Jul 2007

Fortunatley David was back with the living as we´d planned a vist iver the Nasca Lines. We first visited a 1000 year old cemetry, here we could see quite a few mummified remains due to the preservation of the desert. Unfortunately most of it was reconstructed as it had been raided by grave robbers, but we got the idea!

Then it was time for what we´d been waiting for! The airport!!! We squeezed into a teeny tiny biplane and chugged down the runway. It was a little wobbly at first but we were soon flying and could see the Nasca desert and surrounding mountains.

We could see lots of lines and patterns on the ground below us and then we started to see more. We spotted the monkey, humming bird and astronaut to name a few. It was quite surreal seeing these huge carvings in the ground below us. By the time the plane landed our stomachs were all over the place but what an experience!

We finished of another busy day by eating raw fish and chilling out beside the pool before catching a night bus to Arequipa....

We arrived in Pisco quite late so we all ate together and a few continued the night away. The chosen drink here is, hence the name of the town (!), Pisco. It´s a brandy type of drink (40-44%) and when mixed with lemon juice, egg whites and sugar becomes Pisco Sour. Very nice and very lethal. David discovered this in the only way possible...

Juan pouring our piscos!

The following day we climbed aboard the bus and set off to an Oasis via Paracus national park. Despite his delicate state, David opted to go sandboarding and dune buggying - Nic still can´t believe he wasn´t ill! To be amongst huge sand dunes (infact the hightest in the world is reportably located there!) was incredible. The fact you could admire the scenery from two different perspectives added to the experience - namely hurtling yourself, head first, at some serious speed, down these dunes on a very shiny wooden boards! This was just a tad(!) quicker than in NZ!

This was generally a relaxing place where we could have lunch and chill out infront of water in an extremely dry environment.

We also visited a winery that produces the now dreaded Pisco (David kept well back from the tasting!). Unfortunatley we didn´t get the chance to see around the factory so it was similiar to the other wineries we´ve visited - except of course this was quite picturesque being in Peru and all!

David sat out the wine tasting!

We changed money, sorted our bags and generally relaxed before the intense schedule the next few weeks has installed for us acorss Peru, Bolivia and Brasil...

We had the first a day in Lima by ourselves and decided to catch a taxi into Lima´s main square. The traffic was awful and the car fumes were horrible! We eventually figured out how to get in the Plaza de Armes (entrances were barracaded due to a teaching strike!). The square was very picturesque, with the President´s Palace and one of many cathedrals in Lima being the main focal point.

Plaza de Armes

We walked around for a while before having a tour around Catedral San Francisco. The paintings and architecture were just fantastic and the history was very interesting. We got to walk down into the depths of the catedral into the catacoombs, where and estimated 75,000 bodies lay in huge underground vaults. A large amount of bones are on display and there are some areas they cannot excavate as they have almost become the foundations of the building.

Catedral San Francisco

We met our group that night and went out for a meal. The Leader is Pervian and full of information and local knowledge, he explained the ephasise of using local companies and produces for anything we do... The following day, having met our group we caught the bus to Pisco....and so the journey in Peru begins....

Rental ski gear in tow and wearing nearly all of our clothes we began the winding, twisting and turning up all the steep little roads. We were finally dropped off at our hostel and after a quick check in we were off to the slopes!

We started on green runs so Nic could warm up but eager as ever, we both quickly jumped on the ski lift and headed higher and higher and were eventually happily skiing on the reds!

On our way up

Nic preparing for the red run

Obviously she wasn´t prepared enough....

The views from the top (3350m high) were amazing. We were in the heart of huge Andes mountain range with Santiago now a distant "village" (!) in the background. We had beautiful sunshine, clear blue skies and crisp lovely snow. We were in heaven!

David after one of his falls!

We´d had a couple of spectacular falls and ended our first day tired but very happy. We returned to a cosy hostel thanks to the log fire and chilled out playing pool, chess and chatted to fellow skiiers!

The second day was more skiing, though as we were still getting over our jet lag it was a lot more relaxed. We basically had the slopes to ourselves, it was bliss.

Checking out the slopes

We made our way back down, down, down into Santiago and finished off our two days of skiing with a few Pisco Sours!!

The sunset over the Andes just as we were leaving

Trying out pisco sours for the first time...

We left New Zealand at 5.30pm and landed in Santiago, Chile at 1.30pm! We had officially time travelled and were feeling the effects! After a weird night´s sleep we walked into town and had a stroll around the main square and a peek inside the Cathedral.

Preparing to land

Inside the Cathedral

During our stay in the city we also caught a furnicular railway up to the tops of Parque Metropolitano where a huge statue stood. From high up we could clearly see the Andes and the thick layer of smog which seemed to constantly hang over Santiago. We took in a dose of culture at the Precolumbian musuem. This was really interesting as they had artefacts dating from 100 to 400BC and mummies which were created 2000 years before the Egyptian versions!

View of the Andes from Parque Metropolitano

We sampled some local street food including the renowed "hot dog" with gucamole, tomato, mayo and if you´re daring some mustard!

Santiago city is a modern place and allowed us a gentle introduction to South America. Tring hard to get our spanish right, we even managed to have conversations that involved football! Having said that, this wasn´t too hard as the Copa America is currently on and the whole place is crazy for it. A real treat to see the likes of Brasil and Argentina thrash it out! (That comment was obviously from David!)

Still, with the draws of a modern citry at our fingertips, the Andes mountain range was looming overhead and we needed to get out of the city.....