cancellingtomorrow

[cancellingtomorrow]

Arequipa

After a seemingly endless night bus trip with failing a/c I arrived in Arequipa. Though I will say, the bus itself was pretty nice, having a lanky Scandinavian who enjoys kneeing you in the back every 5 mins isn’t. I fall in through the hotel reception get my key and boost off to bed for a nap. Sleep wasn’t far away and after a couple of hours kip and a shower, I am fresh enough to get exploring. Just off the main square i find a delicious sandwich restaurant called “mammut” (mammoth) for about £2 i tuck into a delicious steak cheese and bacon sub. I highly recommend mammut to any passing through Arequipa. With my fuel gauge back to 100% I wander somewhat aimlessly along the boulevards. I find myself outside the church de san Francisco. And adjacent an artisan market. The market is filled with beautiful (and some not so beautiful) souvenirs and alpaca/llama wool products. I pick up a few items and importantly some postcards. For any that don’t know, the Peruvians love a good barter. As an Englishman it can feel awkward to barter but after a few days of it am starting to enjoy it. After the markets i weave my way through the dusty car filled streets to the main square. Dominating the area is the beautiful Arequipa cathedral. While clearly a classic Spanish catholic religious site the interior is quite different to my expectations. I often find churches/cathedrals to be quite dark, stony and slightly melancholy places. I find however a brightly lit almost yellow/creme assault on the eyes which is actually quite pleasant. The cathedral is also a museum with some rather splendid religious relics. An atheist myself, I marvelled at the sheer volume of gold silver diamonds and precious stones that the exhibits contained. Finally my guide lead me up the church tower for a beautiful view of the square and the surrounding city. After a further ramble around town I decide to head back to the hotel to catch up on some sleep before my bus to Chivay tomorrow.

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The Premise

Hi, I’m Layton, I’m a 22 year old Englishman living in Bristol, United Kingdom. On Friday 29th June 2012 I’m embarking on an exciting journey for the next 46 days. As I board my plane for a 6 week adventure in South America, I will be taking lots of photos and attempting to document the sights sounds and smells. My travels are set to take me, West to East, through 4 countries, Peru, Chile Bolivia and Brazil. Props where they are due, I am traveling solo with the company Gadventures on their “Southern Cross” classic trip (pic lovingly borrowed from their website)  I am documenting the trip to bolster my own appalling memory, but I hope that others will enjoy reading my ramblings and looking at the photos of the beautiful and bizarre things I am sure to discover. Now I must “away” as I have a lot of packing and organising to do. That’s How for now!

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The mysteries of the Nazca

at 8am our local guide, the inexplicably happy Antonio, took us for a drive south to visit the pre inca tombs that have been discovered in the Nazca desert. Unfortunately, due to grave robbing in the 1920s - 1940's many of the tomb's have been destroyed and the desert is littered with pieces of bone, cotton and pottery shards from the ransacking. Thankfully there is now a conservation in place on the site and they hope to preserve the remains which still exist.

In the phots you will see that there are still some very intact pieces such as the mummies. In these traditional pre-Inca burial sites the bodies have their eyes brain and tongue removed and are bent into a squatting position and wrapped in a cotton sack. Due to the arid nature of the desert much of the mummies has been preserved including their hair which is as much as 2m long! 

The tombs are surrounded by yet more mountainous beauty which continues to take my breath away. I have never seen so many mountains in one place. they never seem to end. Nazca however, is also home to massive plains of clay, in which the ancient Nazca civilisation has drawn gigantic symbols. These symbols are so large you need an aerial perspective to fully appreciate them. The mystery of the Nazca lines is that nobody knows why they exist, or even more strangely how they have been made so mathematically accurate!! with no real landmarks to navigate by the ancient Nazca people somehow managed to create perfect straight lines which have been preserved by the natural conditions of the region.

After an afternoon catching some sun and diving in an ice cold swimming pool we got dinner at Rocky's. Now Rocky's is quite the experience!! I ordered a big grill of meat, the portion size I couldn't believe!! I was soooooo full, and it was absolutely delicious. It consisted of steak, pork, black pudding, chorizo, tripe, an unfathomable avocado salad and a bucket of chips that could have fed 8. Now very full I settled down on the night bus for the 10 hour bus ride ahead. The destination? Arequipa!

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Pisco, Ballestas and nowhere is safe from penguins

After my first night in Peru in a delightful little hotel in the centre of the sleepy town of Pisco, I rise early for a boat trip around the Ballestas Islands. I could scarcely believe my eyes to see the uncountable number of birds squawking and flapping their way around the islands. From a distance the islands themselves appeared to be almost vibrating or to be behind a kind of heat haze. As the boat approached closer I suddenly realised that almost every inch of the islands was more birds, jostling one another for its own spot.

The boat zipped around and between the islands pointing out the different animals and breeds. We discovered a series of sea lions who certainly weren't camera shy as they posed and fawned for us to our gasps and giggles of amusement. Then we turned another island and I let out a sigh of knowing finality. Penguins! For those of you who know me well you will be aware of the ''don't think about penguins'' game. It was at this point I lost. Nonetheless, this feeling was soon forgotten as I pointed my camera in their direction. The humble Humboldt penguin tottered its way around the rocks in the way that penguins do best. Las Islas Ballestas certainly were a sight to see and I certainly recommend a visit to those passing nearby!

After returning to shore, I boarded a bus to a nearby Pisco distillery. Pisco, I learned is one of the native drinks of Peru. Made from grapes, it is somewhere between a strong wine (in its weaker varieties) and a brandy. after a short tour of the seemingly ancient facilities we were invited to the important part, the tasting! We started with a couple of 14% versions, one dubbed the ''babymaker'' which is intended as an aphrodisiac. I better avoid that one!! Then we got to the heavier stuff at 42%. While not a big fan of shots, I found it to be pretty darn tasty (my scientific opinion there of course).

Following the factory we drove yet further down the beaten path to do some dunebuggying and sand boarding. What a thrill that was. The roar of the engine was exhilarating as we flew up and done the dunes at breakneck speed. Then we would pause aside a particular large dune here and there. Lie down on a waxed up snowboard and dive headlong down the dunes. After such an action packed day I was certainly ready for bed, but not before my first exquisite taste of lomo saltado, a pervian dish with Chinese influence of rice, chips peppers, steak and a soy sauce. Simply gorgeous. I'll be having more of that for sure!!

Plenty more exciting days like this to come. Keep your eyes on this space!

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The real adventure begins

After arriving in Lima, I hopped into the first taxi I could find and it sped off through the bustling streets of Lima. I am instantly bombarded by a fanfare of car horns, something the Peruvians sure love to use!

Some real junkers are flying around me as my taxi driver belts it between a gap I was sure we couldn't fit through!!  The roads are a hustle bustle of noise dust and excitement as I arrive at the bus station and catch up with my group! Finally the holiday can begin. We board our bus for Pisco and once we escape the city I am greeted with a sheer beauty of a coast line with rolling sand dunes and untouched picturesque beaches.

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Not the best of beginnings

What a crazy couple of days!! So I am not the happiest of bunnies with AirFrance at the moment. My day began early and I caught my first flight from Bristol to Charles De Gaulle (CDG) airport in Paris. After sitting on the tarmac for 45 minutes the flight finally took off and my journey began. I had hoped that this would be the worst of my troubles and I´d have a smooth journey ahead. How wrong could one man be?!

I land in CDG an hour after the scheduled arrival and wait a nervy 20 minutes before we are able to disembark. I am now really beginning to worry about catching my connecting flight. I dash to the internal shuttle bus, get to my terminal, zoom up the escalators and sprint to the gate. I am greeted by a surly frenchman who informs me I am "too late, you go to customer service" and wouldn´t listen to my pleas. I can see the plane still docked to the boarding ramp and as far as I am aware my bags are aboard. Disappointed and slightly panicked, I make my way to the customer service desk. There are no more flights to peru that day and 90% of alternative routes are fully booked. I will say that the customer service staff were very helpful but the best they could get me was a flight to Sao Paolo, and then a connection from there. The main downside was, that this plane wasn´t departing for another 12 hours!!!

The most boring 12 hours of my life ensues trapped in a french terminal. I then catch my 10 hour flight to Sao Paolo. Climbing aboard my 5 hour flight to Lima I found myself sat next to a delightful brazilian chap by the name of Pedro. We spent the next few hours chatting and trying to understand the delightful spanish lady on my right. Neither of us spoke spanish (though the portugese helped in places) and she spoke no english. Hilarity inevitably ensued. I thought my day had been going badly, but pedro told me that he had also missed his flight to Lima yesterday, though his reason was far more impressive. The bus he had been taking to the airport had been held up at gunpoint and after locking all the passengers in the luggage compartment, they were all relieved of their belongings. I suddenly began to feel much less sorry for myself.

The connecting flight went smoothly and I was delighted to see that my bags had been able to follow me. At last, Peru!! Keep yours eyes on the blog, I hope to get some pictures up soon along with updates from the first action packed days! 

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The clock counts down

T minus 14 hours to go, the bags are packed (ish), and the excitement is finally starting to sink in. I've run through my packing list about a million times and I'm still sure I've forgotten something. I imagine I'll find out after it's too late :) An early morning tomorrow getting me to Bristol airport by 5.30am to look forward to. Followed by a combined 14 hours of flight time (changing in Paris), but OH will it be worth it!! I'll be landing in Lima's Jorge Chavez International in the mid afternoon (local time), and I have absolutely no idea what to expect? I think this might be a good time to expand a little more on the type of trip I will be embarking on. It's true I will be traveling solo, however I don't believe I will finish it alone. The tour I am taking will be with somewhere between 10-14 other strangers and throughout the trip I'll be sharing rooms with one or another of them. As the journey unfolds and the adventure begins to come to life, I find myself relishing the chance to gain a few new "amigos". I think the culture and society I will find in south america will be a stark contrast to the life I am used to. I am looking forward to tasting new foods, imbibing new alcoholic inventions, and attempting to meet some locals (bring on the language barrier). Earlier I mentioned feeling like I've forgotten something, I think i've just thought of it. A phrasebook sounds real handy about now! points to anyone that can give me some useful phrases!!

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If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home - my new trip motto (a.k.a. Go big or go home!)

James A. Michener