Buenas dias! (That's "Good day" in Spanish, don't you know!)

So its been one week since we set off from our native homeland and as you can see, our Spanish is already exceptional. In fact you could say we're practically locals already.

Well, not quite. But at the very least we're very excited Gringos, happily treading the well-trodden tourist trail and still marvelling at the fact that we are actually finally off and away. And so here is our first blog - apologies if its too long/dull at this point but I expect we'll get better at it!!

ARRIVAL

We landed in Lima without a bump (Ryan Air could do well to pay attention) at 5.30pm last Wednesday. The flight had been pretty grim up until touchdown, although I have to say "Just Go With It" is an excellent film - some of Adam Sandler and Jennifer Anistons finest work - and we were particularly impressed when the air hostess, guessing Dean was feeling a little warm, promptly threw half a glass of pineapple juice over him. Sticky stuff pineapple juice.

We were met at the airport by a very nice man to take us to our hotel in the Barranco district. Despite being safely tucked into a taxi going straight to our accommodation I think I can safely say it was all immediately overwhelming. There was no doubt about it - we were in a foreign country, and one unlike any other we'd been to before. The car journey was quite exhilirating - not knowing if we'd survive the first hour of our 7 month trip was entertaining, if not fun. We thought it might just be a Lima thing, but so far it is definitely a Peru thing. There are no rules: the bravest/fastest/stupidest driver usually wins. Pedestrians take their lives into their hands at every road-crossing, strolling out boldly with an air of "just you try and run me over". We're getting better at it too - we've almost lost our awkward skip/trot across the road and have even had locals stop and wave us across - like I said, practically locals already.

LIMA

We spent our first night cowering in our room under the pretext of jetlag (actually, we were knackered) but the next day we hailed a taxi and set off for Lima central. We spent a day here, wandering around, looking for interesting stuff and a Tourist Office. The latter we eventually found when we spied a sign roughly indicating that there might be an office on the 3rd floor of a dingy looking building. We bravely ventured inside and up several flights of dark staircases - emerging on the second floor briefly until the seedy neon blue lighting sent us pelting back to the stairs and on up to the 3rd floor ... where there was, at last a Tourist Office. Sadly most of their leaflets were in Spanish or about places we weren't going to, but we picked up a few things to be polite and headed out.

Later that afternoon we did a tour of the San Francisco Catacombs which was really interesting (although no photos allowed). The cathedral is very beautiful - the architecture and ornate detail is lovely and although some restoration work has been done (the building has withstood a few earthquakes) most of what you see is original, including an incredible library containing hundreds of ancient books. The catacombs were a bit creepy but fascinating - they estimate something like 25000 people were buried there. Some graves are still to be uncovered but many have already been excavated and the bones are left piled up in the open graves for you to see. Towards the end of the tour there was a brilliant large painting depicting the Last Supper Peruvian style - the dish in the middle of the table was of course Guinea Pig.

So we didn't get much done in Lima. Our overall impression was of a heavily built-up, stifling hectic city, but no doubt with a bit more time we would have found more to ogle at...

PARRACAS

A second night in Lima saw us crashed out asleep again and the next day we were off on our adventures, taking a bus to Parracas. We arrived as the sun was going down, a habit of ours which we need to shake as it leads us to make abrupt decisions!

Got to take a moment here to marvel at the Cruz Del Sur buses which have so far been carrying us around the country - they're as good as, if not better than any flights we've ever been on. The seats are really comfy, they play films (in fact we got our second viewing of "Just Go With It" on the road to Parracas - joy), they have an onboard hostess who comes round and greets you buy name, whilst masterfully handling trays which carry your lunch/drinks. Even the toilets (which you are told at the start are strictly for urination only - you're meant to inform the hostess if you need to crap and they stop the bus at "better-suited toilets" - an embarassment we're hoping to avoid!) are relatively decent.

On arrival in Parracas we got some cheap accommodation, booked our tours for the next day and headed out for dinner. Dean indulged in his first Ceviche of the trip and also our first Pisco Sour - all good. The following day we set off on a tour of the Ballestas Islands. Referred to as a "poor mans Galapagos", these islands are quite something to see. The rock formations are interesting if you like that sort of thing (see Dean's multiple rock photos). I saw my first ever real life sea lions and pelicans (not to mention Peruvian Boobies ... small black bird) - the pelicans were incredible. Enormous up close and very magestic as they swooped low over the water. Our tour guide was very entertaining - he seemed to have a real love of the place himself, marvelling at the mystery of the enormous candalbre drawing which is etched into the side of one of the islands, not unlike the Nazca lines, and sympathising with the female sea lions who get pregnant for the first time at 2yrs old, stay pregnant for between 10-12 months, give birth and get knocked up again just 2 hours later!

Most impressive were the birds though - there were literally thousands of them filling the sky over the islands and providing a very dramatic sight as they swooped in huge numbers through the air. Only downside - the islands reek of bird poo. They are literally covered in the stuff and every few years, when the local council thinks its safe enough to go in without disturbing the birds too much, a large group of people head to the islands and harvest the poo to use for manure and other smelly stuff.

In the afternoon we went to the Parracas National Reserve which was a bit of a disappointment. Although its quite interesting to consider the climate of the area (it never rains and is meant to be a climate in which you could survive perfectly with only what the earth provides you with) - there is only so much desert and sea you can look at. The fish lunch was very nice though at a small remote restaurant.

ICA/HUACACHINA

After the Parracas National Reserve we hopped on another lush bus to Ica, where we arrived at 6.30pm, after sunset, and proceeded to have our first slightly hair-raising experience. Losing track of who had actually spoken to who (I thought Dean had sorted the taxi - he thought I had), we were rather hastily ushered into a cab which can only be described as a rusty, brown sardine can on wheels. Wondering how we would survive the nutty Peruvian traffic in this less than fit vehicle we set off (car crunching and rattling all the way) and realised we didn't have any reason to trust that the driver was taking us where we wanted to be. It was dark, we were tired and nervous - this was, we decided, our first foolish amateur-traveller behaviour.

THANKFULLY, we arrived at our destination Huacachina in one piece and our driver actually turned out to be quite sweet (that will be the commission) - taking us first to some accommodation (which seemed expensive at the time, but feeling flustered we took it and later found out it wasn't too badly priced) and then on to an ATM - all free of taxi charge - before dropping us at a tour office, probably hoping we would book a trip and really earn him some extra soles. Sadly for him we were feeling emotionally drained by this point, so we made our thanks and headed back to our hotel, long enough to have a hug, promise never to jump in the first taxi again and head straight to a pub for some much needed Cusquenas.

Huacachina is a bohemian, hippy traveller haven. An oasis, surrounded on all sides by immense sand dunes, there's not much to do here aside from drinking, eating, ooing and aahing at the lagoon and scenery. Unless you're a boho traveller type and then you can sit around playing your recorder and just being cool ... there was one guy who seemed to be a permanent fixture at the local Youth Hostel bar, drinking from 11am to 11pm, he looked like he probably arrived in the 60s and never left.

The other thing to do here is dune-buggying and sandboarding and although I was dubious to say the least (I haven't done anything this "extra-curricular" since I was in the choir at university - enough said) I allowed Dean to convince me that our lives would be incomplete without this experience. A few hours later, strapped in by a barely-working seatbelt and rocketing up a sand dune in a sparse metal-framed buggy I could have thumped Dean, had I not been busy gripping the bars till my knuckles seized up. The driver certainly knew how to handle the buggy though - ploughing expertly up steep dunes, only to balance tantalisingly on what appeared to be a sheer drop, before plummeting down the other side - I was nervous at first but actually it was some of the best fun I've had in ages. And the views across the endless huge dunes were amazing.

After a bit we stopped and got to the sandboarding. To my amusement I wasn't too bad going down the small dunes standing up. Dean was a bit pants. The dunes got bigger as we went on though - only 4 dunes conquered in total but the last 2 were immense. I'm pretty sure I heard someone say the last one was 110 metres high. For these 2 we were advised that the safest way down was face first lying flat on our boards. Dean was a pro and looked damn cool doing it, with his shades on and hair blowing in the wind. I was much more hesitant but boldly flung myself down the first one, only to be greeted by a string of bumps at the end which rattled me pretty good and left we with a jarred shoulder and huge bruise on my thigh. Not to mention a pant-full of sand. After this painful finish I almost cried when I saw the last one. The brave youthful types in our group all started steaming down the mountain face first ... until we all saw one guy completely fly off his board and tumble about four times in a big ball of sand before coming to a shocking standstill. He got up after about 5mins, but needless to say we were all pretty scared after that. Thankfully a guide pointed out a smoother route to take and off we went again - I dug my feet in so hard that I actually coasted down at about the speed of a Stanna Stairlift, but I was still pretty pleased with myself. Dean sped expertly down the slope and then we were soon back in the buggies and back to Huacachina, where after dumping a small beach-worth of sand in the shower we headed out for beer and food.

NAZCA

The next day found us in Nazca. After much deliberation we opted not to do the 30min flight, which we slightly regretted. It was quite expensive and we felt we could "take it or leave it" - strange thing to say about such a phenomenom as the Nazca lines, but nonetheless we thought we would be happy with a land-based tour. We were instantly snapped up when we got off the bus and moments later ripped off (we are slowly learning to say no and hunt down the better deals, but its early days). We headed out at 4pm with a personal guide who drove very slowly out to a viewing point, presumambly to draw out the tour and make it seem like we were getting our money's worth - an impossible task. We stopped at a hill and looked out at some lines and then we continued to a tower from which we could look down at the Hands (although our guide wrongly informed us it was the frog drawing) and Tree markings.

Despite our disappointment in the tour, the site of the Nazca Desert really is quite impressive. Our guide told us the vast space is considered to have been like an enormous temple to the Nazcans who created the markings - sometimes taking up to 15yrs to finish them, before offering them up to God. What is particularly incredible is that they are very shallow - made only by parting the darker top layer of stones to reveal the lighter desert beneath. I always thought they would be huge trenches dug out in order to be seen from the sky, but not so. It is only the strange climate of the area, no rain or wind, which has preserved the lines all this time - weird to think that something so mysterious and incredible could all be washed away if there was just one freak storm!!

After our tour we had 4 hours to kill in Nazca. We took part in the local tradition of spending quality time sitting in the main square for a while. Everyone seems to do it - individuals, whole families, sitting on the many benches as the sun goes down. Then we found a bar to drink beer and play cards in for a couple of hours. Card game suggestions would be welcome thanks, as we only have 2 games available to us (Dean won't play Snap) and I'm not sure these will last us the next 6 months and 3 weeks...

AREQUIPA

At 10pm that night we boarded our first night bus, courtesy again of Cruz Del Sur and did the 10hr journey to Arequipa, arriving yesterday morning. The bus journey was a strange experience. The first 2 hours of the journey seemed to be spent on the bumpiest road ever but we managed to catch bits of sleep here and there. Arriving in Arequipa we jumped in a taxi with a really nice couple who we met in Parracas and have since bumped into quite a bit, and headed for our accommodation. After dumping bags we all headed out for breakfast - the weirdest egg, bacon and toast I've ever had: the bacon came about half an hour after the egg, on account of them having to go to the shop to buy it.

Arequipa is lovely and by far the nicest place we've been to so far. The locals are quite proud of their town, believing it should earn them an Arequipian Passport, separate to their Peruvian ones! The architecure is colonnial in style and set against a stunning backdrop of snow-peaked mountains including the now dormant El Misti volcano. We've yet to visit it properly but are told there is a stunning monastery and many lovely churches. You have to be careful though - its baking during the day and the sun is so low in the sky that you burn quickly. As soon as it goes down though the temperature gets really cold.

Unfortunately though, Dean has been poorly since being here. At first we thought it was Altitude Sickness - Arequipa is 2335m above sea level, although you usually have to be a bit higher up to feel the affects. We eventually worked out, with the help of our amazing hostel owner, that he has in fact got Travelers Dicky Tummy. But not before our trip to the pharmacy during which Dean gave an excellent performance for the ladies behind the counter. We didn't know the Spanish for altitude sickness and were having trouble being understood. Suddenly I was aware that the 2 women seemed to be transfixed by something going on behind me - I turned round just in time to see Dean miming "dizzy, sick, headache". Miraculously they understood him and we came away with tablets ... which have now been replaced by some antibiotics that our hostel owner picked up for us - I can happily report he appears to be on the mend. With any luck he'll be back to his usual gay self in the next 2 days and we might even get to squeeze in a 3 day tour of the Colca Canyon - which is almost twice the size of the Grand Canyon and a suitable warm-up for the big one, Macchu Picchu.

IN CONCLUSION

...Peru is so far amazing. I could sit and stare all day - the photos don't do it justice, expecially because the guide books all tell you not to snap away at the locals, they don't like it unless you ask them first and offer them something. The buildings are colourful, much like the traditional dress which we have seen a few elderly Peruvians wearing, some particulary fantastic cardies have been on display. There is still so much to come and its brilliant to finally be away and doing this. I can't believe it has only been a week!

We're keeping our eye on the situation in Puno - some local demonstrating has lead to tourists being advised not to go there, this would mean we might have to miss out Lake Titcaca and find another way to cross into Bolivia, but we'll work it out. Also on the radar is the Chiliean volcano which is affecting flights to NZ, eek!! Here's hoping it's all blown over by mid-September.

Any requests for future blogs are most welcome ... shorter please, stop trying to be funny it isn't working, more facts if you can etc! We hope you're all doing well and promise to call/send postcards when we can.

xKaty