Peru - Lima, Puno to cusco

Well obviously I have fallen a bit behind with the blog and this would have a little to do with the pace of things around here trying to take in as much as we can and fill our days with exploring the city and surrounds as well as participating in some fine dining and liquid refreshments. (It is the liquid refreshment that prevents me from maintaining a late night blog)
Interested to know if any of you understand this sign? The locals have no idea what it means

We spent the best part of our second day on a city tour taking in some churches with fascinating history and catacombs as well as a brief history lesson. The tour guide was great with a good sense of humour and local knowledge. The girls managed to get us dropped off at the Inca Markets in Miraflores so we spent a lazy hour or so checking out what was on offer. Dinner was fairly interesting and not necessarily the greatest meal but Robyn did tackle the first Guinea Pig for the tour.......
Following day we went on another tour, this time out of the city and down to a pre-Inca settlement complete with pyramids and other amazing structures. The site, Pachacamac, was absolutely huge covering over 25 hectares and multiple areas including an area for preparing the virgins for human sacrifice. Scarily this site had been allowed to disappear over the years and was subject to numerous robbings, trail bike tracks and even a road and a shanty town built though the middle before they realised its significance. The trip also took us through numerous shanty towns, both old and new and many without the basics of water, electricity and hygiene. The Peruvian government is committed to improving the many aspects of Lima that make it such a third world country in so many ways. Huge infrastructure is going into roads, paths, bus networks and living conditions for the shanty towns in order to change the current situation. Central Lima is certainly cleaner than either Buenos Aries or Santiago and there are countless local people employed to keep the streets clean. Once you go out of the centre it is a different story and there is a lot more work to be done. Once again we were warned by locals or police if we were getting off the tourist route and heading into dodgy territory. (This showed the genuine concern that most Peruvian’s have for their country).
As the days go on in each of the cities we tend to get more and more adventurous, crossing the streets as the locals do and even catching the odd bus or taxi by negotiating a fair price and trusting that we will get where we want to go.

We have wandered in and out of museums, art exhibitions, and Parliament house often unplanned but also very lucky. We have also found some great restaurants and tried to experience the local food as much as possible. The Ceviche (raw fish marinated in lime/lemon and pepper) is a favourite and will be sure to try and replicate with the next catch of flathead back home. Peruvian wine is crap so we continue to enjoy the Pisco Sours or Chilean wine or local Cervasa (beer).
This is a pretty good graphic on how they drive in Peru.

On our last day in Lima we met the 9 other people who will be joining us on the Gecko tour to Puno, Macchu Pichu and the Amazon jungle. Thankfully they are all good people and will enjoy getting to know each other over the next couple of weeks. They had only just arrived in Lima the day before so they went on an organised tour and we did our own thing before meeting up that night for yet another Pisco Sour.

The next day we headed to the airport as a group for our flight to Juliaca at 4000 feet in the Andes. Had some trouble with my carry on luggage as a piece of metal sculpture was considered dangerous, despite already being through two previous flights! The guy gave me two options, one to put it in the bin and the other to go back to check in and send it as normal baggage. The problem with that was we only had 30 minutes until leaving and were due to start boarding very soon. I was informed that I would need to purchase a new ticket if I missed the plane and would also have to pay another departure tax. A quick decision and I decided to leg it down to the check in and hopefully get back through security before the flight closed, believe me I legged it, three steps at a time down the stairs, to the voice over of “this is a final call for passengers to Cusco boarding at gate 8” . I pushed my way through the queue with my best Spanish and then explained that I needed the bag to go on my flight. Raced back up the stairs through immigration and up to pay tax when I realised that my wallet, phone and computer were all in the backpack.... Oh my god, suddenly remembered I had some American Dollars in my passport wallet so paid the man and proceeded through security to find Tony, Rach and Robyn waiting with the tour guide. Turned out I had plenty of time but felt totally stressed about my wallet, phone and laptop that I no longer had any control over. This flight was one of the longest two hours in history but my prayers to the Incan gods were answered and the little blue backpack came around on the baggage carousel with all contents safely inside.
From Juliaca we had a one hour bus trip to Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Now let me tell you nothing can prepare you for life at 4000 metres, your breathing is restricted and rapid movement is to be avoided at all costs, your head starts to tighten across the temples and limbs can feel quite lethargic. The strategy is to spend a few days coming to terms with the new conditions and allow the body to adjust so the first night was a light meal (Alpaca) and then off to bed. The Alpaca actually just tasted a bit like a steak but with a finer texture.
They warned us that one of the possible symptoms of Altitude sickness can be insomnia, now I never thought I would suffer from this but I would have been lucky if I had more than 1 hours sleep. Up early and off to Lake Titicaca for a boat trip out to a floating reed island that the local Indians create by cutting sections of the roots about 1 metre deep off the bottom of the lake, cleaning the dirt off them that then allows them to float to the surface. They tie all these sections of root together to from the island then lay another metre of reeds in a criss-cross pattern over the top and therefore create the floating island. These reeds have to be continually replaced as they break down. Some of the islands are probably close to an acre however the one we visited was more like the size of a normal ¼ acre block. There were 5 families living on the island in homemade reed houses and they showed us around, dressed us up in local costumes (The local women all had incredibly large hips that were not helped by the dresses that they wore.), and tried to sell us some of their craftwork. A very interesting experience but life would get a little boring after a couple of days. We also experienced a short trip in a reed canoe paddled by two of the locals from the island we visited. We were farewelled by the island women singing in their native tongue and then translated into English which happened to be “My Bonnie lies over the Ocean” and “Row, Row, Row your Boat”
After leaving the island we had a three hour boat trip out to Amantani Island where we were going to spend the night with a local family from the Quechua Tribe. We were met by a group of women again with very large hips; we were all assigned to one of the women and then walked up the hill to our home for the evening. The trip up the hill was bloody hard and we needed to stop several times to catch our breath, language was also going to be a problem as they have limited Spanish and virtually no English. Our “home” is very basic with a rather interesting climb up a “staircase” across a very dodgy landing and through a 4 foot door. There were four single beds that all smelt of wood smoke and had varying degrees of discomfort so it was necessary to try and find one that suited your body shape.
Once settled in we went down to the kitchen to see how our lunch was being prepared. Mmmmm another eye opener, our “mum” had lit the fire in a room that was probably 2 metres by 3.5m with a dirt floor and no chimney. You can imagine the smoke in the room but we were hungry and this was a new experience. We met the two children, Jimmy 8 and Mario 4, nice little kids really and they shook our hands said Hola and introduced themselves. Robyn helped with the potatoes (they are predominately vegetarian except for special occasions when the odd guinea pig, sheep or pig is included) Mum cooked our meal in front of us peeling the vegies, wiping her nose, transferring water from one bowl to another and washing our plates in some more water and then drying them with an old rag.... we were hungry and tucked in to a large bowl of veggie soup and then potatoes, yams and fried cheese. After our late lunch we went over to see the locals playing soccer but decided not to join in as I am still not up to physical exercise. It started to thunder and then rain so we took shelter in a small rustic shop/ bar and enjoyed a hot chocolate and baileys before attempting to climb to the top of the island. I say attempting because we managed to get a little over half way and decided to head back down for dinner.
Dinner was with Momma, Poppa, and a couple of other relatives in the semi darkness of the kitchen and two candles, we had a large bowl of maize soup followed by some more potatoes, diced and fried this time and rice (not sure if I could eat potatoes again and certainly we both struggled to get it all down.) after dinner they organised a “Fiesta” for us with dancing, music and a beer. Only one beer because I didn’t want to go down the stairs to the toilet in the middle of the night. It was a fun night, a little over tourist but we all had a dance and enjoyed ourselves (all dressed in their typical dress – very becoming).
Another of the side effects of altitude sickness must be needing to pee every 30 minutes because I had my second sleepless night and had to traverse the dodgy landing and staircase at least 4 times in the night and believe me it was bloody cold. Robyn and I shared a single bed for warmth but also because it had the least dips of any of them. An incredibly long night with very little sleep so we were up at 6 and headed down to another smoke filled room for pancakes and Coca tea.
After breakfast we were offered a small bowl of warm ware to wash our hands in but by this stage we were over the home stay and ready to get back to civilisation. An experience like this makes you appreciate running water, effective toilets, electricity and hygiene. If we survive this without getting gastro or a cold I will be very surprised. Said our thankyous and goodbyes, hopped on to the boat and settled in for the three ½ hour return, some sleep and sharing stories with the other guys on the tour. I think Robyn and I might have drawn the short straw as far as facilities and hygiene were concerned but it was an experience and we survived.
On the bus to Cusco now – 6 hour trip that take us up over a pass at 4338m then down to Cusco. Hopefully going down to 3500 metres might alleviate some of the stresses on the body and get us ready for the big walk on the Inca trail.

Ch0w for now Will post again after Macchu Pichu as we leave in the morning(sunday) and return on Wednesday night.

Lima Peru

Lima Peru
We arrived mid morning and once again managed to pass through customs without a strip search and even avoided paying any taxes which was more of a surprise after the last last two countries. Located the taxi and then headed for the city centre.
Well we thought the Chileans were mad drivers, then the Argentinians taught us how to make the most of the bitumen with the least amount of signalling but nothing really prepared us for the Peruvians. - These guys are simply crazy, every second car is a taxi and demolition derby is just one way of describing the trip in.
The hotel Mauey is very majestic and quite comfortable but our rooms are on the third floor facing the street and the sounds of traffic may be an issue during the night. The Peruvians have a rather nasty habit of blowing the horn on their cars, not once, but several times every minute and believe me this can get fairly annoying.
We spent the afternoon settling in and orienting ourselves including a couple of Pisco Sours to help us to acclimatise. This drink is the national drink and you need to be very careful just how many you consume as it can just sneak up on you and turn you into a blithering idiot if you are not careful.
We had a great Chinese Peruvian meal across the road before retiring for the night. Tommorow is a city tour

Argentina

Hola from Buenos Aires airport.
Nice early start this morning up at 5 am ready for the airport transfer at 5.30 and now sitting in the lounge waiting for the plane to take us to Peru.
Well we have just had a week in Argentina mainly around the Buenos Aries precinct, taking in the sites and meandering around the shops. This place is very different in many ways from Santiago although there is still a great divide between the wealthy and the poor. Food is big and rich and very affordable with the average meal for 4 people under $60 Dollars including beer and wine. A nice wine from the supermarket will cost around $5 and therefore 10 in the restaurant.(we even replaced our duty free gin with a $4 one from the supermercado) The travel guides warn you about the dress codes here and they are right as the people who can afford it go all out in ensuring they are wearing the latest fashion and spend plenty of dollars on the makeup and cosmetic surgery. This might be alright while they are young but I am not so sure that they age all that well.
After settling in on the first day we decided it was time for some dinner and nothing better than a steak to fill the belly.....hmm I ordered a Baby Bife which turned out to be two large slabs of meat, along with a plate of veggies and some papa fritz (chips) for the table, - far more than I could possibly eat in 1 session but thankfully Tony was able to help out and between us we did it proud, albeit we really didn’t need to eat for another 24 hours. Breakfast at our B&B is also a sight to behold and we had to take a photo of the table before we started. On offer was a large selection of cakes, pastries, breads and biscuits just to make sure that we kept our carbs up and prepared ourselves for the day ahead. By the end of our stay we had taken to purchasing Avocados and tomatoes to spread on toast in order to try and bring the diet back into some sense of reality. (This can be very difficult given the size of their meals and the endless supply of breads at every meal) I am surprised that this is not one of the most obese nations in the world given their diet and portion sizes but they must have very different metabolisms to us.
We have been trying to walk as much as possible to burn some calories and to avoid the public transport as they have this habit of squeezing as many people on to a subway or bus in a bizarre attempt to break a world record. Our first experience of this was on day 2 when we decided to head into the city and do one of the double decker tourist busses and hence get some bearings and identify areas where we wanted to return to during the week. Once working out which side of the track to stand on we waited a couple of minutes for the train and the doors opened onto a full car but to our surprise we were ushered/pushed in and wedged between a sea of bodies with nothing to hang onto but locked in to position by those around us. I managed to keep one hand on my pocket with the phone and wallet but had absolutely no control of the backpack for the next 20 minutes. Fortunately it survived although a couple of zips had been opened but nothing of value for them to take. Robyn was targeted by I young man but she wasn’t going to play his game so he got pissed off and moved on.
Off the subway and straight into the mall where you come face to face with market stands selling all sorts of souvenirs and trinkets so we spent a bit of time looking and buying various costume jewelry and taking a few photos. The bus trip was good and we stopped for lunch at La Bocca where there was yet another market, some tango demonstrations and some great people watching.
Day 3 we decided on a walk around the parks looking at some of the amazing statues and sculptures and of course we managed to get lost along the way and were slightly off the track but still in a very public area where we encountered our first serious attempt to scam us and pick the pockets. The scenario went something like this: tony was about 20 meters behind and was greeted by a lady with a map asking for some directions, we were also accompanied by a man with a map but he didn’t ask or say anything. We stopped to laugh at Tony and wait for him to catch up when Robyn felt something akin to bird poo land on her head, shirt and backpack..... It looked like bird poo and smelt like bird poo and the very helpful man near us jumped up offering some toilet paper to clean it off, next thing we know I had some on me, Rachel on her and even Tony who was 20 meters away had some on him. So here we were trying to wipe it off each other wondering what type of bird could possibly have that much crap and managed to get us all. Our new friends were being so helpful offering water and tissues and even assisting us to remove some of it. Her job was to distract us and get me to help Robyn while he tried to unzip my pocket and remove the wallet. This proved too difficult and he moved on to helping Tony and Rachel. The penny dropped and we realised that he had his hands on Tony’s money pouch and their scam was exposed, within a few seconds and a final check of Rachel’s back pocket they quickly left to a waiting taxi along with another woman who was obviously standing guard. The net result was that we lost a bottle of water but kept everything else and we learnt a very valuable lesson. It all happened so quickly and we were just a little bit too trusting to accept the offer of help from a total stranger.
In the evening we decided to take in a Tango show and were picked up at 9.30 and carried across town in another white knuckle taxi (they are seriously crazy behind the wheel of the car turning a three lane road into at least 5 and ducking and weaving using only the horn and no indicators) The show was spectacular with Spanish singing and some great dancing. Personally I am not sure what all of the fuss is about as I often dance like that after a few lagers. Seriously great footwork and some very elegant clothing including the dresses albeit a bit short for my liking given I was in the front row.....
Day 4 we decided to head north to the Delta at Tigre. This was a bus trip on a local bus followed by the Tren-de-Costa out to the coast. After arriving we wandered around and looked at the various boat options for exploring the river ways and islands that make up the delta. We settled on a private water taxi and spent the next hour on the river and a fascinating experience and insight into life on the islands. Housing is very cheap ($40,000 US) and much of our conversation was around which particular property we might purchase as a holiday home. On return to the jetty we headed off in search of a restaurant for lunch. Having learnt from previous experiences we settled on a smaller local restaurant and only ordered 1 plate of meat meant for 2 persons to be shared amongst us..... Gross, the meal consisted of some Chorizo sausage, Blood sausage, kidneys, intestines and a couple of steaks. Between us we tried it all except for the blood sausage as this was a real stomach turner and would have only ended in vomit and tears. There was quite a bit of food left at the end and the meal stayed with us for several hours after.
We needed a new battery for Robyn’s camera as the one she had would not hold its charge for the whole day so once back in the city we spotted a camera shop and asked in our best Spanish for a replacement, they sent us down the road across a few blocks and mission accomplished. Next an external hard drive to back up ALL of the photos that Robyn and Rachel had managed to download onto the computer. Again back a few blocks and into a major shopping mall. Robyn and I went to see what we could find and left Rach and Tony in a leather shop, on our return they were both wearing new jackets and Rachel a new handbag, Robyn joined in and also acquired a new Jacket.
Day 5 More shopping. We tackled the bus as we were feeling very brave and headed in to find the post office and see how we might get a metal sculpture (lunig) home that Tony and Rach had brought us in Valparaiso for a wedding present. On the bus Tony started talking to an older lady and was asking directions, I commented on her English being very good to which she replied “that is because I am English my dear” Doh! A massage for Tony and some lunch for us followed by a rather long walk home via the shops on Santé Fa road. Managed to find a few more things to add to the luggage.
Day 6 and we decided a bit of culture was in order however first we needed to find an “apple’ store to see if we could get Tony’s phone repaired. Finally, we found someone who could understand us despite not being able to speak any English and using the map they located some directions and away we went. Mission accomplished so now a walk to the national Museum. Not much of a museum really although there were some great old photos and paintings with all the descriptions in Spanish. Lunch then a subway back to the B&B to pick up the laundry and get ready for this morning. Meal times by now are starting to align with the locals who normally eat after 2 and again after 9pm so this has taken some getting used to but we are getting into it and enjoying the cheap food and inevitable wine and beer that must accompany these meals. A bit of fun picking up the laundry as our washing had been combined (no problem there) but it was also spread across two other peoples so required a little exercise in sorting. Someone had obviously beaten us there as a pair of Tony’s socks had gone missing and a single sock of the same brand left behind. The lady in the shop eventually found its mate behind the machine and unwashed so Tony settled for this one as there was little else we could do and the lady in question spoke no English and our little Spanish was not enough to keep up with her.
And so here we are on the plane and heading for the next part of the adventure in Lima Peru. I will try to write again soon.
Love to all Stu and Robyn