Robbed

Street in Cusco

Phew. Getting things stolen is as much hard work as it is guttering. Figuring out where the tourist police station is, getting there, trying to explain the situation (google translator), finding out you can’t get a report until you pay S./3.60 at the bank (over the other side of town), which can’t be done until 3 days later when the bank is open (and ironiquly when I won’t be in cusco). PHEW.

I guess its obvious now, but I was robbed. Pick pocketed of my cool NZ wallet, cards and Camera. Pretty amazing how good they are at stealing. Un-did my bag and everything without me feeling a thing.

It was an interesting day though, lost washing  (trying to explain what Dave and I had lost to the laundry lady with Dave’s limited Spanish was good fun) and fell over (with my pack on, day bag on front and holding two plastic bags and my glasses). Of course there were a lot of cool things too. We had another awesome lunch at the vego place down the road and booked our trip to Macchu Picchu. Dave left today for an alternative journey and Spike and myself leave tomorrow for a day mountain biking followed by three days trekking.

The weather is insane. Today I have worn both; a t-shirt and sunnies, and a jacket to combat hail and flooded streets. I thought it was temperamental at home!

The hail at the hostel

I’m still battling a bit of an all over the place stomach and Spike has a cold which set him back yesterday.  After some explaination at the pharmacy (on a side note, we can’t seem to find tape to tape our feet for tramping here) we stocked up on some cold drugs for the tramp ahead.

We have moved rooms or hostels for the last 5 or 6 nights. Getting exhausting. Especially when we arrived here yesterday to a group of super annoying Americans. I think it was about 15 or so of them. They even managed to ruin breakfast this morning with their annoyingness. Luckily they left today.

There was some sort of street parade going on in the centre of town today. Not sure what it was. But the army dudes have big guns. I have taken a few photos of them along the way, so will try and put some up at some point. if not they will be on facebook.

Been cranking the cocoa tea, its is rather tasty and recommended to anyone who ever gets a go to try it. Especially if you have lemon and a little but of sugar. It is rumored to help altitude sickness, but who really knows. Pretty boring entry. Tiredness does that to me I guess.

Time to go and pack for Machu...

Huachchina is awesome

Dune Buggy!

The excitement turned to nerves and all the girls on the buggy started to voice their concerns about what we were heading into. Again, a situation where we had all had many many warnings about the dangers from our friends at Lonely Planet. Acting as our backpacker bible and enemy. Dune buggying and sandboard was on the cards. An evening trip ending with watching the sun set over the desert in Huachchina. Who could turn that down! It was the most scary and awesome thing I have possibly ever done. We flew over the highest dunes and got air. There is no way we could get away with such a dangerous activity at home. Sandboarding was awesome too. We hit all sizes of hills. Some of which we were allowed to stand on the board (like snow boarding) and others where we lay head first on our stomachs. I have no idea how high these hills were, but you had plenty of time on the way down at speed to pass through the fear and enjoy the ride. It is kind of hard to write about all this now, as it was a few days and sleepless nights ago now. But needless to say the best thing I have probably ever done and for only S./40 (approx$20NZ) for two hours!

A great way to meet people too. Adrenalin still pumping we hit the ground running, the cervesas flowing at the hostel (as soon as we had somewhat de-sanded ourselves).  It lead to BBQ and a night out. Neededless to say Peruvians are good at teaching Salsa, pisco is DISGUSTING and there are a lot of neat people to meet.

Nursing hangovers the next stop was the famous Nasca lines. Upon recommendation from the hostel in Hauchchina, Spike, myself and an English couple, Sophie and Warren, who we had meet on the buggy trip took the three hour trip down the coast.  Turns out the hostel recommendation was fantastic. The guy meet us at the bus stop, we had private rooms, with bathrooms and hot water for the small price of S./15 each. However the lunch place recommended by our overly friendly (we are still questioning what his angle was) was terrible! The chicken was room temperature and I had a fly in my soup! Cliche much. We all lived to tell the tale and by the Nazca lines tour the next morning were having a good laugh about it. The lines were very interesting, they point to all sorts of things (such as where the sun sets in the winter solece and where there is a water fall). The figures however were less impressive. We only saw them from the hill and the tower (and also went to the museum) but they were a lot smaller than the consensus of our group (including others from the hostel in Huachchina) expected. One lady was very disappointed at her flight over the lines and said it was money well saved on our side. Had an awesome lunch, where the staff noticed we couldn’t completely understandably the daily specials on the menu so they took us into the kitchen to see them. Awesome. However I was too slow to get a photo.

That night my first good bye experience as Warren and Sophie hit their bus down the coast and we headed inland to cusco. The bus was almost an hour late leaving and took an extra hour to get to cosco (totalling a 15 journey). Within 10 minutes I discovered the EXTREMELY windy landscape we were facing for this night trip. Luckily I remembered the sea sickness braclets I had brought for this purpose before leaving home were in my day pack. SO SO grateful for those. I think about a third of the bus was vomiting. It was crazy windy for the good part of the whole 15 hours. By the end the bathroom was unhygienic and no one was keen to use it. 

Our desert Oasis

I was late starting my altitude tablets, so will have to see how the next few days go. But boy were we hungry by the time we got to the hostel.  The pathetic cold dinner and tiny breakfast we were given on the bus just didn’t come close to cutting it. BUT, on the upside there is a fantastic vegetarian place down the road and the daily special (soup and a meal with rice) is only S./5 each.  So yummy. Not so fun puffing to get back up the hill in the altitude though! There is a real Spanish feel to central Cusco and sadly the centre plazas feel like they only  exist for tourists and there is no local culture to them.

The first week

15th Nov -22nd Nov

Dazed and confused after a delayed flight from Auckland to Santiago I battled to navigate my way into the city to Che Largarta (I think?) my prebooked hostel in central Santiago. My nerves were in full force and the warnings of the dangers of South America ringing strong in the front on my mind. The biggest fears on these first few days were travelling between airports and hostels. Trying not to get ripped off or kidnapped. In reality the warnings have been too harsh.

After two almost sleepless nights in the noisey hostel (with excellent staff, spacious breakfast and wifi included), a trip up San Critobel hill and a lot of interesting shopping experiences (buying a power adaptor where they only spoke Spanish and invovled going to three different counters, one to find what I needed,one to pay and one to pick up the product - crazy!) with my non exisitant Spanish I made tracks for the airport again. Destination Lima. Countdown to Spikes arrival is on.

Fantastic hotel pre arranged for me by Spike with all the mod-cons. I battled with finding a power adaptor in the new Real Plaza (mall) for a 4:30pm Skype catch up with Spike on my second day in Lima, which I need not have done, as it turns out there was a knock at my door and the best surprise ever jumped out from around the corner.

Two days later we headed out of the unpopular city and down the coast on a bus to Ica. Lonely Planet had actually been a blessing here, leading me to find the magical oasis of Huachchina. Awseome doesn't even describe this place. Not even close. It is a real oasis, surrounded by sand dunes on all sides.

We have just been taking it easy and enjoyed a few cervesa's in the afternoon sun yesturday and are heading for dune buggy and sand boarding this afternoon (the orginal appeal of the location). Huachchina is definatly on the tourist trail and riddled with gringos, but for very very good reason. I love it here. Relaxed, warm and easy lifestyle. Yummy food too.

Photo: Huachchina