Buenos tardes

I have just crossed the border into Bolivia and am in Copacabana. So much has happened since the last major post including Lima, Nazca, Puerta Inca, Arequipa, Colca Canyon, Puno, a couple nights stay with a local family on Lake Titicaca and a visit to the floating reed islands, the 4 day Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, Christmas Eve, Christmas and boxing day in Cusco. We are now making our way to La Paz for New Years.

Most Peruvian cities all have a smiliar layout. The city centers around a main plaza or square and generally includes a walking street and a general market area from which you can always figure out where you are or need to go. The tree-lined plazas have all been beautiful, surrounded by ornamental and colourful buildings, often gouvernment buildings and a church or museum. In Lima we watched the changing of teh guards one afternoon while a band played a variety of tunes ranging to Star Wars-like themes. In Lima we went bowling with the group and it felt very homely. So far most of the cities have felt very familiar and modern. The language barrier is often the only thing that reminds me I´m somewhere foreign. Its not until we start driving through the country or the mountains to more remote, smaller towns that the development of the country, subsistence living and traditional culture becomes apparent. From there we continued to Nascar where I flew over the Nazca lines. They are massive symbols created by removing the red pebbles and rocks. They are supposedly made by the Nazca people around 500AD. Its incredible because the geometric shapes can only be seen clearly from above which means these people must of figured a way to essentially fly themselves.

Puerta Inca was a lovely beach side campsite surrounded by old ruins. We were only there for one night before heading off to Arequipa and we had a massive barbeque before sleeping on the beach. In Arequipa we settled in to our hotel then went off for a group dinner at a fancy steak restaurant called ZigZag, where you could have Alpaca or Ostrich in addition to your traditional meats. They also do amazing cheese fondue. Its not a cheap restaurant but its delicious. The next day we were off to Colca Canyon and we had to say goodbye to our tour leader in training, Cade, who was joining the other truck. We would see him again in Cusco in a week but its still sad to lose a member of the truck when you get so close to everyone. Luckily we had a full day with no time to sit and dwell. We were off on a reality tour of the city and then to Colca Canyon to see the condors, the second largest bird in the world. Whilst there we visited some hot springs and relaxed our muscles before the excursion the next day. It wasn´t much of a trek in the end but it was a beautiful walk and view. Its the deepest canyon in the world. The drive was spectacular though the canyon itself wasnt as instantly breathtaking as the Grand Canyon or Fish River Canyon. We did see a condor from afar and I tried chewing on the coca leaves as the locals do to help deal with the altitude. They taste like you would imagine a leaf to taste but they have spiritual meaning among the locals as well and you can make a wish if you blow three times towards the volcanoes.

The next main activity to follow was an overnight stay with a local family on lake Titicaca. The lake is teh largest in South America, crossing into both Peru and Bolivia and is over 3800m above sea level. On the way to our island we visited the reed islands where the entire surface is literally made out of reeds. They have to keep recovering the floor every few weeks. Even their boats are made out of reeds and they only last 15 weeks before the reeds have taken in to much water and begin to sink. It is quite incredible that communities still live there. Once we reached the island we were staying at we were introduced to our families and treated like royalty for 2 days. They cooked for us and dressed us in traditional clothes. We played soccer with the kids and then spent the night dancing at the community hall. We looked ridiculous but it was a lot of fun. We thanked the families with gifts we had bought earlier, toothbrushes, washing products, fresh fruit and then had proper beds to sleep in.

From Puno, the town where we boarded the boat, we left for Cusco, my favourite Peruvian city so far. It is big, beautiful and offers everything. We met up with Cade again for 2 nights, had a massive first night out on the town and then an early rest the next as we had to get up at 4am to be ready for the Inca trail by 5. Again we said goodbye to Cade, this time most likely until Rio, once the trip was over. The next few days though had been highlighted in my mind since day one so I was thrilled we finally got to start. The first day was a nice varied walk, it took the wind out of you at parts but was definitely managable. It rained occasionally but were welcomed around 5pm to pre-setup tents, a dinner tent, our bags ready and waiting and a round of applause from all the porters who had raced by us carrying 20 kilos on their back in sandals. We had been warned of the trecherous second day and though the first 4 hours did knock you down and challenged your legs, the walk was enchanting and the views were spectacular. It rained a lot more that day and was quite cold at the tallest peak, Dead Woman´s Pass, over 4000m high, but we were down at at camp before noon and had the whole day to recover. The Pachamama team prepared tea and snacks for us and once again, we didnt need to lift a finger. The third day was a mid range between day one and two. It took us about 6 hours and I was the second girl back so the hot showers were ready and waiting. This campsite had beers and cold drinks on offer as well but I decided to celebrate with a drink once I was back in Cusco. The morning of Machu Picchu we woke at 3:30am to trek about 2 hours into the checkpoint. We left the site around 5am and arrived to the sun gates in terrential rain. We couldn´t see anything but cloud. It was a disappointing enterance but it still felt like an accomplishment and I had completed the same path as the Incas so I was proud and beaming. We walked down to Machu Picchu where the postcard shot is taken and luckily the clouds parted for a spectacular, yet quick view of the ruins. It truly is an epic sight. We walked around the ruins with our guide and the craftsmandhip and precise cutting of the stones is incredible. I definitely want to go back again outside of the rainy season but the clouds did mask the other tourists and we often felt like the only group there. It was worth every slip, sore muscle and soaking wet item of clothing. Just, as a word of advice, bring a proper poncho and do not buy one of the 3 soles ponchos available at the site, they don´t close at the sides, and definitely pay extra for a porter. They complete the trek in record time whilst carrying packs larger than their own bodies, set up everything for you and clap you into the campsite...just nuts. We took the train back and successfully completed the 24 hour challenge of not going to bed until the hour you awoke. Most of our group managed this great feat by partying at Sky Bar and buying fireworks in the city square to celebrate Christmas Eve. The night was alive with deafening sounds and sparklers, even inside the club. The streets were lined with locals selling their goods from neighbouring towns so when we walked home, the streets were blocked with hundreds of sleeping families in chullos (the knitted hat with ear flaps and a pointed head). It was an awesome night and Charlie and I have stocked up on exploding things for New Years in La Paz.

Christmas will have to wait for the next blog!

I´m sorry for the lack of posts recently. Peru has kept me busy but I promise a juicy one after the 3 day Inca trail trek into Machu Picchu which we leave for tomorrow at 5 am! Wish me luck!

Time here flies by! It's been another whirlwind week.

Our first bush camp was freezing cold at high altitude right before we crossed the border into Peru. As I have bush camped before in the cold I was able to cope pretty well, though it was a shock for some of the others who were new to the concept. It was only one night though and within the day we had crossed the border, driven down to sea level and rocked up to the vibrant beach town, Mancora. Here we spent 4 days at Loki, a resort hostel/black hole. The beautiful location, awesome staff and constant parade of activities sucks you in and makes it very hard to leave. I managed to break free a couple of times to visit another more peaceful nearby town and to hit another beach to take some surfing lessons. I have surfed once before in Hawaii in my early teens and I picked it up quite quickly so I thought that natural ability would come shining through and I'd impress the too hot for words surf instructor. Unfortunately it did not work out that way and it took me a few tries to stay up on the board. Surf goddess dreams crushed, I enjoyed the hilarity of the situation with the others that did it with me and enjoyed a fabulous day on the beach. If I ever live anywhere with a beach then I have made a promise to myself that I will take up surfing properly because I absolutely love it. At night the parties were themed and went on until 4 or 5am every night. After 4 days I had racked up a $100 US bar tab and a massive zombie like demeanor. It was awesome. I had my first cook group shop and the group trusted me to make the peanut butter satay recipe that I learnt in Africa. We hit the markets and bought heaps of vegetables and fruit and 3 massive chickens all for under 180 soles (US$2.8 = 1 sole), enough for 20 people, breakfast, lunch and dinner. I also found this great little shop run by the designer herself who had just opened the day before. You could see her design studio and tailoring shop in the back and I recognized the signs of her first photoshoot on the wall, where you use your friends as models and the best natural location you can find because studios are too expensive. She had studied fashion in Equador and had always wanted to open her own store and I was her first customer! She had some amazing unique pieces. I bought 2 tops, 1 very beachy with no back and then a t-shirt with intricate sleeves and a elastic rope belt. I told all the other girls about it and I think between us we cleared out her entire stock.

From there we left to head onto another bush camp behind a giant sand dune where I slept under the stars onstead of a tent. It was amazing and so I repeated this at the last bush camp 2 nights ago at Princess Beach. I saw my first shooting star and it was just perfect. I can't believe I didn't do it in Africa, especially in Sudan when the temperature at night was absolutely right. Here it still gets a bit chilly in the very early morning hours. Everyone thankfully loved the peanut butter satay. I was a bit nervous because I had hyped it up so much but peanut butter is too expensive to buy here so we used peanut paste and added our own oil and sugar. This time we even added, ketchup, sweet chili sauce and lemon juice and it was even better then I remember. There was enough left over after people had all had seconds to feed us again for another meal but over the next 2 days it all got eaten. I was very happy it got finished though because I now hate the idea of wasting food. In Africa there was always a local hanging around to give the left overs too but here we have yet to encounter locals at our bush camps and the campsites are run mainly by foreigners that don{t really need the food. We then went on to see two museums on ancient Peruvian civilizations, like the Moche. The first was the Sipan Museum in Lambayeque Chiclayo and the Sun and Moon Temple Museum in Trujillo. An incredible people that preceded the Incas. We also saw the Chan Chan Ruins of the Chimu culture, the largest pre-Columbian mud-brick settlement in America, and the Temple of the Moon (The Huaca de la Luna) in Trujillo. All were very impressive in scale but the decoration was more simple and child-like. Very different to the Egyptians who covered every inch of wall or ceiling. I was once again blown away by the layout of both museums and the creativity of the displays.

Then it was on to another beach town where we stocked up on the next couple cook shops. They had a massive mall, Aventura in Trujillo, with a movie theatre and since there wasn't much else to do in that town Charlie, Rusty and I went to see one of the only movies in English, Devil. It was then a lazy day at the campsite and on to the Princess Beach bush camp.

Now I am currently in Huaraz. It is a small town. I have checked out the city center while most of the group has gone hiking up to Lake 69. I wasn't feeling too well and am not quite in the mood for a trek so I have stayed behind to catch up on daily chores and have explored the town on my own. I had lunch with the others who stayed behind and then we strolled through the markets to pick up truck lunch for tomorrow. It was a great chance to observe the people here and I love the fact that most still wear there own traditional dress. It is a similar style to Equador. Full pleated skirts worn from the waist are layered on top of each other to create a ruffled trim effect and are matched with a button up top and a cardigan or poncho in bright and bold colours. Often the poncho is patterned or multi-coloured and made from a thick woven fabric. Generally on top is another woven patterned fabric named K'eperina, that holds their goods or their children. They wear pale tights and loafer-esque shoes with a little heel. Most have gorgeous waist-long black hair that is then braided and topped off with the most fantastic hat. Here lies the difference to Equador. They both wear very stiff, woolen, wide-brimmed, fedora-esque hats except here in Peru the crown is much higher. I would even go as far as saying a foot high off their head. It's hard to describe but it suits the women here.

We leave tomorrow as we head down through Lima and on to one of my most anticipated highlights... Machu Pichu!