La Femme du Nord

Despite the fact that I was well aware I only had four days left of my trip, I just wanted to relax, so my first day on my own I did. I met three of the girls for breakfast from the yolo trip ( same route as our tour group, but different age group) and actually got to know them a bit. Our tour group had six people, while their’s had 14 so getting to know any of them was a intimidating endeavor. It turns out I got along quite well with these girls, and we chatted the morning away.  At around lunch, my old tour group plus a few of their new members came to my hostel to watch the Ireland vs England rugby game. None of the bartenders were Irish, but since they worked at an Irish hostel, they were required to cheer for team Ireland. I mostly had no idea what was going on, but it was still fun to cheer on England with my friends. In the end it was 21-10 for England. I had to say my goodbyes shortly after the game, there were only just barely no tears. I spent the rest of my evening with the three yolo girls, playing cards sitting in the bar. Two of the girls were leaving that night, so it was just Elaine and I the next day.

I woke up bright and early at nine the next morning to prepare for our walking tour. It was raining when we started off, but eased off shortly before we began. We started our walking tour right across from San Pedro Prison. San Pedro is unique because it is basically a town within a city. Inside the walls prisoners are free to roam around and live with their families. The wives and children can leave during the day for school and work. On our tour we visited one of the first churches in La Paz (they put mirrors in the church and told the locals that their souls were stuck in the mirrors, and they had to come pray every day if they wanted to keep them) several important governments buildings, the largest market in La Paz and several other places. My favorite place we visited had to be the Witches market. Llama fetus are a very common sight, as they are used in a special ceremony to ask Pacha Mamma (mother earth) for permission to build new buildings. There are candies, potions and candles, doing everything from creating love to creating erection (for horses, many men had heart attacks and died).

I spent the afternoon wandering around the city and writing my last blog post, and getting distracted by new friends.  That night was spent again at the bar, where Elaine and  made friends with some Swedish guys. I got into an argument about hockey for probably the first time in my life, about who had a better Olympic hockey team, Sweden or Canada. Pretty sure I won. Elaine left to the airport around midnight, and I was sad to see my friend of a day and a half go. Monday morning I got up and just wandered around La Paz. It was my last full day before I began my journey home so I hit up all my favorite haunts. I visited the square across from San Pedro prison, went for lunch at the Melting Pot (fondue place), wandered around the handicraft market and the witch market, read in the courtyard at my hostel and finally had a rainbow trout in a white wine and lemon sauce at the steakhouse. I went to bed early so I could get up at six for my flight.

Bright and early Tuesday morning I went to the airport for my flight to Lima. I had a quick stopover in Cusco, but got to Lima by three pm. Luckily traffic was pretty low and it only took an hour to get to my hostel. I checked in, and went straight for a walk. I walked to the ocean side mall, and just enjoyed the view. The mall is on the side of a cliff so unfortunately walking to the water was not and option. I went to my favorite restaurant for dinner and had the most Peruvian meal I could think of: Chicha Morada (a drink made from purple corn) and Ceviche de pulpo y pescado (raw fish and octopus marinated in lime juice).

I began my trip back to Canada Tuesday morning, the same time as the previous day. Ate some eggs on toast at the airport and tried to use up the rest of my soles. I flew from Lima to Bogota (Columbia), Bogota to Toronto and finally Toronto to Edmonton. Unfortunately upon arrival in Toronto, I discovered my bag was still in Columbia. Even worse, the Tim Hortons in the airport didn’t have a working hot chocolate machine! I had been awake for 22 hours at that point, but I spent most of the rest of the night trying to ensure my bag was going to continue on to Edmonton without me there. I managed to get two hours on a bench at some point during the night and around 5:30 I was 100% sure my bags would make it to Edmonton, so I checked in.

My lovely Grandma Vi was waiting for me at the airport, and it turns out, when your luggage is lost, reporting it missing is a lot faster then waiting for it to get off of the conveyor belt. I had my first AW meal on the way back from the airport and slowly got used to not being surrounded by Spanish. Now I am awaiting the arrival of my baggage before I get ready to head home.

I hope you guys enjoyed reading this blog as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Ciao!

Alex

PS-Last song! Listen to Half the world away by Aurora, and a big shout out to Best Friend for showing me that song!

I would love to tell you that I spent every possible moment in Cusco doing cultural/touristy thing but alas that would be a lie. Although after the Lares trek and Machu Pichu I believe some rest was required. The two highlights of Cusco round two for me was meeting David and Rosie at Norton´s bar, and then getting a recommendation to stay at their hostel The Wild Rover and my second blue cheese burger at Papachos. Monday morning we hopped on a bus to Puno. During that seven hour drive I watched the most movies of the entire trip. We packed our day pack that night and left the rest of our luggage at the hotel.

At 8am we took a bicycle taxi to the lake (I can’t remember the official name but basically it’s a bicycle with a two seater bench in front). Luckily for our poor driver the ride was mostly downhill.  Lake Titicaca is the highest altitude lake in the world, at 3812 m above sea level. It was the center of Incan  civilization, and is shared by Peru and Boliva. According to our Peruvian guide, 60% is in Peru and 40% is in Boliva, while according to our Bolivian guide 45% is in Boliva and 55% is in Peru. I’m fairly certain that no one knows for sure!

We hopped in a boat and went to Uros Island first. Uros is a “floating” island, meaning the locals find a spot where the water is only a couple meters deep and start building an island using peat and reeds. It takes about a year to complete one island, and they typically relocate every decade or so. There are a few of these islands, but we’re not quite sure how many are real, and how many show up just for the tourists then go back to Puno once the tourists leave.  Apparently Uros is the real deal, but our group did not really enjoy the island. They was a distinct feeling of “you tourists are here to give us your money so hand it over” making us fairly uncomfortable. We did a quick ten minute trip around the island on the “mercedes-benz” of reed boats, using a pole and paddle. They half dressed us up in local clothing for pictures and then we were on our way again.

Our next stop was two hours away, Taquile island (a proper island this time) After a 30 minute breathless hike up the hill we stopped at the town square. Taquile island is unique because in order to attract women, the men must be skilled knitters. Each man has to knit a hat for himself, totally unique from family to family. If a girl is interested, she will ask for his hat to examine the quality of his work. For lunch we had rainbow trout from the lake (originally from Canada though) and some quinoa soup. We had a scenic walk down the hill to the other side of the island, before hopping back on the boat to our next stop. I had a nap on the rooftop and promptly got a sunburn on my face.

We arrived at Luquina around an hour and a half later and were instantly greeted by a boy with a drum and man with a flute. To get into the village proper we had to walk uphill, and the floutist was huffing a puffing not too long into our ascent. Luckily he was joined by another floutist halfway up so they could alternate breathing. We met our new Mamas (for the homestay) and quickly started a game of soccer. I only managed to last for five minutes, but I still managed to (accidentally) trip one guy twice and valiantly defend the goal before I was reduced to debilitating coughs. After the soccer game we were dressed up in the full traditional garb of the area, including 3 skirts, a long sleeve shirt, a fairly wide belt, a hat and a yarn whip of sorts with pompoms. We then watched as the locals demonstrated a local dance. Then we were expected the replicate it! I think except for the the fact that I knocked my own hat off five times (it only sits on your head) I did fairly well. It was a complicated line dance that involved swinging the yarn pompom whip and specific steps that I couldn’t´t remember once it was our turn to dance.

After the dance we went back to our new mamas houses. Vicky and my new mama´s name was Stephanie. She´s 27 years old and lives with her mother (Teresa), father (Francisco), sister (Ilda) and her puppy (Tarzan). We mostly hung out in our room until supper, at which point we had conversation in a combination of Aymara, Spanish and English. After supper we taught Stephanie how to play war (the card game) with our very very limited spanish. We played until around 9, when the solar power ran out (due to the ginormous rainstorm) and we were plunged into darkness. The next morning Vicky and I helped out to the best of our abilities with the chores. We helped with the bread for breakfast (but managed to make the wrong shapes), fed the bulls, peeled potatoes, tied up the sheep, and de-shelled broad beans. We were fed a HUGE lunch of many different types of carbs, before it was time to shuffle back to the boat.

Since Lake Titicaca is the highest lake in the world, we naturally had to go for a swim. I cannon balled off the back of the boat without dipping my toe in the chilly 8 degree water first. Only one other in my group decided to take the plunge, and I think the rest of my group felt validated in their decision as soon as they saw my face upon resurfacing. I have been in much colder water, but eight degrees will give you a nice little shock no matter how much of a proud northerner you are. Once I got used to the temperature it was a fairly enjoyable swim, exempting the floating reeds that kept touching my legs.  Shortly after we arrived back in Puno we had the downpour of the trip and the streets turned into rivers. I had Alpaca for dinner since it was our last night in Peru, but I enjoyed the accompanying mashed potatoes much more.

We had a fairly uneventful eight hour bus ride to La Paz early Thursday morning. We took our last group photo at the Peru/Bolivia border. For our last meal we went to a Thai restaurant.  There were a few almost tears, and many many toasts. Since there was only seven of us we had become quite a family. We were still planning on going out for dinner the next night (minus our CEO, he had to go back to Peru), and half of us were doing the death road together so it wasn´t goodbye forever. Normally during this trip I wake up ten minutes before we leave, since I don´t require a lot of time to get ready. Just to ensure I was extra prepared for our 7:30 meeting time the next morning, I set my alarm for 6:50.

My room mates alarm went off first, which I found really confusing. After asking her the time and finding out it was 7:40, I apparently shot out of bed “As if I had a rocket up my ass”. Luckily I had packed all my belongings the night before, and I was out of the room in less than five minutes. Apparently there´s a one hour time difference between Peru and Bolivia and I forgot to change my phone. It was a 45 minute drive to the top of the death road and several hours on a bike down. We started at 4700m and went all the down to 1900m, passing through three different climate zones. The road is named the death road because it used to be the main link between La Paz and the Jungle meaning there was a fair bit of traffic. The road is moderately narrow in most places, so it was a common occurrence for larger trucks to just plummet off of the edge.  Nowadays they have a newer road connecting the capital and the Jungle, so the death road is mainly frequented by tourists on bikes.

We finished our journey a fair bit muddier and bug bitten than we began, but arrived a a hotel with a buffet and a pool. The trip down was so exhilarating, zooming down the mountain side without the breaks on almost felt like I could approach terminal velocity. Our three hour drive back to La Paz was only interrupted by one mudslide being cleared up and we were back by 6:30 pm. Upon arrival I had to grab my luggage from my old hotel, take a taxi to my new hotel, check in, sort out a locker situation, take a taxi back to my old hotel and then attempt to walk to the restaurant by myself. I met my old groups new group of  people including one new Canadian. I had a ball with their group, and I really regret that I can´t afford to continue to Brazil with them. I basically went straight to bed once I got back to the Wild Rover, and as I was waking up the next morning my roomies were going to sleep. Dorm life!

I will probably write my next blog post in the Toronto airport so keep an eye out!

Ciao

Alex

PS-Lift by Zerbin

We began our tour bright and early Sunday morning by going to the mini Jesus on top of a hill in Cusco.  We then proceeded by van to a village by the name of Caccaccollo which is run by Planetterra. They work with the local women to ensure they can make a living of their own and be independent. We got a demonstration of llama wool being formed, dyed and weaved into something. All of the dyes that they use were made of natural plants and minerals, which I thought was really cool! I bought a hat and mitts from the ladies to use on the Lares trek.

After Caccaccollo we drove to Pisac to visit the local archeological site and the market. Unfortunately since it is the rainy season, some boulders had come loose a few days earlier and killed a young girl. The archeological site was closed until the next day so the government could make sure it was safe. We instead wandered around the market, where I bought a really neat felt hat! We then drove straight on to Ollantaytambo, and visited the open archeological site that was only 500m from our hostel! It was mostly made of steps so it was a good warmup for the Lares trek. It started violently raining shortly after our arrival, which is good becuase most people fled down the mountain, leaving it emptier for us when the rain stopped 15 minutes later. It was amazing feeling the difference walking up hill at 2700m and only being somewhat out of breath, versus a week ago in Arequipa (2300m) losing your breath walking across a flat surface. We clambered around the site for a bit, enjoying the mountain views before headed back to the hotel to prepare for the next day.

We started the Lares trek bright and early Monday morning. I’m still kind of in shock that I actually managed to complete the trek, and really have no idea how to describe the experience, so I’ll begin by stating the facts. Overall we hiked 33 km in one full day and two half days. We began at 3200m, reached 4800 m at the peak, and finished at 2800m. The Lares trek is quite possibly the most challenging thing I’ve ever attempted and it was worth every lost breath, every aching muscle and even this stupid cold I just can’t seem to shake. The second day was the most challenging, a 16km stretch beginning at 3200m, reaching 4800m and ending at 3600m. Luckily I had my roommate walk with me every bit of the up hill were I wasn’t 100% sure if I could make it. One gentlemen suffered from food poisoning (not from our trekking food) and had to spend most of the second day on a horse. I am so proud that I did the whole trek on my own two feet,even if there were a couple times I thought it would be less painful to just chop them off.

At about 4600 m we met another couple traveling in the opposite direction from us. I reasured them that it was all downhill for them, and they very quickly zeroed in on my accent asking where i was from. It turns out they were from Red Deer! I only managed to chat for a little bit because I knew if i waited around too long i would simply collapse on the spot and never get up again. So we said our goodbyes and headed off in opposite directions while I contemplated  hacking off an arm so i would have less weight to carry up the mountain. Luckily talking to Canadians gave me a tenmporary boost of energy and I walked the next 50m with a slight spring in my step. We had the most amazing cook, guide, horsemen and waiter. Seriously though, I rarely left a scrap of our two course meal on my plate (which is quite an accomplishment for me) and they brought coca tea directly to our tents in the morning (which made the 5:30 am wake up times a little easier). I seriously still have trouble believing everything we did, so if you want to here more about the trek you’ll have to ask me in person.

We drove back to Ollantaytambo right after lunch where our beautiful friends we had left behind had a room saved for a hot shower and a beer each awaiting our arrival. We relaxed for two hours them hopped onto the train to Aguas Caliente. The scenery was beautiful, towering mountains and swollen rivers but it was a little difficult to fully enjoy since every part of my body was aching. We went out for pizza upon arrival in Aguas Caliente at which time I was waddling instead of walking thanks to the pain in my hips.

Thursday morning I set a new all time record and managed to get ready and pack in 9 minutes, extending my sleep in until 5:40. After breakfast we were queuing for the bus to Machu Pichu by 6:30.  When we got to the top it was fairly foggy, but Machu Pichu was exactly as I remember it. The only difference is tourists no longer have free range of the site, there are ropes ensuring you stay on the predetermined circuits. We took the typical tourist picture at the view point with most of the site obscured by mist but still loved every minute of it. After that we had a two hour tour which was a little difficult to pay attention to since most of the information he told us, had already been told to us by our guide from the Lares trek. We finished around 10:30 and had a spare two hours to explore ourselves. Half of our group was still too tired to continue on and opted to head back down the mountain, while the other half (myself included) decided we could handle a bit more scampering around the mountain.

Tanja and I decided to hike up to the sun gate together. In the end David managed to hiker to the Inca bridge, the sun gate and beginning back to the bottom before Tanja and I made it to the top of the sun gate, but we went our own pace and when we did get to the top it was worth it. I vaguely remember climbing somewhere when I went to Machu Pichu in 2007 with my family, and beating them (and feeling super proud) to the top. I originally thought I was remembering reaching the top of the sungate, but after doing it this time around  I believe I was remembering climbing up to the  first viewpoint where everyone takes pictures. Its a five minutes hike vs an hour long hike. Shortly after reaching the sungate, catching our breath and taking a couple photos we had to hightail it back down the mountain to ensure we weren’t late for the train.  We made it to the restaurant meeting point with plenty of time to order food.

Same old routine, train back to Ollantaytambo, bus back to Cusco and finally exhaustion. We have a couple days off in Cusco to relax and catch up. Originally we were all going to go white water rafting together, but unfortunately the river is too high right now for that. So we’ve settled for some shopping, rest, relaxation and good food (I had cannelloni yesterday that physically moved me to tears).

Now its time for me to go to bed early so I can attend the parade at 8:30 am.

Ciao!

Alex

PS- listen to Hearts like ours by The Naked and Famous

Our arrival in Arequipa marked the first time in our tour that we a a brush with the dreaded “altitude sickness” that you hear about so very often. At 2300 m above sea level there is noticeably less oxygen in the air, since everyone starting huffing and puffing after carrying our luggage up the slight incline 20 m to our hotel.  But we took it slow and allowed our bodies to acclimatize to the reduced oxygen. Arequipa still has many Spanish influences, so the city in many spots looks like you could be in the middle of Spain. Or conversely, you could also appear to be in the middle of Cuba with it’s colonial style buildings. Take your pick! The city is also adjacent to three volcanos ( only one is semi-active) meaning that Arequipa sometimes has small earthquakes. We had an extremely relaxed day, spent most of it getting used to the altitude and indulging in some happy hour chilcanos (two for 15 soles!) later that evening. 

Bright and early Thursday morning we hopped on a bus to Chevay. We made several stops along the way for Coca tea, sight seeing and to ensure we were getting used to the increasing altitude. Now I was feeling fairly cocky at this point, because I somewhat remember not being affected by the altitude whatsoever when I came to Peru at age 13. Before this trip I was worried that I have changed enough in eight years that my reaction to altitude would be much worse. After hanging around in Arequipa at 2300m I assumed that I was going to get off Scott free, but this was because I failed to take into account how another kilometer straight up might feel on my body. During our drive we stopped at the highest spot of our whole trip at 4910m. I was still being fairly cocky, taking jumping photos (even though one jump was enough to send your heart racing) and walking all around the rest stop. A few other members of our group were not so lucky and only made it out of the van long enough to take a group photo.  We arrived in Chevay (3600m)  just in time for lunch, and when everyone else started to feel better I hit a giant wall. Immediately I lost all of my energy and anything resembling an appetite. My best guess is a delayed reaction to the high altitudes. It wasn’t quite altitude sickness, but I sure felt awful. After shoveling a few meagre servings from the buffet into my mouth, I nearly fell asleep in my food. I felt really stupid for jumping around and saying how fine I felt when we were at 4910m, but hindsight is 20/20!

Luckily after lunch we had R&R time so I napped for a whole hour and a half, until it was time to go to the hot springs!  We were going to some really rustic and natural hot springs around 30 minutes away from Chevay. However just as we were in sight of the hot springs and headed down the mountain side to cross the river, our driver realized that there was no bridge, and no hot springs! It turns out that sometime within the past week there had been a flash flood that had washed away the bridge and flooded majority of the pools we had been hoping the relax in. We then did a three point turn right then and there on the mountain side. I’m not sure if you have ever sat in the back of a huge passenger van in the middle of a three point turn on the side of a mountain, with two extremely nervous passengers screaming that they want to get out, while you’re looking out the window watching the cliffs edge creep closer and closer the tires, but I would reccomend you try it at least once in your life. We headed back to Chevay safe and sound and went to the public hot spring instead.

I felt like rubbish the rest of Thursday evening, had quite possibly the worst sleep of my entire life (which is saying something because I’ve had some pretty awful sleeps) that night and unsurprisingly wasn’t feeling much better come Friday morning. We left the hotel at 6am in order to drive to the Colca Canyon to see the Condors. Our first stop along the way was to take some pictures of the farming terraces, many of which date back to Incan times. I reached into my backpack for my camera and couldn’t find it. Deciding I was still too sleep deprived and sick to function, I went out and enjoyed the views. When we got back to the bus I doubled checked, and then got my roommate to triple check and realized very quickly that I was in fact missing my camera. Through the process of elimination I figured out I must have left it in the hotel by accident and our ultra amazing tour leader phoned the hotel and confirmed that I had some how left it under the bed! Luckily we had to travel back through Chevay,  I had a minimal heart attack when I figured out it was missing and I was only separated from my camera for four hours! We saw only two condors in the end, but quite a lot of amazing scenery.

We stopped in Chevay for lunch and to pick up my Camera and proceeded to drive back to Arequipa. Upon arriving in Arequipa we all noticed how much easier it was to breath, having begun acclimatizing to 3600m, 2300 m was no problem! I spent the afternoon at the Santa Catalina monastery, which appeared to because a small town in itself, separated from the outside world by tall walls. We had crepes for dinner and then I went back to the hotel to write a blog post, while everyone else went out for happy hour again. The entrance to our room is double doors, which could only be locked by key (which I really didn’t want to do in case of emergency in the middle of the night) or chain, so we went with the latter option. I woke up in the middle of the night to someone trying to shake open our door, twice. I probably should have been more alarmed at the thought of someone trying to get into our room, but after the dreadful sleep I got the night before I was having a hard time caring enough to investigate. I wasn’t until this morning when we compared notes with everyone else that we realized we had experienced some tremors thanks to good old Misti volcano! For most on the trip this was their first earthquake.

We had a short one hour flight to Cusco this morning, where we did a quick tour of the city squares and the famous market that has anything and everything you could ever think of, before spending the rest of the afternoon relaxing. My roommate and I went to the central square to do some people watching and were approached by 11 different people in 15 minutes, all trying to sell us something. For dinner we went to a burger place and I found a burger that I love even more than the hamburgeusa double; the hamburgeusa papaso. Ingredients include bacon, an onion ring, blue cheese sauce and did I mention bacon? The burger was at least 15cm tall and looked good enough to worship. Once again, everyone else ate their burgers with a fork and knife, while I devoured mine with the ferocity of a lion who hasn’t eaten in a week. I had to use three napkins to clean the resulting mess, but I had no regrets.

Tomorrow we are driving to Ollantaytambo and spending the night before we begin Lares trek the next day. Once we complete the trek we take the train to Augas Caliente, spend the next morning at Machu Pichu and then we return to Cusco. It is highly unlikely I will have much internet access until we return to Cusco so don’t be surprised by my radio silence. Also it may take me even more days to regain control of my body after the Lares trek so who knows if a blog post will even be possible! Wish me luck!

Ciao

Alex

Ps- Despair by yeah yeah yeahs.

Sorry I’m running a bit behind but since we have started our tour things have been very go go go! I booked my hostel a tad last minute, but it turned out I accidentally booked a hostel only a block away from where our G adventures tour met up! The cheap side of me was very pleased that I could simply walk to my next hotel instead of having to pay for a taxi. Because its the rainy season in Peru, our tour group is smaller than average, with only six people. There’s one other Canadian, three from the UK and one from Germany. We went out for dinner  and I very quickly found my new favorite dish of all time, ceviche. It combines raw fish and lime juice, making it slightly better then sushi. I found out that I am the youngest on this trip, but I am very much NOT the least mature.  The rest of the group has accused me of being the responsible mother type figure several times since our tour has started.

Immediately Sunday morning we left Lima for Paracas. We arrived around four, still slightly too early to eat, so we wandered around town for a bit. We came across a restaurant, claiming to be in possession of a time machine (with a weeping angel poster to prove it), and decided to check it out. We ended up in a circular elevator that totated and went up and down in order to display various videos and diaramas detailing the incan history around the town. The best part was when the room went pitch black during transitions and several of our group members started screaming their heads off.

On Monday we wasted no time getting down to business and seeing the things to be seen. Some of our group did a boat tour of the local wildlife reservation (whose exact name I can’t recall, but it has been called the poor mans Galapagos),while the rest (myself included) did a quad tour of Paracas. We first stopped at the beach bordering the wildlife reserve and spotted some pelicans, flamingos and terns,  then we bummed around some sand dunes for a bit (I got air a couple times) and finally taking a short break in front of a monument dedicated to one of the Argentinian generals who aided in Peru’s independance. After a quick dip in the pool and we were on to the bus to Ica to check out the Pisco distillery! Pisco is a Peruvian alcohol made from grapes, but distilled until it can be considered a hard alcohol. It also happens to be the main ingredient in two of my new favorite drinks (Pisco sour and chilcano). We got a short tour of the distillery, including explanations of how they made it in ancient times vs present. We very quickly moved on to the main event, the taste test. Six shots later we were back on the bus headed to the next town for lunch. We had the option of sand boarding, since the town was the only oasis surrounded by dunes, but our group elected to chill by the pool and eat our meal at a very leisurely pace. We set off shortly after our (late) lunch to Nazca.

We made a short stop at a road side fruit stand, bought a watermelon together and named him Walter (Walter will be important later on). For anyone who doesn’t know, Nazca is very famous for the Nazca lines. They are images in the desert preserved by the dry climate, made in ancient times. It is believed the lines were made by the nazca people (who came before the Incas), because many of the pieces of pottery found with Nazca mummies carried the exact same images (ex the monkey has nine fingers instead of ten). We stopped ten minutes outside of Nazca to climb a tower to view the Tree and the Chicken lines. Although archeologists are mostly sure the Nazca people made the lines, they have yet to find any tools that could possibly explain how the Nazca people made the lines. After viewing only two of the lines right at sunset, I can say, it is a very awe inspiring mystery.

I generally try not to eat western food much when I’m traveling , but when we went for dinner there was a hamburger that was just calling my name. The hamburgeusa doble, with two patties and a fried egg appealed to my inner carnivore too much to pass up. Three of us got one, but the other two ate theirs with a fork and knife, while I dove in like the proper Canadian cave woman that I am. Finishing that burger gave me the feeling of 1000 Spartan warriors raining death upon their enemy.

On Tuesday we had a fairly low key day in Nazca. In the morning we visited a Nazca cemetery called Chauchilla. The cemetery was pillaged by grave robbers between 1950-1980, who would dig up the graves, pilfer some expensive pottery, and toss the mummies where ever they landed. Archeologists came later and cleaned up the cemetery , placing mummies back into graves. They are many more dips in the land which are probably more mummies and artifacts,but there is no funding from the government to continue excavation. I think the most interesting part however, was that the cemetery was left in the same condition that the archeologists put it in, with the mummies  sitting unprotected in their old graves and the occasional bone on the ground from when the grave robbers were less than careful with a mummy. Many of the mummies were still in remarkable condition, with dreadlocks and occaxionally visible skin tissue, thanks to the dry desert and the mummification process.

Right after Chauchilla, we visited a pottery shop run by the nephew of the guywho had rediscovered the tradiontional Nazca method for making pottery. The process involved minerals for the colours and specific heating times, meaning the colours will never fade and the pottery itself is supremely durable. Having seen some pottery left in the graves at Chauchilla, I can believe it!

The rest of the day we hung out at our hotel, waiting to board our night bus to Arequipa. So naturally we spent all day hanging out by the pool, maybe consuming some vino blanco. Now think back to several paragraphs ago when I told you about Walter. Walter the watermelon (or Waltermelon for short) was eight kg and eight sols (approx $3) when he came into our lives.  We dressed him up with a hat, sunglasses and a lipgloss smile and he was our collective child for about 20 hours. I don’t know if you dear friends have ever had the opportunity to consumr eight kilos of watermelon between 5 people, but let me tell you,it’s most definitely a challenge. In the end I was so determined to finish off Walter I must have eaten four out of the eight kilos. It was for naught, for there were still  three pieces left by the time we had to rush off to catch the night bus. I don’t quite feel as accomplished as I did after the hamburgeusa double, but I am still quite proud at the solid effort we put it.

My next post will start from Arequipa, and the beginnings of altitude sickness!

Ciao!

Alex

PS- listen Aurora Borealis by Griswolds to while reading this blog post

The seven hour flight from Toronto to Lima felt like the longest flight of my entire life. The only benefit was the lack of light pollution (except for over a couple islands we flew over) meant the stars shone particularly bright. I kept smashing my face in the window like a  kid trying to get a peak into a candy store. I arrived in Lima at 1 am local time, found a bench, stacked my backpacks and promptly fell asleep. I alternated reading and sleeping until 7 am, at which point I finished my first book of the trip and decided it was time to take a taxi to my hostel. It´s difficult to know which Taxi driver to go with, but I found one who said that I could wait until Miraflores (the more touristy district my hostel was in) to take out currency, so I wouldn´t have to pay the airport fees. Well this suited me just fine, so I hopped along with him, after he assured me MULTIPLE times that his taxi was totally legit, and there were police around so I was safe (he was wearing a uniform just like all the other Taxi drivers so I didn´t think he needed to reassure me QUITE so many times). Once we got to my hostel and I tried to jump out to see if my hostel had an ATM, I very quickly found out that when I had been saying ATM, ATM, he had just been nodding his head, and was expecting to be paid in American cash that very instant. Well I was dragged down the street to an ATM and I paid him on the spot in sols. My hostel was just behind us, down the (one way) street,  so he asked me to walk back which I agreed to. Then he tired to drive away with my backpack still in the back seat which I DID NOT find very amusing!