Canyons

The road started heading up as soon as we got to the edge of Arequipa. Initially the scenery was uninspiring dusty scrub but this soon gave way to a high plateau covered in long flaxen coloured grass with magnificent volcano views in an azure sky. I still get ridiculously excited about seeing anything from the llama family. On the plateau there were herds of llamas and alpacas, their fluffy cousins that look like llamas in fat suits. An extra thrill was the sight of groups of wild vicunas, think a very feminine llama with a long graceful neck and eyelashes that a drag queen would kill for. It was a stunning drive and we passed another record (for us) taking the truck over a 4900m pass to head down to Canon del Colca. Mont Blanc is 4810m, so we are pretty impressed with what the truck can do. 20140707-205532-75332535.jpg 20140707-205611-75371266.jpg 20140707-205908-75548171.jpg Canon del Colca is the world's second deepest canyon, just slightly beaten by the Cotahausi nearby. It is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the US, which we enjoyed so much 9 months ago. As we entered at its shallowest end we saw the ingenuity of the locals with miles and miles of highly terraced fields. 20140707-214324-78204855.jpg With a wingspan of over 3 metres the Andean Condor is an amazing sight as it rides the thermal currents within the canyon. We parked up for the night at a viewpoint overlooking a 1200m drop to the river. We had the place to ourselves as we took a walk along the edge. We got some good views of several condors as they glided past. The following morning, as the air slowly warmed we watched the condors slowly swooping past. Initially they were far below us near their cliff side nests, as the temperature slowly rose from nearly zero, their loops slowly gained altitude as the air heated up. For a wonderful 20 minutes or so they glided by at the same altitude where we were. Steve was in charge of the camera for a change, he got surprisingly snap happy for him and got some amazing shots. We counted about 8 condors with dark juveniles and adults with white feathers contrasting with their dark black almost finger like feathers at the end of their wings. It is a popular place and between 8 -10am the viewpoints were heaving with tourists, I'm not sure where they came from as we'd seen so few they day before. We were mesmerised though, so stayed till we were the only ones again. 20140707-223047-81047752.jpg 20140707-210759-76079253.jpg 20140707-210801-76081493.jpg 20140707-211330-76410655.jpg 20140707-211630-76590367.jpg 20140707-212314-76994706.jpg 20140707-213002-77402959.jpg It was also the last day of homeschooling for the girls before they have a break for the "summer" (of course it is winter here). So while we were waiting for the condors to be able to fly higher, Alisha did a maths and English test. Homeschooling hasn't always been easy. Let's just put it this way: as well as being very bright both girls can be rather headstrong. So we were all thrilled when she got excellent score for both and Lucy is doing very well too. 20140707-210125-75685077.jpg After parking up in the Plaza de Armas (Central Square) of Cabanaconde, we hiked out through terraced fields to a look-out over a deeper part of the canyon. Wandering back through the village a couple of groups of older ladies in traditional dress of long, layered skirts and intricately embroidered round hats and jackets smiled when they saw the girls. They beckoned them over to see the pink and yellow maize cobs being shucked and clucked to each other when they saw Lucy's blonde hair peeping from below her sunhat. At times like this, I wish I was less "British" and shy about asking about taking photos of people. We then retraced our tracks back along the canyon side and over the pass. 20140707-213920-77960383.jpg We loved being back in the mountains with its rarified air, snowy peaks and impressive vistas. It does come with its drawbacks though, we are all lucky enough to suffer little with the altitude. Of course we are careful with the ascent, not climbing too high too fast. Since we left Arequipa we haven't really dipped below 4000m for long. We do have to remind Lucy though that she can't build forts under our duvet, as the lack of oxygen will result in a splitting headache. Both girls skip around merrily above 4500m, talking nonstop. The truck however is another matter, being a diesel engine it really doesn't like altitude or cold weather. After a peaceful night tucked away in a gravel pit on the side of the road at 4280m, we awoke to minus 5 degrees. We were all snug and cosy inside but the poor old truck wouldn't start once we were ready to go at 7am. Eventually at 7.30 in clouds of black diesel smoke it started, once the air temperature had risen a little. We stayed on the high pampa plateau for the whole 5 hour drive, the long blond grass plains contrasted beautifully with the deep blue sky. For once the road streamed ahead of us like a beautifully smooth tar ribbon, so Steve could enjoy the views as we passed the odd farmstead in the almost empty valleys. 20140707-220254-79374828.jpg 20140707-220256-79376037.jpg 20140707-220438-79478776.jpg 20140707-220437-79477568.jpg 20140707-220436-79476354.jpg Back in the Uk you occasionally get held up by sheep and cows in the road, here it is alpacas and llamas. Nothing divides the truck more along gender lines than the two words: "Dance Festival". Steve's heart sank as we turned into the supposedly peaceful and deserted Tinajani Canyon, to see hordes of minibuses heading in. The girls and I were very excited by this unexpected bonus. We'd expected to spend the afternoon hiking around and enjoying the fabulous looking red sandstone buttresses. Instead we found thousands of locals mixing with brightly dressed indigenous dancers spread out over the slopes of the natural amphitheatre in the centre of the canyon. Teenagers had climbed up the red sandstone principles to get a better view and everyone was out enjoying the sunny Sunday afternoon. A dirt square had been cut out of the golden grass for the dancers to perform, as a shallow stream meandered through the festival grounds. It was fascinating to wander round the market area and watch the dancers with no other tourists in sight. 20140707-221135-79895470.jpg 20140707-221137-79897803.jpg 20140707-221138-79898937.jpg 20140707-221136-79896628.jpg 20140707-221652-80212231.jpg Eventually we dragged ourselves away and ventured deeper into the canyon. We had hoped to park up somewhere in the quiet wilderness and enjoy the solitude but with the festival we thought it prudent to find company for the night. We came across a little restaurant/horse riding/museum building. Experiencing the busiest day of the whole year, they were delighted to have us park up for the night and proudly showed us around the one room museum. There is a hilarious website called "bad taxidermy" and boy could this museum be a contender! Keeping a straight face in deference to the owner's obvious joy in his hobby, we made appreciative noises as he first showed us the misshapen stuffed endemic species. Some of whom may have been rescued from the vultures rather too late before finding themselves prepared for long term glory. He then moved onto more domestic species including one we didn't recognise till we read the label, "perro" (dog). Once out of hearing, we giggled our way up the hill to explore old cave houses and temples scattered amongst the sandstone pinnacles. Families of day trippers from nearby towns, sweetly asked if they could get photos of blonde Lucy with them and their children. The girls happily posed all the way down the hillside. I should definitely get over my reticence to ask people for photos! 20140707-221902-80342135.jpg 20140707-221859-80339072.jpg 20140707-222104-80464867.jpg 20140707-222103-80463771.jpg 20140707-222334-80614943.jpg 20140707-222336-80616016.jpg 20140707-222448-80688554.jpg 20140707-222447-80687428.jpg The shadows of the canyon walls came early and the temperature dropped. The owner predicted a minus 8 degree temperature that night. We were all happy, warm in the truck enjoying our first attempt at cooking lomo saltado, one of Peru's national dishes. Braving the cold later, I had another attempt at taking star photos as the night sky was beautifully clear. I've been trying for weeks to get a decent shot but all I've ended up with is near frostbite. This time though, I was pretty happy with the results. 20140707-222743-80863999.jpg 20140707-222742-80862852.jpg 20140707-222745-80865176.jpg Another painful start for the truck early the next morning at minus 7 and 3900m but it didn't let us down. Another stunning drive through the highlands took us to the famed Incan city of Cusco where we met my Mum. She is spending 2 weeks with us exploring the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca before we head into Bolivia with her for a few days. She is a great traveller and been to many places but this is her first time in South America. It was lovely to see her again, we last saw her in Belize where we spent 8 days together after she had done her own trip around Central America. 20140707-223004-81004172.jpg

Southern Peru

Welcome to our 100th Blog post and thanks for following. After Clare left us we had 8 days to see Southern Peru before our next visitor, Gilly's mum, arrived in Cusco. Peru is a big country so this was going to involve a lot of driving. There is also a lot of desert to drive through on the just over 1000kms from Lima to Arequipa. A lot of this desert can be quite monotonous but it is broken up with some lovely stretches of sand dunes and the occasional oasis.

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20140703-175536-64536486.jpg Our first stop on the drive South was Reserva Nacional de Paracas. This national park is set in a spectacular part of the desert against the coast with some lovely outlooks over the sea. Even though it is a desert there is still quite a bit of wildlife from birds to sea lions and even penguins. We did a lovely drive around the park and then camped for the night by the sea.

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20140703-175646-64606078.jpg The next day we headed further South. We by passed the Peruvian wine district, amazing in the desert, and some of the highest sand dunes in the world. They just don't look that great when it is cold and misty. You have to remember its winter here! Our next stop was Nazca and the Nazca lines. First we stopped at the rather uninspiring museum dedicated to Maria Reiche, the German long time researcher and preserver of the lines. Then we headed up a tower to look down on a couple of the lines, the tree and the hand.

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20140703-175753-64673075.jpg While you can see the lines it is difficult to appreciate them unless you get up high, which means going up in a little Cessna aircraft. In the past the operators of these planes had dubious safety records so there was no way Gilly was going up. She also ruled that the kids were not going up. I was undecided but the next morning it was grey again with low clouds so that decided that I was not going up. We headed to Puerto Inca further down the coast and stayed in the grounds of a deserted small resort think, Butlins at Skegness in January! Puerto Inca is where the Incas used to fish which they then used to transport by runners all the way to Cusco. Around the area there are some small Inca ruins which we had a look around, some even had human bones inside.

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20140703-175901-64741767.jpg The next day was a long drive to Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru. This was again along the desert by the ocean before climbing some barren hills inland.

20140703-180006-64806926.jpg Arequipa is set underneath some volcanos which have destroyed the city several times in its near 500 year history. It is a pretty busy city the Central core of which has been given a Unesco World Heritage Listing. It is also renowned for its cuisine so after the long drive we decided to treat ourselves at one of the city's upmarket restaurants. It was the first time I had eaten Alpaca and it was delicious as was the rest of the meal. The next day we headed out to see the sights. There is a lovely Plaza de Armas with a large cathedral at one end and a pretty but smaller church in one corner.

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20140703-180103-64863788.jpg We also went to the museum housing Juanita, the "Ice Maiden". This is a museum dedicated to the discovery of Juanita atop the highest mountain in the area. Juanita was a 12 to 14 year old girl that had been sacrificed by the Incas over 500 years ago to appease the mountain gods and had then been buried on top of the mountain. She had been wrapped and almost perfectly preserved by the icy temperatures for about 500 years. The museum explained the story very well and the Inca rituals and at the end we saw the preserved girl. Whilst it was very interesting I could not help thinking it was pretty barbaric. The other big sight we went to see was the Monasterio de Santa Catalina. This is a large monastery that is almost a small town within the city. The monastery was home to a group of cloistered nuns and you were able to see their cells and other areas. The architecture has changed over the years as the monastery was repaired following earthquakes and a part of it is still in use by a small group of nuns, although that part was sealed off. It was very interesting to walk around and the architecture was impressive.

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20140703-180220-64940627.jpg At the end of the day though I could not help thinking how very different lives people lived in the past. Today we had seen that of a girl selected at birth to be used as a human sacrifice and those of nuns who had locked themselves away in a monastery for their lives.

ChavIn de Huantar to Lima

Being a morning person, Steve is always keen for a challenge first thing. So he was up for our first task before we could even leave Huaraz, we had to squeeze under the entrance gate of the hotel we parked up on. We'd noticed many people had not been successful with a multitude of different coloured scratches already on the top. Even with lining the truck up completely straight and stopping the traffic so we could exit straight, we just managed with less than an inch on the back corner. Phew! 20140628-195458-71698380.jpg 20140628-195553-71753541.jpg The view of the mountains from our parking spot in Huaraz We were heading back into the mountains again to the ancient ruins of Chavi­n de Huantar over another pass of 4535m. We are getting quite blasé about these high altitude passes now. Luckily the road up was lovely smooth tar and the views were stunning. The good tar ran out the other side but it was a picturesque drive into a steep valley patch worked with gold and green fields on impossibly angled slopes. 20140628-200030-72030685.jpg 20140628-200028-72028359.jpg 20140628-200025-72025194.jpg 20140628-200157-72117394.jpg 20140628-200152-72112993.jpg 20140628-200155-72115177.jpg Chavin de Huantar is a temple complex built about 800 BC. Apart from a large plaza where they used to hold ceremonies most of the ruins are underground tunnels. Archeologists believe that priests worshiping a feline idol held most of the power in Chav­in society. To consolidate this the priests used to scare the pants off of the locals by drugging them up with hallucinogenic cacti before taking them into the dark labyrinth of tunnels. Once down there they blew shell trumpets which echoed through the maze. The tunnels were constructed to amplify the sound of water running through them and reflected sunlight from ventilation shafts using mineral mirrors. Once the non-believers were completely freaked out, the priests brought them before the terrifyingly carved idol of Lanzan de Chavin, a semi human carving with snakes radiating from its head also lit in the dark from a strategically placed ventilation shaft. Unsurprisingly perhaps the population was kowtowed and the Chavi­n influence spread through the Andes. We had the complex almost to ourselves and had a good look around as the girls and Clare made up stories about life there (minus the cacti;) 20140628-200457-72297218.jpg 20140628-200459-72299221.jpg 20140628-200455-72295154.jpg 20140628-200514-72314725.jpg, Not finding an ideal place to park for the night we decided to head back up the pass. The weather had changed though with dark clouds, sleet and snow closing in as we headed up. On the other side we parked up in a kindly ranger's station a bit further down with the hope that the views would be clear the following morning. 20140628-200805-72485329.jpg 20140628-200807-72487821.jpg It was, what nice view to see from bed. 20140628-200925-72565970.jpg 20140628-200935-72575865.jpg As we drove down to the coast we got a wonderful farewell from the Cordillera Blanca, the sky cleared and we got a 180 degree view of the mountains of about 100km long. 20140628-201236-72756743.jpg 20140628-201234-72754951.jpg 20140628-201301-72781805.jpg 20140628-201258-72778816.jpg The road descended rapidly as it wiggled first through a valley of golden green pasture rippling in the wind, then back into steep dry craggy dun coloured slopes. There was a narrow river running through the canyon, an oasis of green in the arid landscape, where they were growing maize and chillies. 20140628-201706-73026616.jpg We could see the sea mist for miles before we hit the coastal road and then we were back at sea level speeding through the desert plains of gravel and dunes. We headed just a short way into the hills to Parque National de Lachay and were amazed to see the hills covered in soft fuzzy green. The sea fog creates a microclimate, just enough for the first hills it hits inland to have a sparse covering of greenery. While climbing up the huge boulders at the top of the hill, we got great views of the coast every time the sun managed to burn through the fog. It was lovely spot to have a campfire curry. 20140628-201907-73147023.jpg 20140628-201909-73149053.jpg The drive round Lima on the Panamerican highway was an absolute nightmare. He who dared definitely won and size mattered. We have found Peruvian driving in general to be some of the worst we have encountered with lots of bullying tactics to get you to move, it is far scarier on foot than in the truck though. Steve did a fantastic drive keeping his nerve. It was like being back driving in rush hour Moscow traffic but this time driving a massive truck. We stayed in the smart district of Miraflores for the night, so Clare could fly out the next morning. After a relaxed evening wander around it was time to say goodbye. 20140628-202008-73208974.jpg It has been lovely having Clare here. We've definitely plunged her in at the deep end with two weeks of difficult roads, high altitudes, a horrible cold but she has seen some fantastic alpine scenery and hiked some great mountains. She has been a trooper, sleeping many nights in the truck's cab and telling the girls hundreds of stories whilst walking. I think we can say that she has been fully converted to travelling.