The sight of the guinea pig combined with the quick read through of the menu had been sufficient for me to opt for just a salad & some fried cheese. I know what you're thinking - but I'm telling you, don't start. If want to eat a guinea pig, be my guest, but for me & my digestive system - no thanks!

Sadly, although on the menu, Mike's choice of fried cow's udder wasn't on that day. No, really!

After lunch we each headed off in different directions.

Mike, John & myself went for a more in depth look around the town, aiming to take in one of the churches too - but not before we had popped back to the hostel for John to do his hair. While I was waiting I grabbed the opportunity of some FaceTime with my beautiful Polly Waddle (xxx). It was lovely - especially as an earlier attempt had failed. It was really strange to be looking at Polly, sitting in the lounge with her pyjamas on, with a roaring fire going, when I'd just walked in from a glorious sunshine flooded street & was sitting there in my shorts & a t-shirt! In the common area where I was sitting there was a little Peruvian girl & she walked over to see who I was talking to - she couldn't understand how Polly had fitted inside my iPad & she kept looking behind it! She was really cute (the little girl, not Polly - although, in fairness, she can be) - & had a face covered in the chocolate ice cream she was eating. I mimicked to her that she should lick her lips - Polly said I should stop because I looked like some sort of pervert...

Anyway, Jake went round to see if Brenda was about so that John (who reappeared with freshly quiffed locks) could have FaceTime with her too, but sadly there was no answer. Turns out she was at Daphne's watching a film - John said that'll teach to go out enjoying herself! SO STAY IN FROM NOW ON BRENDA! YOU HEAR? :)

With all the excitement over, The Men from the Peru headed back in to town. Every town we have been to has a church in the main square - the Plaza Major as they are called here - & this is where we headed for our first stop. The Plaza Majors date back to when the Spanish colonised Peru & introduced religion to the people here in the form of Roman Catholism. Prior to this the people of Peru worshipped Mother Earth, as I mentioned earlier, & still do even now, but Catholism is widely accepted now as the religion of Peru.

At the heart of every Peruvian town & village a Plaza Major was built, with a church at the side. The insides of the churches are lavishly decorated with ornate multi aperture frames, every inch of which are covered in gold leaf. Within the apertures stand figurines of the saints, Mary & of Jesus. Some of the churches are very simple buildings, but others - like the one we visited in Arequipa on this afternoon - are very very impressive buildings, with many many pieces of original art on the walls. Some of the churches even have some early works of Da Vinci & of his students.

Beacuse of my stupid brain - & lack of sleep (although I don't think 8'm doing too bad so far...) - I can't remember the name of the church we visited, but I have put a pic or two below for you :) After the church we went to visit an exhibition we had heard of telling the story of Juanita.

Juanita, the beautiful young girl of the Ampato Volcano, was discovered on the 8th September 1995 by anthropologist Dr Johan Reinhard. Ampato stands about 6380m above sea level & had been the shelter for Juanita for some 500 years. At the age of 12-14 years old she had been offered to Apu Ampato by the Inca priests as a ritual sacrificial offering. Her body would have been arranged in a very specific way at the time of the sacrifice & at the point of her death would not have been moved again. There it remained, frozen - literally - in time, until it was discovered along with 3 other children's bodies sacrificed in similar ways. 15 years of research had led Dr Reinhard to the point of discovery & in actual fact they couldn't find Juanita's body on their first expedition, because the 'grave' was empty.

At that height it was extremely unlikely to have been removed by grave robbers. It was more likely to have been caused by an earthquake - very common in those areas. Thinking this to be the most plausible explanation, Dr Reinhard returned on a second expedition shortly after the first & rolled a large rock from the point where the body should have been. They then followed the path of the rock down the face of Ampato & there, on a flat area surface some 100m beneath they found the body of Juanita. Other than some damage to her face where she had fallen down the rock face, & the subsequent exposure to the sun, her body was perfectly preserved in every way - as were the other 3 bodies they found.

Why Juanita & the other children were sacrificed remains a mystery. But due to the 'pause in time' the frozen conditions gave the researchers, the bodies have provided invaluable information about the Inca people. Whilst, on the face of it, this story may seem barbaric & beyond comprehension, as our guide our guide pointed out to us, the sacrifice of innocent has always been a running theme through many many religions. In the case of my own faith, it took the sacrifice of an innocent person to take away the sin of the world - maybe the sacrifice of Juanita was because the Inca priests believed tahat it would somehow 'free' them of some curse or drought... who knows.

Well, now I've cheered you all up with this jolly tale!

All that remains to tell about the day is that we returned from town, met up again at 6:30pm, headed back in to town to a cocktail bar - where i have to say i was the only one drinking soft drinks! I felt a bit of a berk stood there with a sunrise coloured fruit juice drink with a piece of fruit in it & an umberella, but at an altitude of 2380m rising to 4910m tomorrow I'm not taking any chances with altitude sickness! Angel very kindly pointed out that i looked like a girl, but i took it... like a man :)

From the cocktail bar - with some now very giggly group members struggling to cope with the altitude & the fast effect it has with alcohol - we headed to the restaurant to eat. John sat on his chair & promptly broke it :| he really isn't having a good time of it...!

Everyone was still pretty much bus-lagged, so after our meal it was decided to head back to the hostel for an early night. I think everyone was in bed, lights out, by 9:30pm. Another busy busy day, but another great one. Looking forward to tomorrow where we travel to Colca Canyon, the second deepest canyon IN THE WORLD :) - the deepest is also in Peru, but we don't get to see that one. Next time maybe...

Signing off for now. Radio silence for a couple of days I think as we'll have no Internet until Puno at Lake Titicaca.

Gb!

Day 5 - Nazca

Up early again this morning for breakfast. The usual fare consisting of scrambled eggs, bread rolls, coffee & cereal. The milk was very very sweet, in fact I thought it was Carnation at first! I had a big glass of what I thought was orange juice & the minute I took a gulp I realised it wasn't... it tasted - & smelled - like vomit. Sorry to be so descriptive, but you didn't take a swig - it was foul. I spent the next 10 minutes eating anything I could get my hands on to take away the taste, including a banana! The taste eventually went, but it repeated on me several times in the hours to come... not nice :(

We headed out in to desert land of Chauchilla (I must correct myself here from yesterday's blog where I called it 'Cahuachi' by mistake) by bus - yep, another bus. We've been assured that we'll be doing some serious walking very soon, but for the moment we have some serious miles to cover to get to the trekking points. So for the time being, patience is the order of the day :)

As we drove on for what felt like endless miles, deeper & deeper into desert land, we wondered where on earth we would end up. We stopped a couple of tiemes on the way - once to look at a very rare owl that was just sat at the roadside looking around, & a second time to take in the view of the largest and dune IN THE WORLD (you know what to do) as it sat behind the mountain vista. Cerro Blanco. Mike & I were convinced that the owl wasn't real as it sat very still for us as we snapped away - we had visions of it actually being a cut out stuck to the end of a stick & as we drove off a man getting up & dusting himself off until the next bus came along...

We arrived at the burial ground & disembarked. At first it appeared there was nothing there other than a few, what appeared to be, 4 legged bamboo roofed shades. Looking closer, the shades seemed to covered something underneath. Our guide started to explain...

The desert plains that we were on - & many like them all over Peru - were the homeland of many Inca & Pre Inca tribes in years gone by. They worshipped Mother Earth - the mountains, the sea, the rivers, the sun. Their burial grounds were on the same plains. Huge expanses of ceremonial burial grounds, the markations of which disappearing long ago. Some have been discovered, but one of the most significant is the Chauchilla burial ground.

The graves would have consisted of a small chamber dug in to the ground, rectangular in shape. They would have varied in size according to the number of people being buried there, but it's logical to assume they would have had 'family graves', & some would have had more than one chamber, separated by a small wall. The open tops of the graves would have been covered with a lattice work of wood & vegetation before being covered over with earth. The depth of the graves would have been about 5ft & would have varied in size, but typically about 4ft by 3ft. The earth covering the grave would have been around 1ft. Some were slot larger than this, as you could tell by the size of impression they had left behind.

The burial ground was discovered in late late 80s/early 90s when grave robbers, having discovered the graves themselves, looted them. Graves that had lain undisturbed for 1000 years were ransacked in the hope of finding treasures or items of value. Hundreds of graves were ruined,t before they gave up their quest realising there was nothing of value to be taken. What the robbers hadn't realised was that the graves were of simple people - mostly farmers probably - so all they found in the graves were pots, tools & other simple items.

Because of the way the graves were left, a landscape that should have been flat was littered with large divets where the graves had collapsed beneath the surface. The way that the robbers had ruthlessly gone through each grave meant that much of the contents were destroyed & as wee looked closely at the ground before us literally thousands of bones were scattered all around in the sand. Although archeologists have visited the site to try to piece together the history of the site, there is no funding for the project so all the work at the site is by volunteers. Under the shades that I mentioned earlier were 'reconstructions' of what the graves would have originally looked like.

It's hard to describe, but the photos speak many words. The bodies would all be buried facing east - the sun. The body would be placed in an almost foetal position - with the kneels up under the chin & the arms bent at their side. The body would then be wrapped firstly in wool, with any 'gaps' packed with wool too. The whole would then be wrapped in material but the head would be left protruding. This would then be the 'bundle' that would be placed vertically in the grave with various artefacts placed around it - pots (always in pairs for 'balance' with the earth), tools of the persons trade, shells. Some of the skulls we saw actually had hair attached, which was really weird.

The whole thing may sound really morbid to you guys reading this, but it was quite amazing to see - & to be standing there where a whole race of people would have stood, lived, farmed, existed & ultimately died & been buried. Quite amazing.

Amazed out - or so we thought - it was on to the small airport to board our plane to see the Nasca Lines. Just when we thought we could be amazed no more the Lines were presented to us.

If I were to details all the myths, legends, hypothesis, theories etc about the Lines, we would all be here a very long time, but let me explain - in brief - just what the Nasca Lines are. The Nasca Lines are a series of geoglyphs located in the Nasca Desert, a high arid plateau that stretches more than 50 miles between the towns of Nazca & Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana in Peru. Although some local geoglyphs resemble Paracas motifs, these are largely believed to have been created by the Nazca culture between 200BC & 700AD. The Lines consist of hundreds of individual figures, ranging in complexity from 'simple' lines to stylised hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys, fish, sharks, llamas and lizards.

The Lines are shallow designs in the ground where the reddish pebbles that cover the surrounding landscape have been removed, revealing the whitish earth underneath. In some designs the image is embossed as opposed to being in releif, but only a few.

The images remained undiscovered until the early 1920s during the building of the Pan American Highway when planes flying overhead first spotted them. Sadly, by the time they were discovered, the road had cut through 2 of them, but many trapezoids, thousands of geometric lines & 70 massive animal & plant figures remain intact. As the Lines are only truly visible from the air, a flight it had to be!

Most of us did it, but there were a few who didn't fancy it. As we found out, it was to be a bit like a fairground ride & was only for those with very strong stomachs!

The plane was. 12 seated Sessner (please excuse me if I have spelt this wrong - planes have never been my strongpoint). It was small, very compact & you felt every bump. As we took of we could each see through the pilot's windscreen - which took me back the last time I was in this position... landing at Lukla on the way to Everest Base Camp in Jan 2010... & I wasn't sure whether I was excited about it or not!

However, all was well & we soon ascended to 2200m. Then the fun began. In order to see the Lines from the plane, it had to bank hard on its side. The plane then obviously turned in the direction of the bank, so once the plane had pulled level again it was the turn of the people sitting on the other side of the plane to see. This meant a really hard 180 degree bank to turn the plane around, then a further hard bank on its side so the other side could see. The effect this all had on the stomach was severe! Imagine a roller coaster, but faster & with much more g-force... you're somewhere near!

Ruth, bless her, was sat just behind me & sadly holding a sick bag & a camera as well as holding the bag open, getting her aim straight & getting the Lines in shot to take a picture just proved too much & she spent the entire flight hoooking. Poor thing - she looked really rough when she got off the plane. I'm not being cruel here, she really did - & I told her. I know she appreciated my honesty :)

As we waited fir the rest of our number to finish their flights, we watched as more people disembarked from their flights in various states of disarray. One Chinese lady had to be carried off, whilst a German lady staggered past us looking like she'd a few too many Pisco Sours as her husband scuttled timidly behind her clutching a selection of little bags...

From here we went to eat!

A great restaurant in the heart of Nazca - did you know it only rains there 2 or 3 times a year? Nazca - not the restaurant. When it does rain, they get about 20-30 minutes worth in total. That's it! Amazing. As we sat eating our food we heard some music coming from downstairs - my ears instantly picked up the beat so I went to have a look. It was a 4 piece traditional Peruvian band playing (what looked like) a ukulele, a guitar, a set of blow pipes &... a cajon! I was dying to get my hands on the cajon - for this of you who don't know it's a percussion instrument made of wood & is effectively a box that you sit on. By hitting the sides of the cajon with cupped hands or the ends of your fingers you can get a great sound out of it - & play one!

They were great & I recorded them so I could listen to them again when I get home - & for some playing tips!

From the restaurant we went back to the hostel & spent the afternoon resting (or in my case blogging!) before heading off to the bus station for our 10 hour bus journey on to Arequipa. Leaving at 9:30pm, the bus would take us along the Pan American Highway all the way to the town. As we boarded & got ourselves bunked in, it all seemed very nice: there were 2 decks, each kitted out with television screens, comfortable reclining seats - reclining to about 60%, each seat had its own pillow & blanket, air con, window curtains... & so this list goes on.

However, the road wasn't to be a straight one, in more ways then one...

Tune in to the next blog to find out more!

Gb :)