Peru, Part Two.

Hello from Bolivia! We are in the capital city of La Paz right now, our last day here before heading south, and figured it was time for another update. Only twenty days between posts.. not bad! In the last post, Caroline covered up to our time in Lima, Peru.. so I will continue on from there, and see how far I get before my hands get sore!
Caroline's parents met up with us at a beautiful little bed and breakfast in a suburb outside of Lima- our cab driver had to stop to ask directions three times to find it, but we got there eventually, and it was well worth the drive. Caroline's parents arrived there that evening, and the next day we spent relaxing by the pool, they recovering from the full day of flying the day before. The next morning, the owner of the bed and breakfast drove us into the city, and we caught a bus to a town further down the coast called Paracas. Paracas is a nice little town with a waterfront lined with seafood restaurants- the local specialty is a dish called ceviche, which consists of pieces of raw seafood mixed with red onions and vegetables, served cold. It's extremely popular along the coasts of both Equador and Peru. Paracas is nearby a national park, which is all desert but still has a surprising amount of wildlife living in it, and covers a long area of the coastline and ocean as well, although coming from Canada it's strange to see a national park with absolutely no vegetation! We took a boat the next morning to a group of islands called the Ballestas, around a half hour from the coast. These islands consist of huge rock formations sticking out of the ocean, and the rocks are covered in thousands of seabirds, so many that in some places you can't see the rock beneath them. At the base of the rocks, there are beaches which are covered in gigantic sea lions sunning themselves and rolling around all over the place- we could hear them as we approached the islands. It was quite an amazing sight, the boat drove around the islands and at times pulled up quite close so we could get a better look. That afternoon, we toured the national park. There wasn't too much to see there other than sand, but the coast of the park is mostly high stone cliffs, which provided some incredible views when we weren't rubbing the incessant sand blowing everywhere out of our eyes!
The next day, we took a cab from the town up to the main highway, flagged down a bus, and headed inland to the city of Ica. Just outside of Ica, there is a small town called Huacachina, which is a famous location in Peru (it's featured on the back of the S/50 bill) because it surrounds an oasis in the middle of the desert. We spent some time sitting by the lagoon, which is surrounded by restaraunts, hotels, and a stone walkway. At one time, this area was a resort for Peru's elite class, most of the buildings around the lagoon are colonial in style and have been restored, so it's a beautiful place, although now it is used by families from the nearby city. We hired a dune buggy and driver later in the day, and went for an adrenaline pumping drive through the mountain-sized sand dunes that surround the oasis, and spread out for hundreds of kilometres in every direction. We stopped a few times in the dunes to try "sandboarding", which consists of using a snowboard-like board to slide down the huge dunes, which was kind of scary, but a lot of fun!
The day after, we headed back to Ica and visited a vinyard just outside the city that makes pisco, which is made from grapes in a process similar to wine making, but it is further distilled into a strong, clear liquor. The most popular use of pisco is in the making of the "pisco sour", the national drink of Peru, which is pisco mixed with raw egg white and lime juice, and blended. (They're actually surprisingly good!) We were taken around the vinyard and shown the pisco-making process, and of course did some sampling! After this we headed back into Ica and caught a bus to Nazca, the home of the famous Nazca Lines, and booked a flight over the lines for the next day.
The next morning we waited for our hour-late shuttle to the airport (not an uncommon occurance) and when we finally got there, we boarded a 6 seater light aircraft, and got to see the Nazca Lines as the people who made them never could. It's an amazing sight, even more so because no one knows why the Nazca people made them, or what they mean. We got a great view, because the pilot would circle around each design a few times, but unfortunately this was a little much for those of us who suffer from motion sickness (i.e. Caroline). But even she agrees that it was well worth it. (If you're curious... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazca_lines)
The day after we headed back to the coast to the small town of Camana for a day at the beach, where we found a nice little hostel with a pool and a five minute walk to the beach, and we spent the next day reading, relaxing, and soaking up some rays on la mar Pacifico.
After our day at the beach, we hopped on a bus to Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru. We spent an evening there, and the next day headed to the village of Chivay in the Colca Valley, about four hours away from Arequipa. Chivay is the village nearest the Colca Canyon, a canyon twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. The four of us took a tour first thing in the morning of the canyon, which was unfortunately on that day completly full of clouds, and might as well have been 50 feet deep for all we could tell. But the incredible views of the valley and surrounding mountain ranges and the hike along the edge of the canyon, as well as the visits we made to a couple of indigenous farming settlements in the valley made the tour well worth it.
From Chivay, we booked seats on a bus to the city of Puno, on the western shores of Lake Titicaca. Our hostel had phoned the bus company, reserved seats, and told us that a van would come and pick us up, which we assumed meant to take us to the bus terminal. When the van arrived (three hours late), he proceeded to drive right past the terminal, and all the way to Puno (a six hour drive), which we assume was because they didn't end up getting us seats on the bus, or the bus didn't come, or something like that.. but we ended up having our own van & driver, which was quite nice.
We ended up spending three nights in Puno- we planned to spend two, but were informed on the second day when we went to the bus terminal to buy tickets to Cusco, our next destination, that there was a one day strike (?) affecting the road and that we had to wait until the next day.
The first day that we were there, we went to visit the "floating islands" off the shore of the lake called the Uros, which are exactly that- floating islands made of layer upon layer of the reeds that grow in the shallow parts of the lake. It was quite an experience, we were taken to visit a few of the islands, which have small buildings made from the same reeds that the islands themselves are made of, and communities of the Uros people living on each one. The rest of our time in Puno was spent exploring the streets, which was especially interesting in the evenings, as we happened to be there during Carnival, and the streets were filled with locals celebrating, running around, and spraying these cans of white foam at each other.
We took a bus from Puno to Cusco that stopped at a few places along the way, including a museum and some Inca ruins. We were heading to Cusco primarily as a launching point to visit Macchu Picchu, and the day after we arrived Caroline's parents caught a plane to the town of Puerto Moldonado in the Amazon Basin to spend a few days on a tour of the jungle, and Caroline and I made the arrangements for our trip to Macchu Picchu, which ended up being somewhat complicated. The town at the foot of Macchu Picchu, Aguas Calientes, is accessible only by train. We wanted to arrive into Aguas Calientes in the evening, stay the night there and then head up to Macchu Picchu first thing in the morning and beat the crowds. But, unfortunately for us, the direct train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes only leaves in the mornings, which explains why our guidebook warns that Macchu Picchu gets most crowded between 10:00 and 2:00- that's when the train arrives. We discovered that there is an evening train between the town of Ollantaytambo and Aguas Calientes, so we found a bus company (located in a wooden shack in a gravel lot) that goes to Ollantaytambo and were able to take the evening train from there. So as Caroline's parents explored the jungle, Caroline and I spent the next few days exploring Cusco, which is a beautiful valley city that was once the centre of the Inca empire, and a large portion of the colonial city, built on the ruins of the Inca's, follows the Inca's original city plan, so it's quite unique as a result. When Caroline's parents arrived back from the jungle, we headed on our (hot and crowded) bus to Ollantaytambo and at around 8:30, our 7:00 train to Aguas Calientes left, and a few hours later, we found a hostel, slept for a few hours, and Caroline and I managed to get up at 5:00 the next morning to hike up to the top of Macchu Picchu from the town. Caroline's parents made the civilized (and probably more sane, at 2,500m above sea level) trip up to the top of the mountain on one of the buses that head up and down all day long, and we met them at the top. Macchu Picchu is an incredible sight- no amount of photos can prepare you for the experience of seeing it with your own eyes. Perfectly preserved, only missing the thatched roofs that topped the stone buildings, you can picture a thriving Inca community living there. It's really like stepping back not only into another time, but another world, since it was built before the Incas were aware of the Western civilization that would later discover, and conquer them. We spent most of the day there, and then headed back down to Aguas Calientes to catch our (direct, thankfully) train back to Cusco.
Caroline's parents flew back to Lima the next day, to make their connection back home, and Caroline and I got a bus back to Puno. There, we got on an "international bus" heading to the Bolivian border town of Copacabana, also on the shores of lake Titicaca, and crossed into Bolivia, which is where we are now, and will be for a few more days, before we head to Chile.
Well I think that is a good place to leave it for now, we're going to head back to our hostel and make some dinner before our 8:30p overnight bus to the town of Potosi, which you'll hear about, along with the rest of our Bolivian adventures, on the next post. Hope all is well.. if any of you have a minute, drop us an email and let us know what's going on at home!

-Matt