Paracas, PERU (after finding that Pisco was destroyed by an earthquake...)

Hello all,

Well after recuperating in Cusco, (found that drinking helps with the help of Canadian and Australian friends...) we decided to move along and visit Arequipa (about 11 hours south of Cusco). Arequipa is lovely and stunning - the main square has a cathedral made out of white volcanic rock: behind the cathedral is the Volcan Misti. Absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful room too (very big with our own bathroom), thanks to the recommendation of a friend. The 24 hour porn (free) was a bit too much to handle in the mornings though...

Saw a 500 year old frozen Incan woman, Juanita, who was sacrificed when she was a child. She is unusual as she still has all her internal organs. She was sacrificed on one of the local mountains to appease the gods who lived in the mountains, for good weather. Really interesting (her hands looked beautiful - very good nails), though it was a bit horrid thinking how she had walked to her death for days and days. They had fed her the local spirit, and then fed her cocoa leaves, so she was (pretty much) unconscious before they hit her on the head. Nice. See we do do cultural stuff too when we are away! A monastery that I wanted to look round was lovely from the outside but it was TEN DOLLARS to look round it, so didn´t do that one... Pity though.

The next day we went to Chivay, a town on the edge of the Colca Canyon (the 2nd deepest in the world - the deepest is next door to it). 3 hour bus journey there - very cheap, but we couldn´t buy our return tickets until we got to Chivay which was slightly concerning... We arrived there and were right to be concerned. There was a holiday there and out of 5 bus companies, and of all the buses, there was only 1 seat back to Arequipa that night. We had none of our bags with us, but more worrying, we had a ticket for the bus from Arequipa to Pisco that night at 8pm...

After stressing about being stranded in this remote town, we considered taxis (expensive but necessary), before we were grabbed by a local who had heard our predicament and had commandeered a tourist bus for us! We joined the tour group for the bus ride back and saved ourselves the equivalent of 3 nights accommodation... Made it to Arequipa and were very grateful.

The bus ride from Arequipa to Pisco was fine - we were dropped off along the Panamericana road at the Pisco turning, (taxi drivers materialise magically here). Unfortunately the Lonely Planet - lonely plonker - had neglected to mention in the new edition that Pisco suffered a 7.9 richter scale earthquake last year (1200 died - 200 in the church). Therefore, the town was destroyed and is very dangerous...

Went to the next town instead - Paracas, and have had a wonderful time. Apart from feeling slightly claustrophobic (it is very small), and a slight issue of change - they don´t have any so buying things is difficult - ie impossible sometimes, it is lovely. However we are more than ready to move on tomorrow.

We have been taken care of so well by the locals (men). We have been taken to the 2nd most beautiful beach in Peru, el Mina, in the Paracas national reserve. The reserve is a peninsular that is all desert. Yesterday we went with Pornstar Signore Peluca, Fred and Julie. Very good fun - Signore Peluca (the driver), buried our shoes in the sand. It wasn´t funny. The men then buried me in the sand. Apparently I make a fetching mermaid - photos to follow. However not very convinced about the size of my nipples - or the milk ducts! The boys had fun though... A very local thing is to drink beers on the beach, so needless to say we had fun! Although the water was freezing...

Today took a boat tour to see the Isla Ballestas (the poor man´s Galapagas Islands). Saw lots of penguins (I know, very weird), lots of different birds including boobie birds (hilarious), and some really cute sea lions. Really enjoyed it. Then managed to join a guy who works at our hotel and his friends for a trip to the beach again... was beautiful. The sun was so hot but we braved the water, and have got a teensy bit red... it´ll go down though on the bus tomorrow!

So just letting you know that we are all ok, and enjoying Peru. We are heading to Lima tomorrow morning (only 3 hours long), and will stay there tomorrow night, hopefully at the Lima Loki hostel. We will then head to Puno on lake Titikaka the following day, (it will take 19 hours by bus,), but then hopefully we will be able to take another bus to Copocabana on the Bolivian side of the lake the same day... if not we will stay in Puno, and then head to Copocabana the following day.

The last 2 days have been very lovely chilling out and sleeping. A nice break from our travelling, and a restorative period before our next bus ride! Hope that the weather in England isn´t too cold, and hope everyone is enjoying the lead up to christmas. Very strange to see plastic Snowmen here when it is 30 degrees... slightly weird product of commercialism!

Lots of love from us all xxxxxxx