Cruz del Condor - watch or be watched

High up, overlooking the daunting depths of the Colca Canyon is a game viewing spot with a difference, teaming with local women selling everything from hot breakfasts to alpaca wool booties. I couldn´t help wondering though, just who was being watched.

I reckon someone informed the local condor association that every morning, at 9:30, around 200 weird and wonderful tourists from all corners of the globe would gather on a outcrop at the edge of the canyon. Our specific morning at the viewpoint was like most others in the canyon, clear blue skies and a couple of interested condors catching thermals up to their viewpoint. Their aerial displays were magical, on some occasions coming so close that they could even here the clicking of our cameras.

After experiencing all that Cruz del Condor has to offer, I walked away with the knowledge that condors are very big birds, and that tourists are very strange creatures.

Maybe the deepest canyon in the world?

We gave our legs a pre-inca trail test by joining a 2 day trek into the Colca Canyon. The trip began in Arequipa, where we had to take a local bus to Cabana Conde. The 6 hour ride started unremarkably, although I´m convinced the driver was Norris. Three and a half hours in, at a 1 llama town called Chivay, things started getting interesting. Without knowing it we were attempting to enter the Guiness Book of Records for cramming the most people onto 1 bus. By the time we got to our destination I had a red-cheeked highland kid on my head, and a boiled egg and garlic smelling local woman sitting on my lap. After waking both my legs up, I managed to negotiate my exit from the bus.

The afternoon walk, of around 4 hours, took us down 1000m to a village called San Juan. A magnificient walk, with a stray Jack Russel for company, a condor overhead, and a late afternoon sun painting both sand and sky.

If it´s not the deepest canyon in the world it must be in the top 3, and besides that, the area of Peruvian land it covers is immense. What amazed me, possibly even more than the sublime landscape, was the people of the villages at the bottom of the canyon, who´s culture seems to have been perfectly preserved by their absolute isolation. Some of the oldest people I have ever seen, living off the land, growing apples, oranges and avocado´s.

After a wholesome alpaca stew and a good rest, we spent our second morning passing through 2 villages, and then walking down to an oasis at the bottom of the canyon. With a couple of swimming pools, a restaurant, and a few bathrooms, it was the perfect spot to hide from the heat of the day. The afternoon shinny took us all the way back up to Cabana Conde, a steep climb of around 1100m which took Jackie and myself just over 2 hours. It seems that some of our group have rarely ventured off of their carpeted lounge floors, and watching them negotiate this sort of terrain was both amusing and infuriating. A few of the girls even rented donkeys to carry their little daypacks out. I am really hoping that they improve their game for the Inca Trail in a few days time. I might have to strap a chocolate cake to my backpack to keep them motivated.

A story without words

The road to Arequipa, like being lost in a painting.

A message on the ground?

Created by the Nazca people, between 200BC and 700AD, the Nazca Lins are still a mystery. The ony real vantage point is from the air (like from an airoplane), which makes them even more confusing. We decided to have a look at them, so we jumped on a light aircraft and explored their shapes and figures on a half hour flight. Really awesome, perfectly constructed pictures carved into the landscape, my favourites being the monkey and the astronaut.

Sandboarding

One of the most exciting experiences to date, way beyond our expectations. The ride in the buggy was enough of a thrill, especially due to the fact that our driver would have put Evil Knievel to shame. I don´t think safety is a big concern in Peru, and somewhat fortunately I feel, nobody in our group was injured. The boarding was awesome, and after a nervous start, we couldn´t get enough, eventually convincing our guide to take us on 2 extra runs.

Norris Award

Could this be the ultimate?

Paracas - another bush camp

The Paracas National Reserve is an uninhabited area in part of a seemingly never-ending coastal desert. We set up camp on an exposed peninsular, and although some of the group moaned about the cold, wind and scorpions, Jackie and myself were in our element. We had one of our best ever beach walks, some of us even trying to fly off with the birds.

The most expensive crap in the world

No, not mine. The guano produced by the millions of birds surrounding the Ballestos Islands, famous for farms of the stuff. Would you believe that a war was even fought over the islands produce. We spent around an hour exploring the islands on a boat, and in spite of the overwhelming stench of bird poo, it was actually a really enjoyable excursion.

Welcome to the Jungle

On tuesday (the 12th) we were up really early to catch our 5am flight to Iquitos, the ´capital of the amazon´, and the biggest city in the world to be unreachable by road. The reason for the flight being so early is to avoid vultures on the other side from being injured during landing. After sitting on the plane (on the runway) for an hour, we were told that due to poor weather conditions, the flight had been moved to 6pm. So, after a bit more time in Lima, we got back to the airport and were successful in making our way to Iquitos.

Iquitos has something like 500,000 people, and in my humble opinion is a place that is going down the wrong road. It´s drugs, child prostitution and street vendors are a real problem, and as a travel destination I would say that it has as much charm as a rotten fish. It must have been a fabulous place before us tourists first arrived, what a shame. Luckily we were only there on our way to a Jungle Lodge, 140 km´s (this is what we were told, but I reckon it´s more like 80 km´s) down the Amazon.

Our group of 20 was squashed into 2 boats, and 1 and a half hours into the trip (three quarters of the way), the steering wheel in our boat broke, leaving us floating uncontrollably towards Brazil, and wondering if we were ever going to make it to our seemingly elusive destination. The other boat pushed on, dropping most of the group at the lodge, and making it´s way back for us. About 2 hours later we arrived at Muyuna, and besides being relieved, I must admit feeling that our 2 days wouldn´t be worth the hassle of getting there. I could not have been more wrong.

What a place! Without a doubt the highlight of our trip so far. Fauna and flora in abundance, like nothing I have seen before, and an authentic jungle culture and extreme hospitality. Jackie and myself were busy from when we arrived until the moment we left. Seeing nature on guided walks and on boat trips along the amazon. Highlights were pink river dolphins, a tarantula, pygmy marmosets, 3-toed tree sloths, caymans, and more bird life than you could ever imagine. We went pirahna fishing, with Jacks catching 3, myself getting only 1. We even had a swim right in the middle of the main channel of the amazon. The guides and staff at the lodge were great, and the food was superb (we ate the pirahna´s that we caught!). We took on the staff in a game of football, and managed to walk away victorious, much to their disgust. I think they were quite scared of our big, aggressive center back who was playing in his gumboots.

The first picture is of the village of San Juan, the closest to the lodge that we were staying in. It has 150 residents, 2 churches and 1 bar (next to the church). It has a leader, a few policemen and even a jail, which is so small that when inside, the prisoner is unable to lie or stand.

Lima

So, as I mentioned earlier, Lima is a super-crazy place. Besides sorting out my visa, we managed to do a bit of sight-seeing. We popped into Miraflores, which is the modern part of town, home to a shopping centre (on the edge of a cliff) with KFC, Starbucks and a Pizza Hut. I wouldn´t say that the Old Centre of town was the most attractive place I have ever seen, but it does have some really interesting churches, monestaries, and the elegant colonial architecture occasionally hides the slums and distracts one from the vehicular orchestra.

In the Monestary of San Francisco there is a painting of the last supper that was adapted to the local culture. When the spanish were converting the indigenous to christianity their main educational tool was art. In the painting, the meal is guinea pig, with oranges and chillies, and the angels hovering above the table have colourful parrot wings.

We´re in Peru

Since Banos we have been doing a lot of driving (or rather sitting in the overland truck). We travelled to the Ecuador-Peru border after a night stop over at Pasaje. The border crossing into Peru was interesting to say the least. The hard part was not passport control located on the outskirts of the town, but rather physically making our way through the town and crossing the narrow bridge (the real border) bustling with swarms of locals taking their produce to the market, located not even 10m from the bridge. That, the heat and the numerous ´currency swappers´that swarm like flies, create a patience testing experience second to none.

The Peruvian side has endless coastal desert, and is far more spectacular than we ever imagined. Mountains of sand and dunes, the cold pacific blue and the occasional oasis of mountainous highlands.

After Punta Sal we made our way to Huanchaco, and a campsite on the roof of a hotel. We spent 2 nights, and decided to take it easy, walking on the beach, and enjoying (apparently) the best cake in South America. Yesterday we travelled through more desert, and reached Lima late in the evening. We´ve spent today trying to sort out my Bolivian visa, which I think we have done, and enjoying what has to be one of the greatest adventure sports the world has ever seen - catching a taxi in Lima. For 5 Sol ($1.60) we drove for around 10 minutes, and managed to narrowly escape an accident that could quite easily have been used as a stunt in the latest Hollywood blockbuster. Cars swerving, skidding and spinning all around us - fantastic.

An Ecuadorian braai

I had to take a photo of this when we were in Banos, a while back but I think it´s classic. It´s the local speciality that I talked about a bit earlier, Cuy (guinea pig).

Unfriendly stingrays

Arriving in Punta Sal, Peru after a long steamy drive our first swim in the pacific was a real treat, except for the stingray that is. Brad was trying to find some ´real´waves and just as I thought he was doing quite well, he was out the water very quickly. He was stung by something on the back of his foot and heard a loud buzzing noise in his head. After that there was a hot poker pain that lasted for a couple of hours, but this was soon dulled by the number of cervezas (beers) consumed at the bar.

We camped last night on the beach (another treat) and the water sounded like it was just outside the tent.

2 days ago we were in Baños a hot thermal springs town. We spent the day rafting down grade 3 rapids on the Pastasts River, one of the tributaries of the amazon. Awesome fun and amazing jungle scenery.

Haven´t had time to upload too many fotos, but will do so as soon as we can.

The town in the middle of the earth

This morning we arrived in Quito, to meet the rest of our overland tour group (all english, except for our Aussie and Kiwi tour guides). We travelled to La Ciudad (city) de Mitad del Mundo, on the equator, about half an hour´s drive north of Quito. Quite funny that the major tourist attraction (a 7x7x12m monument) is actually 240m away from the actual equator.

After a week in Sangolqui this was tourist overload, but was of some interest. There are all sorts of experiments (which I reckon are fixed) like balancing an egg on a nail, and the water down a drain story.

Tangoing up El Tiengo

After spanish class on wednesday, we caught 2 busses to a village called El Tiengo (30 minutes from Sangolqui). Any bus trip in Ecuador is an experience in itself, with every sort of salesman trying to do a deal with their captive audience. Everything from chocolate to face cream. El Tiengo is a rural village with a couple of churches, a communal swimming pool, and 300 dogs. The walk was pretty tough, and it took about an hour and a half to get to the big cross on top. Well worth the effort though, with amazing 360 deg. views of the area.

On the walk back down, I had a serious call of nature, and we have since decided to start the ´Norris with a view award´. Picture 3 is currently leading the race.