The Gringo trail.

Our time in Cuzco had come to an end and it was all aboard the famed Gringo trail for the next few days. From Cuzco we headed first to another gorgeous colonial city, Arequipa. Its a really nice city with some wonderful old churches and a stunning Plaza complete with Cathedral. We bumped into a Scottish girl we had met on Isla del Sol and her friends and the 6 of us signed up for a trek through Colca Canyon together. The bus picked us up at 3 in the morning, we had barely got in from the night before after having a couple of drinks. The bus ride to the town of Cabanaconde was not the best and nobody got much sleep, but after a nice big breakfast e were ready for the day. The first stop after breakfast was at the Cruz de Condor where as the name suggests is the best place to see the Condor. We were pretty lucky and were able to see 10 birds, some adults and some juveniles. They are massive birds, wingspan of 3m or more and weighing 15-20kgs for the male. They are incredible to watch gliding high above or sometimes in the canyon below. Not the prettiest of birds but wonderful to watch due to their immense size. The trek down the canyon was alright, the path was very dusty and my Dunlop Volleys bought in Aus for $10 were not the best shoe for coping with the downhill path the dust and stones. I made it down successfully with only a couple of falls on my backside and the view back up the canyon was pretty cool. We had decided to do the two day trek as opposed to the 3 day one and that meant having to continue for another three hours after lunch along the canyon valley. Our guide was pretty knowledgable and pointed out various plants along the way including an agave plant (used in Tequila). We arrived at our lodge for the night pretty tired, but delighted to see it. It was set in an oasis in the middle of the valley and came complete with swimming pool which we all took advantage of to ease our aches. It was an early start the next morning to climb the 900m back to the top of the canyon. It was pretty tough going as the incline was pretty steep. Watching the sunrise down the canyon more than made up for it though. We had lunch in Cabanaconde after trying to cool off in the hot springs, it was difficult as they were around 100C!! The afternoon was spent being ferried from one viewpoint to another on the road back to Arequipa taking in the views of the half dozen volcanoes that surround the region. That night we bussed it to Nazca, I mention this only because we took Cruz del Sur, reputedly the best bus service in Peru and one that everybody tells you you must travel on. Its pretty good to be fair though the choice of films needs to be looked at. Nazca is a dusty small town and as we were not prepared to shell out $100+ for a flight over the famous lines it meant that we had to take a trip to the Mirador where three of the shapes can be viewed. The tree, the lizard and the hand, or frog depending on how you look at it. Its pretty cool to think that these shapes were created in the dirt over 1000 years ago and nobody really has any clue as to their purpose but the view from the Mirador is slightly dissapointing. What is better though is the tour of the Nazca civillisation cemetery on the outskirts of the town where you are able to see mummies in excellent condition sitting in the graves they were placed in. After spending the day in Nazca, we headed straight to Ica and from there in the Oasis of Huacachina. This is a true oasis in amongst 200-300m high sand dunes. We had decided to chill here for a couple of days as the last 3 weeks had been pretty hectic. Its a remarkable place as is Ica which is built in amongst the towering dunes. In Huacachina we were able to go sandboarding and dune buggy riding which were both tonnes of fun. Im quite a pro at sandboarding actually although it took a few hard falls to master my new sport. One of which was pretty spectacular as I tried to clear the jump that Dan had made for me. The dune buggy ride was awesome as well with some epic dunes that we hurtled up and down. A couple of days relaxing and nursing bruises before a day trip to the Islas Ballestas, or poor mans Galapagos. It was the first time we had seen the sea for over 2 months!! They were pretty cool though as we saw sea lions, dolphins, Peruvian boobies (haha boobies) pelicans, one of the largest colonies of cormorants in the world and tiny little humboldt penguins. The colony of cormorants is massive, the island is black just from the birds and the guano that they produce is aroung 5000 tonnes every 5 years or so, and there is a lot of guano flying about...our boat and certain individuals got splattered. I wasnt one of them thankfully although they say its good luck. From the islands we headed to Lima and the end of the Gringo trail. It had been quite an adventure filled with some incredible experiences, views, scenary and animals along the way.