From Cuzco we took yet another bus to a town south-east called Arequipa, this area is famous for the volcanoes and canyons that surround the area. There are three volcanoes that can be seen from the Plaza de Armas, Chachani (6075m), Pichu Pichu (5571m) and El Misti (5822m). If El Misti were to erupt the town would not have enough time to evacuate it is that close. Also the city is nicknamed ‘The White City’ due to the very white volcanic stone that is found in the area.
Nearby is the famous Cañón del Colca which is one of the world’s deepest canyons at 3191m. We opted to do a 2 day one night tour to go and see the canyon…this was kind of a mistake. This was one of the most structured tours we have been on and it wasn’t the greatest. Stuck on a bus for a majority of the time with a man at the front almost constantly speaking at us, but it was all well worth it once we actually got there.
On the second day we awoke around 5am as we had a further 2 hours on the bus, to arrive in time to see the condors awaken and begin their gliding for the day in search of food. This was an amazing experience to be sitting near the edge of the canyon with a couple of hundred others waiting, and waiting. At the first sight of these gigantic yet majestic birds it almost takes your breath away. A member of the vulture family the Andean Condors wing span can be up to 3.2m wide. Slowly as the morning progressed more and more came out from their nests, at one point a condor glided right over the top of us only a few meters above. Of course our camera was not fast enough to capture a close up. Due to their bone structure they do not flap their wings very often instead they use the earth’s thermals to glide higher. We spent about 2 hours just sitting watching them glide around before they left to find food, we are no bird watchers but this was amazing!
Once again realising how little time we had left until we were due to be Colombia, we high tailed it out of there and set out for Lima, the capital of Peru. A long and arduous 18 hours were made easier by full cama seats and the whole bottom section of the bus to ourselves. Lima is a big city, and as we were feeling a little anxious for time, we only planned to stopover and get a bus out the next day north. We weren’t feeling the vibe of Lima and we were so excited to get to our next destination – THE BEACH! At this point we had been in the mountains for so long it felt like a life time since we saw sand. So we headed north on yet another 18 hour bus ride to Mancora.
Mancora is quite a unique little town, very South American but with a hint of Thailand, with tuk tuk’s filling the streets and stalls on the side of the road selling clothes and jewellery – yes a little dangerous for Boos Boos to be near! We got off the bus into a hot and humid town and were instantly told of deals and hostal prices, we picked one guy and hoped for the best. In Boos Boos’ opinion it was the worst – the windows didn’t open, there was no fan, and the room was filled with mozzies! Meanwhile Doodles had paid the man for 2 nights’ accommodation, so we were in for a bitetastic time. Just a side note: there were barely any mozzies in the rest of the town, this place just didn’t look after the gardens and there was a tap constantly leaking creating a nice little nesting area for them. So Boos Boos isn’t as big a princess as you may think!
We absolutely loved this town, being right next to the ocean and Doodles had a sweet little reef break to ride every day - some guys on the beach had a little rental setup and so the board of choice was a nice big 10‘2“ mal for some cruisy waves. We found another café with amazing food, owned by a retired American couple, called Green Eggs and Ham. The lady became like a mum to us, we visited her everyday and she fed us (although we had to pay, not like when we visit our real mums).
Another example of differing standards between SA and home, just next to our hostal there was a construction site where they were building an esplanade type area. Every day we just wondered through in our thongs and nobody cared, no one would have a clue what OH&S would stand for (despite it being in English). After the two horrible nights with crazy mozzies we moved hostels. We just popped over the road to a hostal that was right on the beach and had beautiful sea breezes flowing through. It was awesome to stop for 5 days and get to know the place, but soon enough it was time to leave and get on with the journey.
As the border between Peru and Colombia is still a bit dangerous with drug trafficking and guerillas we decided to go up to Colombia through Ecuador. We literally just passed through Ecuador, briefly stoping in Quito, before heading north on the next bus and being a small country we were not even there for 24 hours. And finally we were in Colombia, a day before we had planned. We were so excited about what was ahead…
See you in Pasto!
Peace and Love
Doodles and Boos Boos
No comments:
Post a Comment