Peru Part II

Parque Lachay and Huacachina

After dragging ourselves away from paradise in Huaraz we made our way back down to sea level to the last possible stop before Lima to sleep. We ended up at a nature reserve known for its miniature animals and plant life. We heard lots of little animals, saw some giant birds, lots of fog and had a great night’s sleep. The next morning we woke up before the sun and started our drive to Lima. Unfortunately our random overheating problem decided to start again. After three stops to cool her down we finally pulled into a gas station and tried to bleed the coolant lines. No air bubbles came out so we decided to try our luck and start off again. We cautiously entered the Lima traffic and our luck held out, phewf. We managed to blow through Lima without any of the traffic issues we’d been warned about and made it all the way to Huacachina, a little desert oasis town surrounded by fine sand dunes and centred around a tiny fresh water lake(pond). It was a mini little paradise. We found a hostel that would let us camp on their lot and immediately went to the hammocks to chill out after a long hot day of driving. The second day we slept in, lounged poolside and then decided to do a sunset buggy tour of the dunes and go sandboarding. We’d heard lot’s of stories about how reckless the drivers are and how dodgy the sandboarding was and were a little nervous about the whole thing, but decided to go for it anyway. We all piled into the buggy and the driver took off at a great speed up a dune and then straight down the other side, gaining speed and hitting a banked turned at the bottom, WOOHOO!!! What a rush. Then we parked with all the other groups, waxed our boards and went for our first run. Luckily this stop only had two short runs to warm us up as sandboarding is tricky business. Then we hopped back in the buggy for another adrenaline rush with even steeper down hills. At times it felt as though there wasn’t anything beneath us as we crested the dune. Then we hit up a few more runs on the sandboard before we were taken to the grand finale. Here we were dropped at the top of a nearly vertical run. It was a little intimidating, but as we were the first ones there we rushed to put on our boards to get fresh lines. It was awesome!! We “carved” our way down with the sand avalanching down with us and then discovered we were at the top of the final run....WOAH!!! This one was massive, but again we had the chance fresh tracks so we went for it. Great fun! Only wish we’d had skis, hehehe. Then we waited at the bottom as all the other boarders came down. Luckily no one was hurt and there was only one major collision. Finally as the sun was setting we all piled back into the buggy and were taken for another rip. For the first time on the trip we both felt our stomachs drop and let out a bit of a scream. Then it was all over and we were taken back to the van. Now the next task began because for the first time in the entire trip we’d locked the keys in the van just before we left. Everyone gathered around and luckily we’d left a window open so with 6 people giving it a go were able to MacGyver our way into the van. After this adventure we bought a round of beers and then went into town for some food with the threesome from Argentina, Spain and Italy that were also staying at the hostel. What a mix of Spanish accents!!

The next morning we woke up early and went to meet Pedro, a local artisan we’d met in town who offered to take us to a remote village for an opportunity to meet some local people, tour the desert and go through an ancient San Pedro Cactus ritual. The day started with a trip into Ica to purchase the cactus and the offerings for Pacha Mama (Mother Earth) including sandalwood, coca leaves, pure alcohol, water, and two perfect apples. Ica isn’t the nicest town and we were taken to a witch market in the dodgiest section, but it was fascinating. Then we jumped into a taxi and headed into the desert. We pulled off the highway in what looked like the middle of nowhere and drove through the desert. Karen was feeling a little sceptical about this whole situation, but immediately felt better as soon as we arrived in Ocucaje. It was a dusty desert town where the people lived in shacks, but had huge smiles on their faces. We jumped out of the taxi and started walking even farther into nowhere. We were heading towards the house of an old man that Pedro had met on another visit. The cactus requires at least 7 hours of cooking and the old man had let Pedro use his stove on a previous occasion. The old man lived at the very end of the line and by the time we got there we were cooked by the sun and dehydrated. Welcome to the desert! Unfortunately he wasn’t home, but his son said that he would be home soon so we left our stuff there and went for another walk to the salt water oasis that these villages were based around. Along the way we were given permission to pick fruit off the trees. This included ciruela (in the plum family), pomegranates, and mango. The mango was so fresh and good you could eat the peel. Definitely the best mangoes we will ever encounter!! Covered in sticky fruit juice and mosquito bites we continued on our walk to the palm tree lined oasis. A lot of the lake had dried up so the ground was covered in a salt crust layer. It felt like we were on another planet. Then we headed back to the old man’s house only to discover he still hadn’t returned. Onto to plan B...we gave him our thanks and started the long, hot one hour slog back to the first village. We had to take a break from the sun so we stopped at someone’s house/store and grabbed some cokes and crackers. Slightly recharged we went back to the road where we were able to flag down a local fruit truck, phewf!! The pickers thought we were hilarious. They probably don’t see many gringos out here. They dropped us off back in town and we went to the house of another person that Pedro knew. Unfortunately the “man” of the house wasn’t home, but the wife set us up a little cooking fire outside and we started preparing the cactus. The entire family including all the cousins gathered around to chat with us and inquire as to what we were doing. They were so welcoming!! The kids all wanted to know our names and asked us tons of questions. We did the best we could to understand everything they were asking us as we removed the hard outer shell of the cactus and cut out the inner fruit. It was sticky business and took forever, but we eventually finished and the 7 hour cooking process began. Luckily Pedro manned the fire while we went and played with the kids. First off the entire gang grabbed hold of “Karina’s” (Karen’s name since we entered Mexico has been Karina as it is much easier for everyone to pronounce) hand and took her fruit picking which involved a lot of “Karina get this one, Karina this one” and so on. Then they returned and Karen took the girls off to teach them a game while Pete played soccer with the only young boy of the family. It was a blast and the kids loved hanging off of us and showing us around their community. Then we were fed a local mashed bean meal and took over watching the pot while Pedro snored away. Finally at 10:30pm all the kids had gone to bed and the brew was finally finished cooking. Another local woman came over with a blender to finish off the process and we said our thanks, promising to return for breakfast and headed into the mountains behind the village for the night. We were absolutely knackered at this point, but we made our offerings to Pacha Mama, drank the thick slime and went to bed envisioning the spiritual world. The mountain where we camped was an ancient burial ground for the preInca Pacaras and there were tons of dug up tombs as they were raided for their riches. It was also a site abundant with ancient fossils including crocodiles with fins and giant prehistoric sharks and whales. Most of these treasures have been stolen and sold on the black market, but they are still searching for more. It was a magical place! The next morning we got up, lazed around in the sun and then headed back into the village. We were both grabbed again to pick more fruit and then went back for some breakfast, unfortunately too tired to run and play more games. Then we jumped in a taxi and said our farewells. There was a lot of “Karina, Peter when are you coming back?? Karina, Peter stay!”, but it was time to leave. We felt truly blessed to have been able to meet these people and be taken into their home and community for a night. It was definitely an experience we will never forget. We arrived back in Huacachina and spent another day lazing around enjoying the day.

Nazca and Arequipa

The next morning we decided it was time to leave so we packed up, visited a grocery store and decided on a short day of driving to Nazca. The Nazca lines are world renowned figures drawn in the sand by preInca people between 900BC and 600AD. They were made by removing sun-darkened stones to reveal the lighter soil below. The lines are only visible from the air and therefore you have to take a flight to see them, although we did try from a nearby hill. Unfortunately we had been told about all the accidents that have happened here and how sick everyone gets in the rust bucket planes so we weren’t sure if we wanted to go. Then we found out that the price had just jumped from $50 to $75 for the half hour flight because of the deaths that had occurred only a month ago. Ummm thanks, but no thanks. Instead we got settled into the campsite, cooked up a good meal, played a game and went to bed to rest up for the long day ahead of us. We’d been debating which route to take to Cusco, but finally decided to drive the coastal road to Arequipa and then head up to Cusco. It was the safest route and the best road. The drive was stunning!! It snaked along the shore line, passing dunes which were at times swept across the road and dropped sharply into the Pacific. It was an 11 hour drive and we were exhausted by the time the road finally climbed up towards Arequipa. Then the construction began and we crawled along for about an hour and a half before finally arriving in Arequipa where we had to start looking for a place to stay. We lucked into a parkade (Playa in Peru) that would let us sleep in the car, right in the middle of town. We wandered into town for a bite to eat and then went back to the van for our imposed 9:30 curfew when the gates would lock us in. The next morning we went in search of spare parts for the van. Lucky for us South America organizes their streets so that every street has a theme. At first we thought this was crazy, but it is actually really smart and all you have to do is tell the taxi driver what you want and he’ll take you to that zone. So off we went to the spare parts zone where our search began. It’s been extremely difficult to find parts for a German van when all the vans down here are made in Brazil so in the long run all we got were rear shocks, but this is something we’ve needed since the start of the trip. Then we went back to town and Karen went to check out an Inca museum while Pete went looking for a voltage converter. It was a museum dedicated to the child sacrifices that had been made to appease the mountain gods in Inca times. It was really interesting and ended with a showing of one of the sacrifices that had been found frozen and perfectly preserved. What else do you do when faced with a smoking volcano, but think that the gods are angry with you and need a sacrifice. Then we cruised around town, went for another meal and then back to our parking lot for the night. Arequipa was our first colonial city in a long time and it was nice to be back.

Cusco

Peru is huge and there are long distances between everywhere we wanted to go so we decided to go for another 11 hour day to reach the Colonial town of Cusco, the previous capital of the Inca territory. Luckily we knew of a campground above town that accepted overlanders so we didn’t have to search for accommodation. We arrived just before dark, wound our way through the cobble stone streets and up into the hills above Cusco to Quinta Lala. It was a big grassy field with two other groups; one family from France in an old VW and another family from Switzerland. Good to know how easy it is to travel with kids!! We spent a few days hanging out here and going into town to check out the beautiful town and sort out how to get to Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu

We finally decided on the easy route via the train and got a move on the next day. Due to all the wash outs and mud slides back in January the train no longer leaves from Cusco or Ollantaytambo. Now you have to catch a bus to Ollantaytambo and then another bus out to another town where there is a temporary train station to take you to Aguas Calientes. Unfortunately it was raining the day we left so when we arrived in Ollantaytambo even though it was a gorgeous little town we went and hid in a cafe where we whiled away the hours playing scrabble and drinking tea. Then we finally caught the Peru rail bus to head out to the station. In typical South America fashion the whole transport thing had not been thoroughly thought out and the 45 min bus ride turned into a 2.5 hour bus ride because there was a section on a single lane road that had been washed out and there were about 7 busses trying to go up and huge trucks trying to come down. The whole ordeal involved the constantly building traffic backing up on the narrow ledge to allow the other traffic to come down and then everyone fighting to get back onto the one lane road. No one can wait and so everyone gets jammed up again, windows get smashed out and all in all it took over 1.5 hours to get the whole thing sorted and get us back on the road. Luckily the train was also late so it all worked out well and we finally made it to Aguas Calientes around 10:00, found a cheap, but nice place to spend a few nights, had our first Pisco sour and crashed. It rained all night and was still raining in the morning so we decided on a late start and didn’t leave for Machu Picchu until around 9:00. The bus up cost $7 and so we decided to hike up. It was steep grind up high stepping, uneven stairs for about 1.5 hours but was well worth the climb when we got to the top. Machu Picchu is a truly magical place even in the rain and fog (maybe even more so). We decided to do the 1.5 hour climb up to the Intipunku (Sun Gate) for a magnificent view of the ruins to start the day. Unfortunately by the time we got there a cloud had descended and we could barely see each other let alone the ruins. We waited around for about 15 minutes and then decided to head back down. By the time we got back the cloud had lifted and we could see the ruins again, woohoo!! We spent the next 5 hours exploring the ruins first hand and doing another little walk out to the Inca bridge which is actually just a stone path built along a vertical cliff which allowed them to reach other towns along dodgy mountain trails. Holy surefooted people! It was a long day of climbing up and down giant Inca steps, but we were fascinated. Finally around 4:30 it started to rain again so we started the hike down. By the time we reached Aguas Calientes we were SOAKED!! We quickly found our hotel, took a shower and climbed into bed. Good thing we’d heard the food was super expensive and had brought lots of food because we didn’t have any dry clothes to leave the room in. The next morning was bright and sunny so we were able to dry out and enjoy a beautiful train ride back. Along the way we saw more ruins and more farming terraces with their ingenious steps built into the rock wall. When we got back to Ollantaytambo we spent a few hours exploring the narrow cobble walking streets and checking out the ruins before catching a cab back to Cusco. Lucky for us it was Sunday and on the way back our taxi driver agreed to stop at the colourful Sunday market in Chinchero to let us look around. Of course we got sucked in and bought a few souvenirs, but they were well worth it and the people were lovely. We were even fortunate enough to see a parade twirl its way through the crowd. It was well worth the stop even in our tired state, but by the time we reached Cusco we were done. We quickly went grocery shopping and hailed a cab back to the van to relax.

Lago Titicaca

We then spent a few more days relaxing, working on the blog and replacing the rear shocks (why didn’t we do this ages ago??). Every day we sat in the sun, surrounded by a morning stampede of llamas and could hear live music from town, what a place to spend a few days. Then it was time to move onto Bolivia. Our last night in Peru was spent on a beautiful point down a 1.5 hour dirt road right on Lago Titicaca. We were given quite a few strange looks as we drove through these tiny little farming villages, but when we rolled up to the spot where we could camp we were at peace. It was a great way to say goodbye to Peru. When we entered this country we couldn’t wait to get out, but once we got used to the landscape and poverty levels and met the friendly people of Peru we were sucked into their culture and didn’t want to leave.

“When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” – Clifton Fadiman

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” - Jawaharlal Nehru

To see a larger version of the pictures and read the captions just click on a photo to take you to the online version.