The dizzy heights of Peru
(Jason)
Hi all, after making a snowman in Banff (had to be done) we flew to Montreal for a few nights, nice city but we didn't really do a great deal but we did use it as a base to get up to beautiful Quebec city where we spent a fantastic night in an Ice hotel. Everything is made of ice, the beds, the walls, chapel, bar, the n'iceclub even the ice sculptures!! We had several vodka shots, in ice glasses, before hitting the hot tubs at 2 am for a quick warm before heading to our arctic sleeping bags for the night. The vodka could have had something to do with Vicki going arse over tit when she got out of the hot tub, it definitely had something to do with her hangover the next day!
Vicki - I was only drinking vodka to keep warm - honest!!
Jason- Yes right!! After Quebec it was back to Montreal then on to Toronto ,which we didn't like and have met many Canadians who happen to agree with us, apart from the fantastic British style chips, but we did manage to win front row tickets for " We Will Rock You" ( the Queen musical) which was a really good night out.
We flew down to Miami for some very welcome warmth and sunshine, it felt soooo goood to post the thermal underwear home! The place is so full of pretentious wannabees and so overpriced that it was not an easy place to relax in. It was Spring break which didn't help. The pub we spent my Birthday in is described as a "Dive" in the Lonely Planet but "popular with the hostel crowd" so it was perfect!! ( Cheap beer, cheap pool, and free popcorn).
After a not so relaxing week we flew down to Mexico City. Although it has a bad reputation it is an stunning city with some amazing buildings and statues. We took a trip out to the great pyramids of Teotihuacan which are a couple of huge pyramids linked by the "Path of the Dead"--spooky!! The view over the whole site is fantastic. That evening was tequila night in the hostel, the rules are simple, once the ENORMOUS bottle of tequila has been opened it must be drunk, the problem was there was also a HUGE and had a great night but also a terrible morning the next day!!! After a week we headed off to Puerto Vallarta. At this point I would like to remind you all about Vicki´s toe in Hawaii and Expensive Miami ( neither very relaxing) just so you can understand the reason we booked into a 5 star all inclusive luxury resort for 7 days!!!!! Sorry!!!! We really needed it!!!! We were so relaxed after drinking and eating and chilling out and I even got the nickname " Mr UK" !! Explanations on request!!
We landed in Lima, Peru, next where the taxi driver from the airport showed us how to do city formula one driving! Maniac. We stopped in Miraflores, the upmarket part of the city right on the coast and as it was Easter weekend it was deserted. We sorted out a flight to Cusco which sounded a lot better than the 19 hour bus ride!!! The plane had to circle for an hour before being allowed to land as the airport in Cusco was closed because of low cloud!! The city is enclosed on all sides by the Andes mountain range. The City itself is the tourist mecca of Peru but is stunningly beautiful, we took it really easy for the first couple of days to get used to the altitude, our hostel at the top of a hill had a panoramic view over the Plaza Mayor. We also visited Sacsayhuaman, some great old Inca ruins, where the stones fitted together perfectly and some weighed up to 130 tonnes. It hailed whilst we were there but the hailstones were so large that they actually hurt when they hit us!
Vicki
To Aguas Callientes next, a slow train ride as the train has to zigzag up and down mountains but it was very scenic. As we weren't doing the Inca trail, we wanted to be at Machu Picchu as early as possible to miss the crowds so we got up at 4.30am and arrived with about 10 others around 6.00am for an uninterrupted view of the site. It was picture postcard stuff, no-one on the ruins for the first 10 minutes that we were there and well worth the early start. We stood just looking for about half an hour and then went down to explore. The site itself is huge, the pictures do not do it justice. We decided to climb Huayna Picchu (the large peak) which was a bit of a challenge to say the least and with my hip, bad knees and Jason´s fear of heights (sheer drops with no ropes) we were not a good combination but the view was spectacular and worth the pain that we both suffered for the next few days. We spent most of the day there, just chilling out surrounded by mountains and ruins, it was fascinating, a real highlight of our trip. We carried on to Puno where we tried cuy chactado (fried guinea pig), we won´t be having it again, a little like fatty chicken and not much meat. We spent a couple of days on Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world, the water is turquoise blue and the lake is so large it even has waves! We visited Los Uros (the floating reed islands) and spent the night with a local family on one of the main islands, Amantani. This was really good fun as we ate local food picked fresh from their land, Jason played 5-a-side with the locals at 4,200 metres above sea level (won 2-1), spent the evening dressed in local costumes at the local community centre where they laid on a dance for the few tourists that were there, the only downside was that the toilet was 30m from the house (oh and no electricity or running water, OK for 1 night!).
Next to Arequipa, dubbed the white city as it was built using Sillar rock (a whitish volcanic rock), it has a beautiful Plaza in the centre with a Cathedral which dominates one side. We visited the Monasterio de Santa Catalina, a convent which housed 450 nuns which only opened to the public 40 years and was previously shrouded in mystery as the nuns were not allowed outside. It was enormous, it is like a city within a city, really beautiful with narrow streets, lovely squares etc.
We stopped by Nazca to take a flight over the lines, Nazca itself is just a hole in the dessert but the flight was really good. Bizarre shapes ranging from what looked like an alien to whales, monkeys and hands. The plane was only a 5 seater and it was really windy so quite bumpy for take off. The pilot banks left and right really hard so that you get a good view of the lines (and your stomach lining if you haven´t taken any pills). Final stop in Peru was Huacachina, an oasis in the desert, it really is surrounded on all sides by huge sand dunes, where we went dune buggy riding which was great fun as the driver tries to scare you witless and sand boarding which was a lot more fun and far easier than snowboarding. The food in Peru is so cheap we ate out a lot, 2.50 for a 5 course meal (can't find pound sign!!) none too shabby! We are off to Chile next......
Hi all, after making a snowman in Banff (had to be done) we flew to Montreal for a few nights, nice city but we didn't really do a great deal but we did use it as a base to get up to beautiful Quebec city where we spent a fantastic night in an Ice hotel. Everything is made of ice, the beds, the walls, chapel, bar, the n'iceclub even the ice sculptures!! We had several vodka shots, in ice glasses, before hitting the hot tubs at 2 am for a quick warm before heading to our arctic sleeping bags for the night. The vodka could have had something to do with Vicki going arse over tit when she got out of the hot tub, it definitely had something to do with her hangover the next day!
Vicki - I was only drinking vodka to keep warm - honest!!
Jason- Yes right!! After Quebec it was back to Montreal then on to Toronto ,which we didn't like and have met many Canadians who happen to agree with us, apart from the fantastic British style chips, but we did manage to win front row tickets for " We Will Rock You" ( the Queen musical) which was a really good night out.
We flew down to Miami for some very welcome warmth and sunshine, it felt soooo goood to post the thermal underwear home! The place is so full of pretentious wannabees and so overpriced that it was not an easy place to relax in. It was Spring break which didn't help. The pub we spent my Birthday in is described as a "Dive" in the Lonely Planet but "popular with the hostel crowd" so it was perfect!! ( Cheap beer, cheap pool, and free popcorn).
After a not so relaxing week we flew down to Mexico City. Although it has a bad reputation it is an stunning city with some amazing buildings and statues. We took a trip out to the great pyramids of Teotihuacan which are a couple of huge pyramids linked by the "Path of the Dead"--spooky!! The view over the whole site is fantastic. That evening was tequila night in the hostel, the rules are simple, once the ENORMOUS bottle of tequila has been opened it must be drunk, the problem was there was also a HUGE and had a great night but also a terrible morning the next day!!! After a week we headed off to Puerto Vallarta. At this point I would like to remind you all about Vicki´s toe in Hawaii and Expensive Miami ( neither very relaxing) just so you can understand the reason we booked into a 5 star all inclusive luxury resort for 7 days!!!!! Sorry!!!! We really needed it!!!! We were so relaxed after drinking and eating and chilling out and I even got the nickname " Mr UK" !! Explanations on request!!
We landed in Lima, Peru, next where the taxi driver from the airport showed us how to do city formula one driving! Maniac. We stopped in Miraflores, the upmarket part of the city right on the coast and as it was Easter weekend it was deserted. We sorted out a flight to Cusco which sounded a lot better than the 19 hour bus ride!!! The plane had to circle for an hour before being allowed to land as the airport in Cusco was closed because of low cloud!! The city is enclosed on all sides by the Andes mountain range. The City itself is the tourist mecca of Peru but is stunningly beautiful, we took it really easy for the first couple of days to get used to the altitude, our hostel at the top of a hill had a panoramic view over the Plaza Mayor. We also visited Sacsayhuaman, some great old Inca ruins, where the stones fitted together perfectly and some weighed up to 130 tonnes. It hailed whilst we were there but the hailstones were so large that they actually hurt when they hit us!
Vicki
To Aguas Callientes next, a slow train ride as the train has to zigzag up and down mountains but it was very scenic. As we weren't doing the Inca trail, we wanted to be at Machu Picchu as early as possible to miss the crowds so we got up at 4.30am and arrived with about 10 others around 6.00am for an uninterrupted view of the site. It was picture postcard stuff, no-one on the ruins for the first 10 minutes that we were there and well worth the early start. We stood just looking for about half an hour and then went down to explore. The site itself is huge, the pictures do not do it justice. We decided to climb Huayna Picchu (the large peak) which was a bit of a challenge to say the least and with my hip, bad knees and Jason´s fear of heights (sheer drops with no ropes) we were not a good combination but the view was spectacular and worth the pain that we both suffered for the next few days. We spent most of the day there, just chilling out surrounded by mountains and ruins, it was fascinating, a real highlight of our trip. We carried on to Puno where we tried cuy chactado (fried guinea pig), we won´t be having it again, a little like fatty chicken and not much meat. We spent a couple of days on Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world, the water is turquoise blue and the lake is so large it even has waves! We visited Los Uros (the floating reed islands) and spent the night with a local family on one of the main islands, Amantani. This was really good fun as we ate local food picked fresh from their land, Jason played 5-a-side with the locals at 4,200 metres above sea level (won 2-1), spent the evening dressed in local costumes at the local community centre where they laid on a dance for the few tourists that were there, the only downside was that the toilet was 30m from the house (oh and no electricity or running water, OK for 1 night!).
Next to Arequipa, dubbed the white city as it was built using Sillar rock (a whitish volcanic rock), it has a beautiful Plaza in the centre with a Cathedral which dominates one side. We visited the Monasterio de Santa Catalina, a convent which housed 450 nuns which only opened to the public 40 years and was previously shrouded in mystery as the nuns were not allowed outside. It was enormous, it is like a city within a city, really beautiful with narrow streets, lovely squares etc.
We stopped by Nazca to take a flight over the lines, Nazca itself is just a hole in the dessert but the flight was really good. Bizarre shapes ranging from what looked like an alien to whales, monkeys and hands. The plane was only a 5 seater and it was really windy so quite bumpy for take off. The pilot banks left and right really hard so that you get a good view of the lines (and your stomach lining if you haven´t taken any pills). Final stop in Peru was Huacachina, an oasis in the desert, it really is surrounded on all sides by huge sand dunes, where we went dune buggy riding which was great fun as the driver tries to scare you witless and sand boarding which was a lot more fun and far easier than snowboarding. The food in Peru is so cheap we ate out a lot, 2.50 for a 5 course meal (can't find pound sign!!) none too shabby! We are off to Chile next......
posted by Jason&Vicki | Friday, April 27, 2007
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