A brief visit to southern Peru 8th-14th of October

Last Tuesday I took a rather uncomfortable night bus to Arica on the Peruvian border, arriving there at about 7 the next morning. From there the easiest way to cross the border is to take a taxi (in this case a huge white Cadillac) across the border to Tacna in Peru. I shared this ride with 4 Austrian girls, who were also heading to Arequipa. We didn`t arrive in Arequipa until late afternoon, so I didn`t really have much time to see much there. I did manage to visit Juanita the ice princess though. Basically back in Inca times, they believed that the surrounding Volcanoes were in fact gods. These gods were capable of huge amounts of destruction if they were displeased, therefore the Incas appeased them by the means of human sacrifice. These were inevitably children, who would have to sometimes walk for over a month to reach the Volcano. They would then climb o he top (no mean feat), then they would drink Chicha to get drunk. Then finally they would basically get hit over the head with a big stick! before being buried on top of the mountain. In the mid nineties they found several preserved corpses up in the mountains, the most well preserved being Juanita. They keep her in a big transparent freezer, quite interesting stuff.The next day I set off of on a 3 day trek into the Colca Canyon (one of the words deepest, even deeper than the grand canyon in fact). several hours north of Arequipa. I was part of a group of 6 (Belgian, Swiss, Dutch, Canadian & Spanish), and our guide. The first day we descended into the canyon, starting at 3300m. It is incredibly steep descending, but the views are pretty incredible. Three are several villages scattered around the canyon, clinging to the steep sides. The only access to the canyon is by foot, so absolutely everything has to be brought in and out by mule, up and down an almost vertical 1200m wall. A lot of the villages still operate at subsistence level, still not using money but instead bartering for goods from other villages. The first night we stayed in a home stay in Cosñirhua (2600m). We actually ate Alpaca, but the lady of the house was actually preparing the local delicacy of` ´guinea pig´ while we were there. There were several running around in the house, and she just picked u the fattest couple and killed and de furred them right there!Next day we walked further down the canyon the the oasis at the bottom (2100m). On the way we visted a tiny museum displaying the Colca way of life. One of the best exhibits was a money container made from llama scrotum. Someone has thoughtfully put a swimming pool there, so it was very refreshing to be able to take a dip. We rested for several hours before starting the ascent out of the canyon later in the afternoon. 1200m of grueling climbing in the afternoon heat, very rewarding to reach the top though.The next day was meant to be spend making our way back to Arequipa. However we found out in the morning that a landslide had blocked the road and we might not be able to make it back out! fortunately they managed to clear it by lunchtime, meaning I could still make it back to take my night bus to Ica.However before I got my bus, i went back to my hostel to pick up some things I had left there. Here I managed to have another coincidental encounter with some guys I had met several weeks earlier. The evening before I took the boat from Puerto Natales, 3 Ozy guys turned up at my hostel and we ended up going out for some food together. Somehow we ended to end up in the same place a month later, once again I was about to leave the same evening so we just about had time to share another meal together.I arrived in Ica the following morning (Sunday), from which I took a short taxi out into the dessert to the small oasis ton of Huacachina. Now this is the most stereotypical dessert you are likely to find. The own is surrounded by huge sand dunes, starting literally at the back door of the hostel. The oasis has a palm tree flanked lagoon, adding to the effect. Unfortunately the Day I arrived I had to spend the whole day in bed sick. Although I never actually was sick, I felt to awful to really do anything. It was either the food I had the night before, or the fact that in the previous seven nights I had taken 3 night buses, trekked in and out of a canyon and slept in a different place every night. It has just been a bit of a manic jump to cross from Patagonia up to Peru, fro now on I am slowing down a bit though.Fortunately I woke up on Monday feeling much better. In the morning I went to a place called Paracas (near Pisco, famous for the alcoholic drink and being destroyed by an earthquake last year), from there I took a boat trip out to the Ballestas Islands. They are a nature reserve with thousands of birds, Penguins and sea lions. You can get incredibly close on the small boats, and to be honest I was pretty surprised nobody on the boat got shat on by the circling birds. Apparently every few years people come out to collect the guano from the islands. It can be up to 1.5-2m deep! a lot of shit to shovel, but also the best natural fertiliser in the world.I got back to Haucachina about lunchtime. I climbed one of the local sand dunes, before taking a dun buggy trip in the afternoon. This involved haring around the sand dunes for a few hours in the buggy, being dropped of at the top of various dunes with sand boards and then picked up at the bottom. A pretty fun way to spend the afternoon really. I arrived in Lima early this afternoon. I´m not really planning on doing anything here. It is really a means to an end as tomorrow I will take a bus north to Mancora to meet Jo and Micky.
O