Peru sofar (part one!)

Hi everybody!

We have been doing a lot the past couple of weeks, so hereby a new update!!

After Arica (we stayed only for a night, it was a small city with not much to do) we organized our busride to Peru. That was quite an experience! We went to the busterminal and we got tucked into a crappy and old bus. Our bags were put in some hole in the bus and we had to give our passports to people we didn´t know. After a while we were wondering where the ·%"! our passports were, but they turned up during the 30 minute busride to the border with Peru. It took only half an hour to cross the border and the dodgy bus kept on going untill Tacna. There we had to book a bus to Arequipa, which would be the end of our journey this day. They have a lot of ´proppers´ (don´t know the english name for it) and they try to convince you that the bus falling apart on the other side of the street is the best choice for a 6 hour ride..not! We asked around and maneged to find a nice bus with brakes, so after 6 hours we arrived according to plan in Arequipa!

We stayed in Arequipa for two nights. We enjoyed the beautiful city with it´s old square, a lot of churches (Peru is also very religious, like the rest of South-America) and good Peruvian food. The day after we left for the Colca Canyon! We booked a three day trekking, which would bring us to an oasis in the deepest canyon in the world. Our group was small, we walked with 6 people and one guide..really nice people! On day one we had to leave at 03.00 ´o clock in the morning, it took some sighing to get out of bed but we managed.. First stop was Mirador del Condor. The condors were flying just a couple meters above our heads and enjoying the thermal..amazing! Really beautiful animals and impressive to see them playing with eachother. After that the hard part started and we had to walk a couple of hours downhill into this deep and very hot canyon. We met a couple of villagers in the canyon and they let us taste some nice fruits which grow in the canyon..jummie! Gave some new energy to keep on going. That night we stayed with a Peruvian family and helped them prepare our dinner. A typical Peruvian kitchen has two dozen of ginnypigs, a dog and some chickens running in the kitchen..crazy! It´s quite a task to avoid the animals (otherwise you get a loud squeeking noise). It was a really good night and we ate Alpaca (kind of a Lama) as dinner.
On day two we walked to the oasis, where we arrived after only a couple of hours of walking. There we could relax, enjoy the swimmingpool, palmtrees and the sun..really really nice since it was still very hot! After a lot of cardgame´s in the evening it was time to head for bed. Day three again started very early.. at 4.30 we got up and at 5.00 we started the 3 hour walk out of the steep canyon. We needed flashlights to guide us, because it was still dark. Some people (a lot of them drank to much the evening before) took a mule to go up the canyon..but we decided to walk and enjoy the climb. It was very rewarding and arriving at the top gave a satisfying feeling! We had a good Peruvian lunch on the way back (Alpaca again) and then it was time to ride back by bus to Arequipa to meet Rutger and Andrea!! That was something we were really looking forward to for a long time.

When we came back in the hostal, Rutger and Andrea were already there and they brought some typical dutch candy (drop) and stroopwafels to celebrate. After a couple of beers and a bottle of wine we called it a night. It was really nice to see them and catch up on things happening in the Netherlands.

After Arequipa, we catched a bus to Puno. This is city next to Lago Titicaca. We visited a remote Inca burialsite which was located at 4200meter. Puno itself has already a high altitude (around 3800 metres). Walking up for 400 meters with this elevation is very difficult and catching your breath.. it took some time to get up there, but with no other people around and only some llama´s..very very nice! The other day we booked a boattrip to the floating islands (Uros) and the island of Taquille. Uros is not a natural islands and the islanders started ´building´ the islands a long time ago by putting pile´s of reed in the water. The rotting of the reed makes the reed grow together and still they put layers of reed on top of the baselayer to enhance the islands. Walking on the islands feels like walking on quicksand and you sink in for at least 10 cm..strange! Everything else on the islands is also made of reed, but living on that kind of an islands must be hard. They live with four people in a really cramped ´house´. Dead chickens are lying around waiting to be eaten for lunch. The smell is terrible and everything is dirty. The contrast with back home feels really big and it took some time to adjust. Nevertheless, for the islanders living this way is the only and best way of living and they seem to have a good life with making money by fishing and producing souvenirs for tourists. The island of Taquille was a proper island and beautiful to visit as well. Tourism is the most important way of making money and even the men and young boys were knitting at the mainsquare to make souvenirs. We ate in a restaurant run by a local family at their home and had the most amazing view of the lake and the best grilled trout sofar..nice! We did not have much time on the island, but we could have stayed much longer if it was possible..Puno itself wasn´t one of our favourites. It is dirty, crowded and the tuctucs run over your feet. It was time to move on and go to Cuzco!!!

End of part one (for part two and pictures: see tomorrow).

Besos Tom y Eline.