Last day in Cusco and back to Lima

Well after an amazing 14 or so days high up in the Andean Mountains it's back down to sea level for us.  Good old fashioned sea level stuff. Where the air is thick and heavily polluted, although the air in Cusco was pretty poor also, I still like the air down here. It's more breathable. hehehe
Cusco was great, on the last day we went shopping for Christmas presents for the family and made a quick dash up the mountain to Sagsaywaman ('sexy woman') to take some pictures.  I have to say if there was ever a country on earth where you can get some real cool Christmas presents Peru would be that country. Almost all family members have been accounted for and now the task of getting the presents  to them begins..
Saqsaywaman, is an INCA site on top of Cusco it's where they hold there festival of the Sun on June 24th each year. (Expect to see a synth of the place soon on our blogs). The amazing INCA people did great building this massive site using stones that weigh up to 130 tonnes, and what makes it even more amazing is that it is stone on stone.... Beautiful work from these clever builders. The site is huge, not as picturesque as Machu Picchu, none the less still amazing.
I can't get over the stones that they used up there. I mean these things are massive man. And to think that they had to haul these stones up the surrounding quarries makes it even more astonishing. The stones have been placed in each position carefully to tell a story. While eavesdropping in on a tour group, (yes, I'm cheap) the guide said that some of the stones in the walls of Sagsaywaman, form the images of the serpent, puma and condor all of the INCA spirit animals. Then I followed the group around to where the guide showed them where these animal depictions could be found. AWESOME stuff.
I only had a couple of hours at the site. So I was running around as if I was late for an exam. After taking 400 photos, it was back down the mountain and off to Lima....
The bus from Cusco to Lima is about 20 hours, sounds long, but really wasn't that long at all. We went first class with Cruz Del Sur, which means, wider seats and  thicker blankets. Cruz Del Sur is a real nice bus company, you get food and drinks. It's like being on a plane but not! There's a stewardess or what B likes to call them 'road hostesses'. The trip went pretty quick we went from Cusco to Nasca to Lima. The first three hours was terrible though with so many twist and curves on the road. Poor B was really sick and me too, it didn't look like we where gonna make it. But then the road straightened out and we quickly doped ourselves up on cold and flu med's and quickly passed out to sleep.
Staying at the flying dog hostel in Lima for the next three days while we plan the next leg of our trip.
Peace

Technorati Tags: Lima,Peru,Cusco,Cruz Del Sur,Nasca,Saqsaywaman,Inca,Flying Dog Hostel

WE CAME, WE SAW, WE MACHU PICCHUED!!

After 20 GB of photos and three uploads ontp our laptops, it´s safe to say

WE CAME, WE SAW, WE MACHU PICCHUED!!!! (berns words not mine)

It was awesome, probably one of the most photogenic places we have ever visited on our trip.

So buggered right now though, gonna go to bed and stay tuned for more to come!!!

CARLOS

The Eve Before Machu Picchu

Well we´ve made it this far there´s no turning back now. We are in Aguas Caleintes or as what i like to call "we´re only here cause of you white folk!, thankyou and come again" The town is primarily built on the foundations of TOURISM. Main industry, tours to Machu Pichu, secondary industry restaurants and more restaurants.
I have never seen so many pizza places in my life. So mannny...

Aguas Calientes, is a the final stop before making the final accent to Machu Picchu. We caught the train here from Cusco, 4 hours, it takes and two of those hours is just to get out of fricken Cusco. Still the train ride really comes to life as you head into the high Andean Mountains. With shear cliffs and towering mountain tops on either side of the train and running parraell with the Rio Urubamba the train ride is nothing less than SPECTACULAR, which is good cause it´s fricken expensive.....

So we didn´t do the Inca Trail. What can you do, it`s commercial as hell. At KM 88 is where in INCA TRAIL starts. These poor porters all colour coded carrying massive packs for the tourist. SO many groups heading out on the trail. I would want to do an alternative INCA trail. The trail looks nuts, you can see these massive steep mountins and think, 'are they gonna climb that' It's definately a 'glad it's you and not me moment' when you see them accent the massive peaks.

When we arrived today we had to sort out our tickets to get back to CUSCO for the 13th of November. I really need to learn Spanish, shit would be so much easier if I knew it. It was such a hassle just to get the tickets, every tour company in Cusco will tell you that there are no train tickets available. Or that it takes 48 hours before you can get a train ticket.. All BS, we bought our tickets from the website last night and picked up the tickets this morning....
Also they will tell you that the a tour group is the best way to see Machu Picchu, again more BS, the place is so set up for tourist that there is enough information and free maps for you go and do it your self.

Tour groups are such a pain in the ass.... avoid them if you can, you`re always rushed and pushed and hearded around like Andean Lama`s that you forget to enjoy the bloody experience... Yeah, it´s a little harder trying to figure out what to do and where but hey that`s half the fun.... the other half is when you figure it out... You`re like HELL YEAH BITTCHEEESS..

So now all has been sorted. The final checklist complete and all without having to book a tour out of Cusco...

Entrance tickets to Machu Picchu - Check
Return Bus tickets to Machu Picchu - Check
Return train ticket to Cusco - Check
Food to Machu Picchu - Check
ID`s - Check
Free Map of Machu Picchu - Check
Cameras - Check
Memory Cards - Check
Laptop for midday upload of pictures - Check

It´s all there, all done ready to go, bus leaves at 5:30 in the morning to Machu Picchu, it´s the earliest bus to leave Aguas for Machu Pichu, we`re taking this one so that we can see the sunrise over this puppy.

Only one thing left to do.......

PRAY FOR A CLEAR DAY!! AND A CLEAR SUNRISE.....

If it happens it happens if not then who the hell cares where at MACHU PICCHU!!!!!!

woo hooo

Let´s DO THIS BITTCHHESSS.....

CARLOS

Buzzing in Cusco

I was in the hotel reception working on the laptop tonight and decided to be cool and order a slice of cake and some tea. Coca tea! Now I can't sleep. I'm buzzing around the room like flies in the summer time.... what the?.. my heart rate is as if I just ran the 100 metre dash.. what the?..
Just want to sleep, suppose to get up at 5 (It's 12:48 AM right now) to go to the train station to pick up tickets to Machu Pichu... But right now my eyes are glued open not shut and I want them to be shut...
No more coca tea before bed....Seriously....I have to drink powerade just to stay hydrated..
Breathing is heaps hard around Cusco too.. today we had to change room and nearly passed out packing our backpak.. Walking around town is tough too.. walking down the hill is great but walking up is ridiculous, I feel like im 80...
Berna's out cold, sleeping like a baby..
Gonna try and sleep now..

Technorati Tags: Cusco,Coca Tea

AREQUIPA, PERU

We have spent a relaxing weekend in Arequipa the second largest city in Peru. We had planned an action pack couple of days touring the worlds second deepest canyon Colca Canyon  (the deepest one is next to Colca and is about 16 hours away from Arequipa. The deepest canyon in the world is called Cotahuasi Canyon and is only deeper by a mere 163 meters..) After seeing Bryce, Zion, Slot and Grand Canyons in the States we we're pretty much canyoned out, but the Condors would have been awesome though. We saw a condor soaring about 20 metres from us at Zion Canyon and it was huuuuuugggeeee.. Awesome birds...
Anyhoo, so we decided to stay in Arequipa for the weekend and relax. Arequipa is a strange and surreal place. I say it is surreal because it is surrounded by three  massive mountains. A volcano called El Misti, Pichu Pichu to the right and Chachani to the left.
The mountains are magnificent to look at man! In the afternoon the colours of the sunset really transform the mountains. During the day the mountains look flat and lifeless, but when the sunset starts the mountains come to life, really catching your eye and demanding your full attention.. This was one of the highlights of staying at Arequipa, just to see the sunset and mountains come to life... Man that was priceless....
We couch surfed with Maja, a Swedish girl living and working in Arequipa... Go figure that there would be Swedish people in PERU let alone Arequipa :-) She was awesome though! Helped us out, made great fruit shakes and cool to hang with and chill.
Her apartment had a great view of El Misti and it was awesome to sit in the living room watch the sunset and see El Misti come to life.
We also went to the Cemetery, on the 1st of November, to celebrate the dead. It is custom in Peru that after Halloween everyone go to the cemetery and celebrate the people that have passed away. Simply put it was a party at the cemetery. Great to see a different way of remembering loved ones that have passed away. People where drinking at there loved ones graves, singing and dancing. I think this is a great tradition. Maja's friend Lucho took us to the cemetery, if it wasn't for couch surfing man, we would never had gotten to experience that. Couch surfing rules man!!
Pisco sours? YES please!!! we had a couple of these little puppies at a place called Istanbul. Cute little cafe/bar/restaurant. Arequipa is named the white city for the stones used in the buildings are you guessed it white.
Peru is very touristy, I would love to see how much of there economy is backed by tourism. There's tourist everywhere. The sound of English, French, Italian, German and other languages are frequently heard when strolling down the cobbled stoned streets
Need a beanie? Well Peru is the place to get them. I promised at the start of our trip that the only souvenir I would purchase are the totally awesome bennies the Peruvians wear. There like the coolest things ever.....I can see me and B goin nuts in Cusco buying enough arts and crafts to start our own stall at Glebe Markets.
Off to Cusco and the INCA civilisations that surround the PUMA city..

EL MISTI TOWERING ABOVE AREQUIPA -  looks fake ay... like some Hollywood set..

Technorati Tags: Cusco,Arequipa,El Misti,Pichu Pichu,Chachani,Peru

Nasca, Peru

After the flight yesterday, we still had half a day to kill in Nasca. We booked a tour yesterday, with the man who took us to the airport for our Nasca Lines flight, to see a cemetery. I read about the cemetery in the LPB when we were in Lima, so expectations where high..
After having breakfast (when the say breakfast included they really mean we will give you 4 pieces of white round bread and a little bit of strawberry jam) we went upstairs to pack our bags for storage  down stairs while we would go on our tour.
With the bags packed and loaded onto our shoulders and B drops a bombshell from left and right field...
"I can't find my wallet!"
Coming from a girl who manages somehow not to lose a thing. I immediately became nervous, and started to back track through last nights activities. I had nothing... We looked everywhere (pretty much looked through hand bag, where the wallet resides and nothing)
The wallet is bright red and huuuuggeeee, hard to imagine anyone could lose such an item. But somehow we did... 10:30 am and the phone rings, it was the tour guide ready to take us to the cemetery and the hotel waiting for us to check out of the room. Crap.. No wallet = No money = No Tour...
After a short argument with B about how our lives where just about over, because the wallet had all of our financial assets in it, I was sent downstairs to explain to the tour guide that we had no money and could not go on the tour. I felt bad, seeing the man's face he was also sad, but not because we had lost our wallet but because we where bailing out on his tour... Bstard.. He repeatedly kept saying, 'Do you have a card to put in slot' I kept saying 'We have lost wallet, with card to put in slot'
Really in my head I was saying 'Holy Shte where in the middle of the dessert and we've lost all our money. CRAP'...
All had seemed to be lost and our trip over when suddenly, I looked over the tour guides shoulder through the window and saw Bernadette walking down the stairs holding in her right hand her bright red wallet...
I was like 'thank you lord'
I got the attention of the tour guide and said 'Okay, let's go to the cemetery, we've found the wallet' the smile on the man's face was a wide as the socio-economic gap in Venezuela.
Trust B to find it.. The girl doesn't loose a thing, while I manage to lose every single thing that I get possession of.
Close call, though.. If we had lost that wallet.... GOOOOOONNNNEEEEE....
So back to the cemetery, the cemetery we went to was called
CEMETERY OF CHAUCHILLA about 27 km south of Nasca. The cemetery pre dates the Inca and the Nasca people. It is about 1000 years old and is dusty. The people buried in the tombs within the cemetery are the ICA people, all no higher than 150 cm.. I would have been a giant walking amongst them. hehehehe.. N the cemetery there were excavated tombs which showed mummies of children, priests, parrots, and other well of people in that society. All mummies are facing east to give worship to the sun god.. There are about 15 tombs excavated for public viewing, with mummies open to the atmosphere. The mummies where very well preserved, the guide explained how the sand in the desert contained special minerals which help keep the mummies in good condition. The climate of the area being dry and arid also help contribute to the preservation of the mummies over the years..
The mummies are all in the fetal position as the ICA people believed in reincarnation, and so the fetal position represented a rebirth. I don't know but I agree with Bernadette when she said 'it looks uncomfortable' Indeed it did look uncomfortable... Each tomb had only one body in it and parents and children where not allowed to be buried together. If you where an ICA baby and died, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes as the ICA people would slice the infants head and offer and use it as a sacrifice to the gods and bury the head separate from the body. In replacement of the baby's head a ball of cotton would be placed on top of the babies body....
The cemetery was okay, I thought it would be a lot more freakier than what was there... But what can you do.. After about the 5th tomb, we where kind of over it and wanted to get out of the searing heat more than anything. But 10 more tombs to go.....
After finishing up with the mummies B bought a couple of trinkets from a man selling trinkets..
hahahaha - trinkets..
Our tour guide took us back to the city at light speed. They drive fast here in Peru and line markings on the street don't really seem to account for much to all drivers. Meanwhile Bernadette is sitting in the front seat, white as a ghost, probably thinking in her head, 'why am i doing this?'
Back in the city for a quick bite to eat at a local restaurant across the road from the Cruz del Sur bus station and it was off to Arequipa......
Peace...

Technorati Tags: CEMETERY OF CHAUCHILLA,Nasca,Peru

Arriving in Lima

Well after our stay in Caracas, we we're about to throw it all in and book an early flight home... But instead we booked a flight with LAN to Lima, Peru. Great choice!! The booking process was quite interesting. As we had to do it through a travel agency.. Put it this way, I'm glad we are actually in Peru... and not the Philippines. (man i really need to learn Spanish, you feel like such a spaz not being able to talk..)
Arriving into Lima was such a surprise. The airport was ultra modern on new. We both were like 'are we in the right place'. We couldn't help but notice all the banners hanging through out the airport which said APEC. APEC is being held in Lima this year and we reckon APEC is one of the reasons as to the upgrade of the airport. None the less the airport was sweet, customs was a breeze and out of there in no time at all.
I had organised our accommodation back in Caracas through the Internet and booked a couple of nights a the Flying Dog Hostel, Lima. I also organised a pick at the airport from the hostel, because it was late at night.
We walk into the arrivals area and was greeted with banners all bearing names of arriving tourist. It was promising to see so many names, unfortunately our name was not shown. Crap. We had arrived at 11:20 pm and was out into the arrivals area by midnight. We wait for our pick up service till 12:30 and when they didn't show up we decide to take a taxi to the Hostel our selves.We find a taxi and head into the city of Miraflores where the hostel was located.
The taxi ride again was life altering....It turns out that the driving we experienced Caracas is typical for Lima also. The taxi driver was driving at 'light speed and with complete disregard for human and animal life..' Nuts... Taking corners like he was on a rally time trial and red lights - what's that????
Lucky to step out of the taxi with our lives we proceed up the stairs of the hostel, only to find out that I had booked our accommodation for freaking

NOVEMBER 24 instead of OCTOBER 24

this explained why there was no airport pick up... There was never a booking.... Leover you dip stick!!!!
So it was 2 am and we had nowhere to sleep.. Lucky for us the receptionist was a nice guy and hooked us up with dorm rooms at the hostel across the road (also a Flying Dog Hostel) and then for the following night we were to get a double room.
So after the crappy error that I had made, we finally made it to Lima and got some sleep....
Peace

Technorati Tags: Flying Dog Hostel,Lima,Peru,LAN