Keith's travelogue

Dear All,

Sorry for the delay between updates, but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all to make up for it.

After Lima, the road was to the south, heading first to Pisco, a place famous for a fiery drink which makes the Pisco Sour cocktail. I didn`t partake, but they had some nice mango juice. We then visited a place called the poor man`s Galapagos Islands at the Ballesta Islands, previously famous for the bird shit fertilizer guano. If it is the poor person`s Galapagos, having been to the original must mean I`m rich, at least by South American standards. The wildlife was similar, with sea lions and penguins and millions of seabirds, and I managed to avoid any gift from above. The animals were all fearless, like the Galapagos, but we were not allowed/able to land and explore, so I'll just say Galapagos as special, and the Ballestas good.

After Pisco, we headed to Nazca, the place of the Nazca lines, and mummified remains, due to the very dry conditions here. I can remember reading about the Nazca Lines in the National Geographics we had at Lyttelton St, so it was great to take the small plane flight and see them from the air. The ride was quite exciting with lots of sweeping turns and swoops to get the best views of the lines, and it was amazing how the lines had been created by scraping off the topsoil and exposing the sub-strata. They are quite large works of art. You will probably have the postcards around Christmas/New Year.

After the flght we visited a cemetery which had an archelogical display of mummies and the Nazca people`s burial practices. It was a bit gruesome so I won´t go into any detail, but they believe the dead are still living and bring them out on feast days! Made me wonder if wre should try it with Dad next March.

After Nazca, we went to Arequipa to visit the Colca Canyon and get some acclimitisation to higher altitude as preparation for the trek to Machu Picchu. We had a very restful two night trip there and on the second day were extremely fortunate to see not one, but four Andean condors at very close quarters, so I adoped the Condor as my mascot for the Machu Picche trek, as it is the Quecha people´s representation of the higher spirit world of their gods. (It worked, see below).

After Arequipa we fly to Cuzco, and spent two days engaged in light walking around the Sacred Valley and the main Inca sites such as Sachaywaman (say it as Sexy Woman) the place with the amazing stonework, and where only a lñast desparate calvary charge by the Sapnish saved them from defeat from an Inca rebellion. And then it was off to Ollaytantambo to start the Inca Trail trek.

I had heard a bit about the trek being really hard, and while it wasn´t easy, I managed it quite well, and it wasn`t as hard as I thoughtn it would be. We were very well supported by a team of 12 porters, cook, assistant cook, waiter (yes!), head porter and two guides. If it had not been for them at least three of the group wouldn´t have made it as two got sick,, and one hurt her hip. I just cruised along and puffed my way up the three passes (4200m, 3950m and 3650m) and suffered only from a lack of sleep, a common affliction at altitude (none the first night and about three hours the second. My appetite was fine, as four chocolate puddings in one sitting would attest.

The ruins were reached after two hours walk on the fourth day and were as stunning as the post cards that I have sent. We had a guided tour to highlight the rligious, architectural, engineering and many other wonders of the city, and then had time of out own to explore the ruins, before a bus/train ride back to Cuzco and a hot shower. I am now recuperating with coffee, cake and ice-cream.

The road south is now beckoning so it will soon be bye-bye Peru, Hello Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, so I´ll write again in a couple of weeks when I have some more to say.

Best wishes for the New Year,

Regards,
Keith