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!
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