Cusco- a word from Katie

I see dead people! Peru is not short of morbid curiousity as we visited a church with 20,000 people buried under it- their bones placed in pretty patterns for us to view. And this picture shows a mummy from a graveyard in Nazca, where the tombs are left open for the viewing of these dred-locked skeletons.

Thought it was about time I put a little effort into this website thing, and gave you my two-bobs worth of our life in Peru.

Despite trying to ignore my maternal nature I have been blissfully content this week as we have a home. We have shacked up in Cusco for 10 days or so and booked ourselves into Spanish school. It has been so nice to have a kitchen and make our own food, and to come back to the same place at the end of each day- and they even have a dog where we are staying (one you can actually pat-not a mangy, flea ridden thing as is normal for South America).

Prior to arriving in Cusco, the navel of the Inkan world, we visited the Colca Canyon, apparently the second deepest canyon in the world. We had both come down ill with some fluey/fever thing but Joel was recovering so made an attempt to descend into the canyon, but took a few wrong turns, met with some nasty looking cactus´ and ended up atop a cliff with no safe way into the canyon. So he returned to the town where we were staying- Cobanaconde, which happened to be celebrating the festival of their patron saint. This meant all the local people were on the piss for 3 days with multiple brass bands playing the same song continuously and everyone dancing the same dance continuously. For us it was a bit like the pied-piper as we heard the music and saw the people dancing through the town so we followed them to our first ever bull fight. Taking from the spanish influence, 5 men were dressed in the proper matador get-up and the chosen bull was forced into the ring where they proceeded to taunt him with their coloured cloths and once he was a little tired started to stab decorated spears into his shoulder blades. The final blow being a sword through his spine into his chest. Then the 5 of them huddled around him pushing on his rump trying to make him fall over until eventually (after a slow and surely painful time) the animal collapsed and all the cowboys came out to finish him off. I have only just acepted the idea of eating meat again, so watching this didn´t really encourage my new way of life.

Anyway, during all this the brass band is still playing and the people still dancing around so we got swept into the dancing parade and tried our luck at some traditional dance moves. Joel must have impressed one old fella who came up to him and grabbed his nuts with a big smile, before dancing off again.

Cusco has been a bit of quiet time for us as we are studying Spanish 4 hours a day and then have to do homework- such a strange thing to choose to do when travelling. But it is a beautiful city to spend some time in. It is also the tourist high season which means that local thieves are having a field day. I went to a nearby market last weekend and when we left we virtually had to fight our way onto the bus where I was crammed against the gear stick and the front window of the bus- it was so packed it was dangerous. Needless to say my wallet was stolen out of my pocket that was zipped up- sneaky bastards. Thankfully I only had the equivalent of $5 in it. Of the people in our hostal alone this week one girl has had her bag and passport stolen, another guy had his wallet taken and two people had attempts made on them after they were spat on to distract them. Welcome to Cusco gringos!

Peru: The Nazca Lines

After a hard day of hiking the Andes and feasting on guinea pig, alpaca steak and cactus, quench your thirst with an Isaac Kola. Forget about beer folks this stuff hits the spot. For those that don´t know Katie´s surname is Isaac!

The big news to come out of South America is after 9 years of obstaining Katie is now a meat eater again.

Its true water spins one direction in the Southern Hemisphere and the other way in the Northern Hemisphere. Good old Corrilois was correct. I know this because our last day in Ecuador was spent at ´Mitad Del Mundo,´ the middle of the world or where the Equator passes through Ecuador. To celebrate my first time in the Northern Hemisphere a had a kiss with my beautiful girl friend, Katie in the Southern Hemisphere and myself in the Northern. What a lucky man! From the Equator to Peru, what a big day.

Tears roll down our checks as everytime our eyelids close grains of quartz stratch the outer membrain of our eyes. Calves are burning as we push to the summit of this giant sand dune. Alas we make it and what a view. In one direction sand dunes seem endless. In the other a mirage of a lagoon surrounded by palm trees, hotels and locals stalls. This true oasis in Peru is called Huacachina, a truely amazing place. However, the ascent to the summit wasnt all about the view, although that was bloody great, it was about SANDBOARDING. Candlewax on the base of the board makes for some fast down-dune action, and with a couple of turns and one massive wipeout we were at the bottom with sand in every orefice of the body. It doesnt get much better than this!

Next stop Nazca, famous for its mysterious lines etched into the dry, flat expanse of the Nazca desert, between a period from 900 BC to 600 AD. These lines can only be seen by air, perhaps made for the Gods of the Nazca. There is a monkey some 150metres in length, and a heron near 3oometres long, whilst the countless lines that mark the desert extend for kilometres. Unfortunately for the Nazca people they disappeared into the nearby Andes (due to lack of water- if only they had Isaac Kola) so no one knows exactly why they created these lines.

We took a 30 minute flight over them to really appreciate how amazing the feat of the Nazca people was. In the air the lines look endless, some of them meet on small hilltops, others take on triangular shapes and scattered amoungst them all are the distinct shapes of animals. Despite being a short flight, the 5 of us in the plane were feeling queesy, which was heightened by our loco-pilot putting the plane into some zero-gravity rollercoaster action at the end.

The Galapagos Islands

Bananas and chocolate, banana juice, fried bananas, banana and soup, roast banana, chili and banana, banana ice cream, banana and fish, dried bananas..................its like a scene from Forest Gump. These are my favourate fruit and they are everywhere. YUMMY!

Katie and myself have just returned from two weeks on the Galapagos Islands. But just before I get into that part of our trip let me tell you about a crazy train ride we took called ´Narvis del Diablo´ the Devils Nose recommended to us by Grasshopper. Basically we rode on the roof of the train a great way to see the scenery. The last part of the 6 hr train ride takes you down some crazily steep track. Holding our beers in one hand and the roof of the train in the other we derailed not once but 4 times. No one was hurt but we were held up for an hr while the workers repaired the track by hand and somehow managed to lift the train back on the track. The locals must think we are bloody stupid for all these tourists to be sitting on top of this dangerous train ride but they seem to have fun waving as we passed through there towns!

The Galapagos Islands will forever be a highlight of my life. This place is ridiculous, wildlife everywhere and the freaking thing is that none of it is scared of us. We took an 8 day boat cruise which visited two or three islands each day. Each island was unique in some way. Some of the highlights for me included the giant tortoises, 250 plus kilos walking slowly though the cactus forests. Probably aged 150 - 200 years old. Has witnessed his family members almost be wiped out to extinction by passing sailors and pirates whom would use his family for fresh meat. These guys can last a year with no food or water so would find themselves in the bottom of a sailing ships, stuck on there back for months on end until coming to there bloody death. Some of the more unco-ordinated (Hirsch and Clarky) tortoises full backwards while making love only to come to their death a year later unable to move from their awkward position. Doesn´t natural selection suck - damn you Charles Darwin, damn you!

We also got to witness albatrosses mating. These guys are amazing in the air but struggle on land. Woddle to find there life long partner. Clap their beaks together, look around then dual each other other with their beaks like two musketeers. Katie and myself sat a metre away from this. A truly breath taking experience. The frigate birds were cool with the males puffing up there red neck balloon to impress the chicks. We saw most of the land animals that makes this place so unique over the two weeks. You actually get quite lazy - if an animal is more than 3 metres away its not worth looking at. If we were not exploring the islands Katie and myself would go snorkeling from our boat regularly playing with sea lion pups and females and seeing turtles, sharks, rays and hundreds of species of fish.

I was surprised to find the terrestrial environment fairly harsh with catus dominating the plants. Did make for an interesting nudy shot though! No jokes about pricks boys, you´ll have to be more creative than that. The underwater environment was a different story. Wow, the two currents of the area make for some awesome underwater viewing which I saw while diving this place. On one of my dives I saw 3 species of Morays eels, 6 hammerhead sharks (a real highlight of my diving career), white tip reef sharks, two large Galapagos sharks (I swam up to them wondering why the dive master didn´t follow only to find out later that they feed on sea lions!), a manta ray, cow ray, a group of eagle rays and green turtle. Heaven to say the least.

Not ones to rest we continued to suck this country for all she is worth as after the Galapagos we did a two day tramp in Cajas national park. I´ve seen the Andes by foot and by bus but to actually camp out is a whole new Andean experience. The below freezing conditions were quickly forgotten by the stars in the clear sky and the location. A new habitat for us on this walk was the cloud forest which grows between 2800 - 3400 metres but only found near the equator for the ideal humid conditions. Navigation is tricky when the cloud comes in thick and after being a little missed place for an hour we were back on track.

Ecuador

¨altitude sickness may develop in those who ascend rapidly to altitudes greater than 2500m. Bing physically fit offers no protection. The risks with faster ascents, higher altitudes and greater exertion. Symptoms may include headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, malaise, insomnia and loss of appetite. It can cause swelling of the brain or fluids in the lungs.¨ - Katie made me read this after our recent mountaineering trip but I´ll get back to that later!

South America, Ecuador we made it and are loving it. Quito the capital is great. Locals are helpful, food and beer is cheap and the city offers so much buts lets begin by getting out of the comfort of a big city which caters for tourists and into the heart of this amazing country - the true South American experience.

Our destination was Latacunga and the bus ride was as exciting as the destination. People selling ice creams, nuts, beans, and even buskers not to mention the Andean scenery. Needless to say the trip was very entertaining.

We arrived in Latacunga and made a few mistakes that could have turned pear shape but have now transformed into traveller gossip. Getting off at the wrong bus stop was the first. We were in a rough part of town no tourist here. However we found a Hotel for $2.50 a night each. A little run down but what can you expect for that price. Walking to find dinner we had stares from the local men, who seemed to dominate the population, one of whom was cleaning his pistol.

That night we found out why our room was so cheap. It was the Latacunga brothel. We had little sleep that night listening to men walking up the creaking stairs, the sounds of beds squeaking. ladies moaning, chairs banging, ladies choking and men climaxing. This was followed by peeing and showering, shooting up some drugs, laughing, yelling, etc this happened all bloody night. We were in a situation, no one knew where we were, we couldn´t ring anyone, the streets were not safe so walking was not an option and worst of all our Spanish was not good enough to talk to anyone. An intimidating night but a great travelling lesson.

Thus far on our trip we have spent a fair chunk of time in the Andes including the great indigenous markets and staying with an Indigenous family (by pure luck) at 4000m at a place called Quilotoa. Its a volcano that has been filled by water. Very beautiful and great trekking. Because our high altitude acclimatization had been going so well we decided to have a crack at some mountaineering and climb Cotopaxi. The worlds highest active volcano standing some 5900m above sea level. The ice axe climbing preparation went well as we passed all techniques no worries. We hiked from 4300m to 4800m were we spent the night in a climbers hut. Katie was struggling with the altitude a little but I felt pretty good considering our hight. We woke up at mid night and for me this is were it all went bad. I had not had any sleep, when I got out of my sleeping bag I vomited 4 times until nothing was left to come up and I had a spliting headche. Katie on the other had was feeling really good apart from a slight headache. However, being a stubbin bloke I wan´t to push on. With head torches on and a slight glow form the moon we ascended 300m in an hour to 5000m before donning the crampons and ice axe. During that whole time my condition grew worse with dizziness and more dry reaching and vomiting. The first ice climb on to the glacier was a demanding and required a lot of energy something I didn´t have a lot of.

However, being on the mountain at this time of night was amazing. Very still, cold and inspiring. We continued to ascend for another hour or so to 5200m by this time I had zero enrgy and altitude sickness had got the better of me. We had no choice but to desend. I stumbled a few times on the way down as I was totally out of it. A dangerour thing as we were surrounded by several small crevases. My only comfort was I was roped to Katie and the guide. I feel for Katie as she was feeling good and quite possibly could have made it to the summit so I´m greatly sorry for that babe.

I really enjoyed the mountaineering exprience and the mountains have not seen the last of me! Before this trip I knew little of altitude sickness but now know from first hand experience what soroche is all about.