3 weeks in Peru

Hi everyone. Its been an action packed 3 weeks in Peru, hence the gap in blog entries. We´ve been having a great time and are alive and healthy. So, what have we been up to..... this will be a long one sorry.......

We have been making our way south through Peru after an exciting/chaotic border crossing from Ecuador (involving a bus, taxis and a minivan - complete with a crew of 5 dodgy Peruvians schemers who we apparently needed to help us lift our bags off the roof of the van.... anyway we got there.....). We have had some long bus trips - which have often been along the coast and through huge sandy desert areas - very different to what we are used to.

Down the Peruvian coast..........

First stop in Peru was Mancora the number one beach resort area in Peru. Having said this, it is no glamour spot. It was a cool little town, filled with bars, restaurants and gringos. It was the sort of place we could have stayed a bit longer - very chilled out with lots of surfers and gringos who looked like they were on a permanent holiday there. The highlight for us was our accommodation - we had a room that opened up onto a sandy courtyard overlooking the ocean. Nice!

Alas, we had to move on - next stop was Huanchaco a small fishing village. From here we visited two sets of pre-Inca ruins. Both had been buried in sand, but are in the process of being uncovered and protected. The ruins were between 700 and 1000 years old - and it was amazing to see that some were still in good condition - with original painted patterns and pictures on walls still clearly visible. The other highlight in Huanchaco was a seafood meal we had while being serenaded by a local musician. We ate fish on skewers cooked on a charcoal BBQ in front of us - it was beautiful and tender. Yum! (Pic is sunset in Mancora)

Next we took a double decker bus to Lima. This took 9 hours - during which we sat in the front row upstairs. Unfortunately this often meant we could see more than the driver as he went about adventurous passing manoeuvres. Lucky for us size rules on Peruvian roads. We only spent a day in Lima. Its Peru´s capital and biggest city. It had beautiful colonial buildings and churches and felt like a real city (even had a McDonalds! Of course there was more eating and drinking - this time in a cool restaurant perched on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific - very cool.

From here we went to Pisco, famous for being the home of Peru´s national drink - the Pisco sour. After our arrival there we quickly concluded that this was the only thing going for Pisco - what a dump!? It was however the starting point for one our most action packed days. First we went by speed boat to the Ballestas Islands - featuring seabirds, penguins, sea lions and dolphins but no match for the Galapagos. The best entertainment was provided by an Aussie guy in our group who need to take a leak. Unfortunately he got stage fright while standing on the back of the boat - in part due to the fact that a tourist on a neighbouring boat had their camera on full zoom checking out his equipment. He eventually succeeded by going in a bucket - quite a feat considering there were about 30 others on board - largely oblivious to his plight.

After the islands we went by local bus to Huaccachina - a small green oasis in the middle of the desert. Here we got on 8 seater sand buggies and went hooning around the desert sand dunes. The drivers were a little bit crazy so it was a real rush. We stopped a few times for sand boarding down huge dunes (which was also pretty crazy at times!). A real buzz. But the day did not finish there. We had hired big old American cars as taxis for the 3hr drive to Nazca (our next stop). Armed with a few drinks we set off on our road trip. It was great fun, although our driver seemed to get confused about which side of the road he was supposed to be on a few times and kept wriggling around like he had ants in his pants...... (Pic to right is of sandboarding.... can you spot the person at the bottom of the slope we boarded down??)

Nazca is, of course, home to the Nazca lines - strange shapes and patterns etched into the desert plains and not found until relatively recently (50 or 60 years ago I think). They are attributed to ancient Peruvian people by some and aliens by others. We went up in an 8 seater plane to fly over them. Michelle had the privilege of being the co-pilot, sitting up with the young Peruvian captain. The flight was very cool, but not for the faint hearted. We would bank heavily left then right over each of the main patterns - so fortunately we hadn´t eaten before we started! The patterns feature a monkey, whale, spider, condor, hummingbird, tree, hands and numerous others. Their size, precision and beauty lend weight to the alien theory - but based on what we´ve seen elsewhere, seems like the ancient Peruvians were pretty on to it. While in Nazca we also visited Chauchilla cemetery where mummies sit in opened tombs in the desert, complete with hair and skin - a bit spooky.

Into altitude.........

From there we took a night bus to Arequipa. This was a great city - the second biggest in Peru - a bit slower paced and more up market - filled with great cafes and restaurants. Here we visited Juanita. She is a young Inca girl, sacrificed on top of a volcano. She was discovered about 10 years ago when a neighbouring volcano erupted and melted the snow and ice that she was buried in. She is apparently the best preserved mummy in the world - amazing to think she is over 500 years old. They think she spent her life being groomed to be sacrificed, apparently a great honour, but also quite a sad and scary fate for a 12 year old.

From Arequipa we travelled into the Andes to Colca Canyon. This took us to the highest point of our trip (4,900 metres). Our guide had us chewing Coca leaves on our journey up to better equip our bodies for the altitude. They make cocaine from Coca leaves but our chewing does not put us in the A class drug user category (although apparently we may test positive for cocaine use if tested in the near future!?). At 4,900 Michelle and I made an offering to Apu (the mountain gods) for good luck - so far so good (see pic). Colca Canyon (the deepest in the world) was stunning. Our accommodation was fantastic complete with a friendly (albeit a bit frisky) pet llama. We sat in hot pools drinking red wine surrounded by the Andes.

On our second day there we visited a lookout point for condor viewing. The condors are amazing - at 3m between wing tips they are the biggest flying birds in the world and glide around effortlessly on thermoclines in the Canyon.

The Inca Trail.............

We are now in Cusco and are nursing sore limbs from our 4 day trek along the Inca trail. The trek follows a path the Incas once took to reach their secret and sacred city - Machu Picchu. Over the 4 days we covered about 40 kms of track which winds up and down through the Andes. There were some pretty steep climbs - particularly on the second day where we climbed from our camp at 3,200m to the summit of a pass (aptly named Dead woman´s pass) at 4,200ms over a couple of hours. Along the way we passed a number of beautiful Inca ruins all of which were built around 1430 (although not all were finished when the Inca empire collapsed about 100 years later). Fortunately for us, we only had to carry day packs and little Andean porters carried our tents, food and sleeping bags for us! The porters are amazing - racing along in sandals making carrying huge loads making the whole thing look easy! We were really lucky with the weather, and only had a brief period of rain over the four days - not bad for the start of the wet season in the Andes. We also had a local guide - who looked like Eddie Murphy and had a sense of humour to match! (Photo is our group at the start of the trail - less the 18 porters and 2 guides for the group!).

We really loved the trail. It was amazing to think that the stone track we were walking along had been built by hand over 500 years ago - sometimes it was built out along cliff faces, had spiral staircases and tunnelled through rocks. Mindblowing. The sights along the way were also spectacular. The vast expanse of the Andean mountains. Clouds pouring up and down mountains revealing and concealing lakes, snow and ruins as they did. At one point we were sitting in some ruins, covered in clouds when a thunder storm broke out. The lightening was all around us and the thunder boomed so loudly - a bit scary, but also very cool.

On day 4 we woke up before 4am to ensure we were the first group at the check point at the start of the 2 hour path to Machu Picchu. Having done this we raced the last part of the track so that we could be among the first to the ruins. We arrived at Machu Picchu to find it covered in cloud - but it slowly emerged as we sat and watched. It is an amazing place and its scale and the precision with which it is built is mindblowing. The site was not ´discovered´ until about 1915, although locals knew of its existence. Fortunately it was not found by the Spanish when they conquered the Incas, and so unlike many other Inca sites, was not destroyed by them. We had a whole day to enjoy the ruins and we took the opportunity to climb a mountain that overlooks Machu Picchu to get an amazing view of the entire site from the air (see pic above). Picture below is Machu Picchu emerging from the mist... very cool to see.

So there we have it. And all that (and more) in just 3 weeks! We have about 10 days left on the tour, which will take us to Bolivia. Thanks for your emails and comments. Disappointing to hear that Wellington let Waikato take the NPC - at least it wasn´t Canterbury though. Hope this finds you all well. Will be in touch soon.

Ecuador - Kiwis in the Jungle

Hola everyone!!! Our 3 weeks in Ecuador is almost up, so thought it was about time we updated you on what we have been up to.

(Picture to right is view from bus enroute to Cuenca, a typical Ecuadorian view)

We have joined our tour, which goes through Ecuador, into Peru and then on to Bolivia. The tour is the perfect concept for us. How it works is that we have a kiwi tour leader who is in charge of getting our group (10 of us at the moment) from A to B and into accommodation. We mainly use local buses to get around, so we are not too isolated from the ´true´ South American experience - rather are just spared from the time and hassle of arranging transport and trying to communicate with the crazy bus drivers! The accommodation is in hostels, most of which have been quite nice. Once again, it is nice not to have to waste time wandering around town looking for a place to stay! Our tour leader is also a bit of a foodie, so is never short of a great tip for a place to eat. There is HEAPS of free time when we get to places, so we are not always doing things as a group. The group activities are often optional... as we type some of the group is off to a Panama hat factory.

So, what have we been up to? I will summarise for those who just want the short version: Markets, Jungle, Hot Pools, Bus rides and Ruins. More detail follows.

Prior to joining the tour we attempted a day trip on our own to the Equator - basically compulsory when in Ecuador. For us the adventure was getting there and away - quite a debacle really. We had three different sets of instructions on how to get there before we even started, which was probably a bad sign. The trip that should take 1 to 1 & 1/2 hours one way and involve 2 local buses took us 3 & 1/2 hrs and involved 5 local buses, plus much walking, an army base and much miscommunication with helpful locals! By the time we got there it was almost time for us to leave again (but to prove we made it, the equator monument is to the right). The trip home was equally hopeless - our bus took us in a strange direction. We needed to be back by 6pm for a tour briefing and at 5:45pm thought we were in the middle of nowhere. By 5 to 6 we had a vague idea where we were, but that was about it. We coped out, grabbed an (overpriced) cab, and managed to be back just in time for the briefing........ This experience was enough to convince us that the tour was going to be just what we needed!!!!

We joined our tour in Quito and the first day we headed north by local bus to Otavala - a small town most well known for its craft markets. The bus trip was interesting - our tour leader spotted a couple of guys trying to steal some stuff from one of our group member´s bags.... not a great start! The driver was a bit crazy like most here - the roads are windy and often have very steep and long dropoffs next to them - this does not deter the bus drivers who tend to think that their buses handle like a Mazzerati (or Datsun Sunny), can pass on blind corners and can fit 3 abreast on a 2 lane road....... Not to worry - we got there. Otavala was nice and we managed to leave with several bracelets/necklaces, two paintings and some other nicknacks..... hopefully for our backs´ sake we will not continue to shop at this rate........

Couple in Otavalo markets - Ross and Michelle in 50 years!

Next key stop was a 2 day trip into the Amazon jungle. The bus trip in reminded us of the movie Romancing the Stone - it was very cool. The jungle itself was beautiful. We had a local guide who was a bit of a comic and who was quite touchy feely with both guys and girls. Highlights were tubing down rapids in the rivers, getting up close and personal with jungle flora and fauna (spiders, butterflies and frogs.....), drifting down the river in a canoe at night, the delicious jungle meals and the beautiful friendly children of the family who looked after our jungle huts. You will all be dying to know how Michelle dealt with her proximity to large spiders (including tarantulas......(sp????)). Given our huts had no lights or mosquito/spider nets, had bats (and I don´t mean pink batts) and plenty of gaps in the walls she did what any mature Taranaki lass would do - kept ordering Cuba Libres (rum and cokes) until she was sick and fairly sedated...........

After the jungle we headed to Banos - a place known for its hot pools and outdoor activities. It is nestled under a 5,800 m volcano which is fairly active.... actually it erupted in August this year killing 5 people..... as a result Banos was not overrun with tourists while we were there! It was a fantastic spot - probably our favourite town so far. Nice hot pools, spectacular surroundings and heaps of outdoor activities to do. We mountain biked and road horses. The horse trip was great, although our horses hardly responded to our commands and our butts are still fairly tender 3 days later..... We had amazing accommodation there - let us know if you are ever going to be in Banos.....

After a 7 hour bus trip through the foothills of the Andes we are in Cuenca (3rd biggest city). It has a very colonial feel. The 2 of us have spent the day wandering around - the highlight was probably the local markets. These were very similar to Melbourne´s Vic markets featuring fresh fruit and vegies, fish, meat and sneakers. The only difference was that there was no refrigeration - so we were not too tempted by the fish and meat...... but the fruit is fantastic and cheap. The other great thing about Cuenca is that it is the home of Datsun 120Ys. They are definitely the boy racers´car of choice (naturally) and are suped up with small fat tyres, mags and racing steering wheels. Datsuns come here for their second life - I reckon we might have got double what we got for the Datty in NZ if we had been selling it here. Tomorrow we have another day here - where we see Ecuador´s most significant Inca ruins - Ingapirca.

So as you can see we are having a fantastic time and seeing so much in a short space of time. The weather is pretty warm so are slowly losing the Kiwi winter coat..... although have a long way to go before we fit in with the locals!

Chow until Peru.

Galapagos: a Boobie lovers paradise

Hello and welcome. We are writing this from Quito, Ecuador where we now have a few days R&R and sightseeing. We are just back from an 8 day boat tour in the Galapagos Islands. Clean clothes are at a real premium, however we have just dropped off 8 kgs of fairly smelly stuff to a laundry across the road. I am confident that we will be smelling fresh and clean again in no time.
Enough of our dirty laundry - on to the Galapagos. First, essential facts for those not familiar with Galapagos (like us 9 days ago....):

Location: 1000km off the coast of Equador, roughly on the ecuator (funnily enough). It is reached by flying to the islands, then hopping on a boat to get around them.

Climate: For us it was mainly warm, 25 degrees, and mostly sunny, with occassional overcast/misty period.

What they are: About a dozen main islands, plus heaps of little ones. The land and surrounding waters are a National Park and World Heritage site.

Famous for: The wildlife found there, much of which is not found anywhere else in the world.

They say the Galapagos are paradise for wildlife lovers and they are not wrong. Even for us, whose interest in wildlife can probably only be categorised as passing when compared to some of the fanatical wildlife enthusiasts we met, being there was an amazing experience. Of particular note (and probably of interest to some of you) is that on many of the island boobies are abundent - you can get up close to them and we took plenty of great photos of them. More on that later.......

We spent 7 nights on a 65 ft motor sailor - bunk beds in a separate cabin with private bathroom. There were 12 other guests with us, although the composition of the group changed halfway through the tour as some people got off and others got on. The other people in the group were great, although the two groups were very different. The first people were a bit like us - mainly early to late 20s and spending at least a month in Sth America. The second group was in the main a bit older and was charaterised by about 3 people who were fanatical wildlife lovers - 2 marine biologists and 1 ornathologist. They were hillarious - they had books, binoculars and super zoom lenses. They would scour the landscape in search of some creature of interest and could distinguish between the 14 different types of finches found on the islands!?!? Rather than see a splash in the water, they would see a "juvenile southern pacific spotted manta ray feeding on plankon brought to the region by the southern currents typical of this time of the year"...... The crew and naturalist guide were good, very friendly and knowledgable and with the exception of the guide, whose english was pretty good, we could practice our limited spanish on them, as english produced only smiling faces and no real action.

After that lengthy introduction, here are some of the highlights for us:

• Snorkelling/diving: We snorkelled at least once a day. Although the water clarity and temperature were not perfect, the sights and experiences were unique. We loved our numerous encounters with young sea lions underwater who loved to play with us - darting up to your face then diving away, chasing and being chased. They also interacted with other sea life, including chasing and playing with penguins, turtles and each other and chasing and nipping the tail of a reef shark. We also had a number of close encounters with sea turtles, including being able to float just a metre or so away from them as they ate algae from the rocks. We saw a couple of small sea snakes and plenty of white tipped reef sharks - on one occassion I came upon about 8-10 all sitting in a bunch, and again was able to float a metre or two away from them as they rested. We also swum amongst galapagos penguins who would dart around and under us as they played and fed. We also saw much more, including rays and tropical fish etc. Had one scuba dive, but was not a highlight really.
  
• The reptiles: The islands are home to amazing reptiles such as giant tortises, sea turtles, iguanas - both marine and land and lots of other lizards. As with just about everything in the Galapagos, you can get right up close to the animals and they are not bothered at all. Here is a pic of Michelle and a tortise, who was so comfortable with her prescene that she let one rip while being photographed (the tortise that is.....). The iguanas are very cool. The land ones get pretty big, I think about 1.8m and 16kg! The marine ones can swim and dive underwater.

• The landscapes: The islands all orginate from volcanic activity. Some are a bit like Rangitoto, but others are even more barren and "moonscape" like. There are heaps of different types of cactus. Some are huge others tiny. Some of the rocks have great colours, blues and reds. Every island was quite different. There are some beautiful white sandy beaches and other rocky areas of coastline.
• Sea lions and other marine life: There are sea lions everywhere. Again, they were relaxed about you being near them and you could get within a metre or so of them as they lay in the sun. There were plenty of cute pups to be seen. Dave you would have been quite at home, as they baaaa'd like little lambs to get the attention of their mum. We saw lots of other marine life, including a humpback whale and hammerhead shark.
• - Last but not least... the birds: We spent plenty of time looking at birds. A personal favourite were the boobies - and they were everywhere. We saw blue footed, red footed and Nazca boobies. For those who are interested, attached is a pic of a nice pair. Once again we saw all sort of birds and without exception they too were almost oblivious to our prescence.

The Galapagos was a unique place and, for us, was well worth the time and expense of getting and being there. We loved living on the boat and the days were alway full and reasonably varied.

Next we join a month long tour of Ecuador, Peru and the top of Bolivia. Hope this finds you well.

Viva Las Vegas

After a bit of a fishtaily landing at Las Vegas airport we set off in search of bright lights and big money.

To our delight, our hotel, "The Excalibur", actually turned out to be a full blown castle - complete with numerous turrets, fair maidens to greet us at the door, dragons and knights on horseback and of course, Merlin. Sound tacky - possibly, but by no means the tackiest hotel on the Strip. Seriously though - it was in a great location to allow us to explore the Strip.

First disappointment of the trip was the cancellation of our helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon. The winds were too high for them to fly. Not to worry - we have it on very good authority that the Canyon is not going anywhere - so we will be back one day to see it.

To cheer ourselves up we booked tickets to a Cirque Du Soleil show 'Ka'. [Grant- Love was sold out...]. The show was amazing - acrobatics, fantastic staging, lighting and production mixed with dance and martial arts. The cast were everywhere around and in the theatre. This was a real highlight of our time in Vegas - we'll definitely keep an eye out for Cirque Du Soleil shows in the future.

Another highlight was the watershow outside the Belliago Casino. They have huge lake that spurts water into the air in time to music. Words cannot describe it adequately - and although it sounds naff - it was actually very cool.

So - after two days in Vegas here are some impressions we leave with:

• Bigger is always better - whether it be buildings, drinks, limos, belt buckles or cleavage. The only exception to this rule seems to be dresses and skirts, where less appears to be more.
• Tackiness is everywhere - but that is what makes it such an interesting place to visit. Favourite examples of tackiness include: hotels where everything is in 'theme' (for example in our hotel we ate at the Sherwood Forrest Cafe.... nice), waitresses in various revealing outfits, hawkers on the street, lions/flamingos/fish/celebrities etc in casinos to draw in the punters.
• People - we saw all shapes and sizes - including all the stereotypes you would expect. Stag dos and hens nights were everywhere - and today at one casino we saw 3 weddings in the space of 15 minutes.
• You can see the whole world there - in our time we visited New York, Rome, Venice, Paris not to mention Sherwood Forrest.
• There are no rules - anywhere.
• You can gamble everywhere, drink everywhere and get married everywhere.

San Francisco - the Real Experience

Status update: 6 days in; 0 muggings, 0 lost property, 0 lost people, 1 missed ferry......

We are having a gay old time in San Francisco and loving it!!! We are staying with Uncle Bruce and Alan at their house in the Castro neighborhood. Cousin Nic is here too - and the house is undergoing substantial renovations (like - the bottom story has been torn out and is a construction site) so it is semi-organised chaos. Bruce and Alan are awesome hosts and their place is a perfect base for us.

Bruce and Alan's house - second from the RHS.

Highlights so far (bullet pointed of course, in true accounting geek style):

• Living in the Castro - The Castro is the gay area of SF and is awesome. It is always buzzing with people (mainly guys) anytime of the day. It is full of great cafes, restaurants and of course, interesting bars.

• The weather - we have had beautiful sunny days all week. Loving it.
• Joan Rivers concert (opened by the SF Gay Mens Chorus or SFGMC) - a very funny night. The SFGMC opened with a half hour concert - 40 guys in tuxedos doing ABBA with dance moves and disco balls - so cool. Joan was also very good - at 73 she still has a lot of spark (and a vast vocabulary) and her jokes knew no limits. Groups offended may include: Jews, gays, lesbians, 9/11 survivors and victims, ugly people, fat people, old people, Asians and Chinese and of course, her daughter.
• Wine country - We did a day trip into the Sonoma and Napa Valleys, two wine regions north of SF. We were very restrained and limited ourselves to 2 wineries - one for a picnic lunch in the sun and one for liberal tastings of bubbles......... A great way to pass the time on a Sunday. [Warning: Those that know us, know that this highlight will be repeated on almost every post as we scout out 'wine country' in every region we visit...... Apologies in advance]

• Tagging along with Bruce - Bruce has been great at letting us tag along to some of his co-curricular activities. We attended his church - a gay/lesbian church which had heaps of singing, clapping and hugs - quite a contrast to Catholic church on a Sunday but similar messages coming through. We also got to go to hear Bruce and the rest of the SFGMC practice - they sounded amazing - 200 guys singing in tune - something unheard in NZ. We got introduced which was funny - 200 guys turned around, smiled and enthusiastically clapped to welcome us - a bit embarrassing - but very nice all the same! Everyone was very friendly and interested in our travel plans and NZ. We finished off with some rehydration at one of the Castro's bars - our first drinks in a gay bar (unless you count Barneys......).
• Day trip across the Bay to Tiburon and Sausalito - spent the day seeing how the rich and famous pass their time in a couple of little seaside towns (sort of like Russell or Picton - but bigger and flasher).

I can confirm that like a good tourist in SF, I have taken at least 17 photos of the Golden Gate Bridge - here is my favourite ......

Hope you are all well - next chapter: Making our millions and renewing our vows in Vegas.

San Francisco - here we come......

Watch this space for news, views, weather updates, traffic reports, insightful insights and updates on our latest debacles in San Francisco and elsewhere!