Chickens and Dogs....

After 10 straight sleepless nights I have realised I have no choice but to kill every dog and chicken in Peru. Im off to market for a machete, it will not be humane.

P.

Nazca & Arequipa.....

I saw sunset on my last two nights in Huacachina from the top of the dunes, it was awesome although i could actually hear "don´t look back in anger¨coming from one of the bars in the village, luckily i love that song so it didnt ruin the moment. It was a nice change from George Michael and Bob Marley (who i am covinced Peru thinks is still alive). Quite a few people make the trip up to the dunes for sunset so it was a nice moment.

Next we got a taxi along the worst road in history to Ica where we caught a bus to Nazca. This part of the Panamerican Highway was amazing. The trip takes you from completely barren desert to mountains in 4 hours. The drivers are not so lovely, our bus driver decided on more than one occasion to over take lorries uphill on blind u-corners, its best not to watch really.

Our hostel in Nazca was run by a midget (im not being rude, he was). He was very friendly actually and had a beer with us on the roof. He called us "Muchachos" which apparently means the boys. The hostel was nice aside from the torture beds they provided us with, im thinking of contacting the UN. I have not slept a proper night since (thats about 4 days). Anyway we woke up early the next day for our flight over the Nazca lines. This was great for two reasons - the lines themselves and the tiny little plane that we flew on. Its amazing that people so long ago made shapes in the earth that are so symetrical and perfect. Only later did we find out that one of these planes had crashed killing all on board only 2 weeks before ours. So surviving the flight can be the third reason why that day was great. Theres not a lot to do in Nazca town really, its a dustbowl and VERY local. I think we were the only gringos there, oh and the supermarket was crap too, how can peruvians surive on biscuits and cusqueña?! This lack of activities led us to the roof terrace where we sat for most of the day. Now the problem with Peru is its huge. That means long bus journeys and often at night. So we rocked up to the Nazca bus stop for our midnight bus to Arequipa 8 hours away. We hoped to get some sleep but the film they were showing and the snoring peruvians put an end to our dreams of some dreams. This would have been okay but the bus journey was when i became ill. Not the best place to begin illness, 8 hours away from a proper toilet and a drink of water. Again the driver was doing his best to kill everyone on board by overtaking entire convoys in the dark in the mountains. Despite all this we arrived in Arequipa ok! Arequipa is beautiful. It is a colonial town in the shadow of mountains and the volcano "El Misti" and has a completely different feel to the place than we have experienced before. For a start a driver let us cross the road in front of him. I thought it might be some kind of trap but no it was a genuine good deed. I have got mild altitude sickness as we ascended from sea level to 2800m in 3 hours which isnt very nice, i was ill anyway so i guess i am just more prone to it i dont know. I think ive lost half my bodyweight, so about 2 stone. Santa Catalina Monastery was well worth seeing. It is a city within a city that was created for Nuns around 400 years ago and it virtually cut off the nuns from the outside world. It was a gorgeous place tho, so tranquil. Still not worth giving up your life for though. Hoping to get out tomorrow and see some more of the city but ive been up all night with stomach cramps so may spend the day in bed on a drip.

P.

Lima, Ica, Haucachina....

Winding through Lima in a taxi was one of the most humbling experiences of my life. The shanty towns on the edge of town are shocking. Lima has a fantastic buzz about it, and by buzz i mean a kind of constant mania-the taxi rides are hairy to say the least and there is a constant thick smog similiar to a 50an hour cigarrette habit. Our hostel was in a bohemian arty part of town called ¨Barranco¨ which was a nice mix of colonial architechture and piss-drenched stairwells covered in graffiti, perfect! The colours of Peru are amazing and it is reflected in everyones mood. Perhaps English people are so glum because everything is grey, the buildings, the weather, the government etc etc etc etc etc. Nah I love England really.

After a walk down to the beach we headed for ¨Miraflores¨ about 25mins walk downtown. This really opened my eyes to the vast gulf between the rich and the poor in this country. Miraflores is gorgeous and clearly not for the 54% of the country below the poverty line, the many security guards make sure of this. For that reason it quite a sad place to be, knowing the squalour that so many people live in. Anyhoo Betty from our hostel let us out at 6am to catch our Bus 250km down the coast to ¨Ica¨.

There is a constant coastal fog that hugs the land in and around Lima, it is quite dull but haunting at the same time. The bus ride along the Panamerican Highway gives another insight into the poverty that exists in Peru.

This is when we came across the gem of ¨Huacachina¨ (see photo above). Words cannot describe this place, i mean i am not good with words anyway but this place is the shit. After 5 hours drive from Lima through barren desert we found the Oasis about 5km outside Ica. There are only about 25 houses in Huacachina that surround a cute little lagoon in complete isolation from the rest of the world, reachable only by one tiny road. We found a hostel at the foot of the sand dunes that surround the village. I took a walk to the top of the sand dunes which was unforgetable. I think i could see for about 20 miles or so in each direction taking in mountains, barren sand dunes, shanty towns and the lagoon below me. This is certainly closer to paradise than home. We are off to Nazca after a few more days at the oasis to fly over the land formations. Hope the pilot isnt as drunk as our Lima cabbies.

P.

oh, hello

Hello everyone. One week until I leave now, are you exited?

I am keeping a diary with a real pen and paper (recycled of course) therefore limited entries will be made onto this blog, it is mostly backup incase my pen runs out.

I am looking forward to my injections on wednesday, one was red last time, it looked like blood, cant be a bad thing giving me more blood can it? If anyone wants to come with me they are at 08.30 on the 14th at St Bartholemew's Medical Center, Oxford. No pets.

anyway enjoy spying on my travels. P.