Mon 7th - Sun 13th October 2013 (Week 2)

Ahh, Peru - its nice to be back. We did Peru back in 2004, and both really liked it - for the scenery, culture, people and food. And literally, before we'd even walked through the doors at Lima airport, we were glad to be back.
We did enjoy Venezuela and its beautiful Angel Falls, and Los Roques, but really found the attitude of the locals quite hard - basically turning away and ignoring us whenever we asked a question and not even trying to understand or help us. Whereas the first person in Peru that we spoke to was so helpful and friendly, and that is how everyone is in Peru.

Mon 7th - Arrived into Lima at 11pm, and had a pre-booked taxi from the hostel to meet us. Stayed at 1900 Backpackers Hostel in the centre as we were just there for the night, then bus straight out in the morning. Lovely old mansion though - really attractive buildings in that area.

Tues 8th - Caught a bus at 10am down to Ica - a 4hr journey - using the safest and most reliable bus company - Cruz del Sur - and had lovely big seats, lunch, drink, and 2 newly released films to watch ! Nice !
Interesting change in scenery on the way down - from really poor slum-type areas in Lima, to dry desert, to wine region, then sand dune and oasis !

Arrived in Ica, then caught a taxi to Huacachina with another couple. Very bizarrely the girl was from Woking - just down the road from where we live !! Small world.
Stayed at Banana Adventures - real young backpacker place and felt the oldest there ! But fun to be in a traveller place and hear others stories and recommendations.
Went on a dune buggying / sand boarding trip at 4pm on the incredible never-ending sand dunes. Never seen anything like them - just go on as far as the eye can see, and steep sides with wind blowing the sand along the ridges.
The buggying was fun - a big 15 seat buggy tearing up and down the dunes, and we also got provided with sand boards which I've always wanted to try. Went down about 7 slopes - gradually getting bigger and steeper - and most people just either sat on the boards, or lay down face first and went down the slopes. But the boarders amongst us tried going down standing up - with varing results ! I managed the first few slopes well, getting all the way down, but on one of the steeper ones I had a big wipe out, and then chickened out for the bigger slopes.
Brandon also stood up and really went for it - but had a few falls, and one big one at the end that really scared me. He completely winded himself, scrapped his knees, took a chuck out of his hand, and his face and mouth were so covered in sand that I thought he'd broken all his teeth !! But apart from a sore rib for Brandon, and a sore neck for me the next day, we were ok !

Wed 9th - We had a relaxing day at Huacachina and sunbathed by the pool for a few hours to let our poor aching bodies recover ! Went into Ica for a few hours to see the Museum Regional de Ica - where they had an interesting and slightly gruesome display of mummies in pots, elongated heads, and cracked skulls etc.

Thurs 10th - Caught another Cruz del Sur bus down to Nazca (2hrs), and booked a flight and tour through Alegria Tours - as recommended in Lonely Planet. I was a bit apprehensive about the flight over the Nazca lines - both for safety reasons ( a lot of bad reviews about safety of planes, and drunk pilots), and many stories about how sharply the planes bank over the lines so many people are sick !
We were in a little 4 seater Cessna (just us and pilots) and as hard as I tried, I still felt very sick from all the sharp banking to the left, and then immediately to the right so we could both have a good view of each of the lines.
It was very impressive though - something that can only be appreciated from the air, and really interesting shapes - a monkey, whale, dinosaur, humming bird etc. Glad we did it, but not something I'd fancy doing again !
Then had a brief tour of another Nazca line with more information on the history behind them, the aquaducts that were built around the same time and are still in use today, and a ceramic factory.
Hung around Nazca until our 10pm night bus down to Arequipa.

Had a disturbing first impression of the Cruz Del Sur night bus. Whilst waiting for our bus to take us to Arequipa, another bus pulled out of the yard, and crunched the side of the bus straight into the wall - making a deep dent all the way up both decks, and cracking 4 windows in the process. They then proceeded to just try and patch it up with tape before sending it off on its 9hr journey, but the passengers got off and said there was no way they were travelling on that bus, with that driver, when the windows were broken and air was coming in !
Delayed our bus a little bit, but eventually got on our way at 11:30pm. First time on an overnight bus, and can't say I really enjoyed it. The seats don't fully recline, and it really felt like the driver was tearing around the bends and we were thrown about in our seats quite a bit. But made it in one piece and arrived at 9am.

Fri 11th - Stayed in a much better hostel/hotel than we have been - Las Torres de Ugarte - and somehow twice the price that we had been paying. Not too sure how me managed to book such a nice /expensive place !
Spent the day wandering around the town, enjoying the warmth and pure blue sky, with the snow capped mountains in the background, and beautiful white buildings, cathedral and Plaza.

Sat 12th & Sun 13th - Up early for our 2 day Colca Canyon trip, booked through Giardino Tours. Long bus journey to Chivay with a few stops along the way to see the Alpacas and view points of mountains and volcanoes. Ascended from Arequipa (2,300m) up to the highest view point of the trip (4,900m) and then back down to Chivay (3,600m). Had a few coca teas and coca sweets to help with the altitude. Went for a walk to the Hot Springs and spent a relaxing hour soaking in the 40C pools. The temperature difference during the trip was amazing. Just wearing a strappy top in the morning, and then had on 5 layers in the evening and was still cold !
Sunday morning was a 5am start to drive to the Colca Canyon. Apparently it is twice the depth of the Grand Canyon, but hard to gauge its sheer size from the viewing platforms. Spent 1.5hrs looking for condors, and did actually see about 5 or so, despite it being low season. But all from quite a distance, and difficult to photograph. Enjoyable trip, but seemed a lot of driving just for the 1.5hrs to see a few distant condors and the canyon !
Long drive back to Arequipa, and arrived at 4pm.

Heading off on another overnight bus tonight to Cuzco, which we have both been looking forward to revisiting.