Peru
Greetings from Peru! Finally a computer that will open Blogger up, phew! I was having a heck of a time getting on.
Peru, along the coast is desert. Really dry desert...it´s actually giant sand dunes, which suprised me. South of the equator weather patterns orginate east travel west and the Andes trap all the percipitation. It´s jungle and amazon on the eastern side and desert on the western side. I´ve heard from more than one person this is the driest (but not the harshest) desert in the world.
The town I´m in now is called Ica, and its claim to fame are its sand buggy rides and sand boarding. This morning I went on a buggy tour and although I only went down the dunes sitting on my snow (sand) board, I did manage a spill that got me a round of applause at the bottom. I´ve got a pretty bad headache at the moment and am slightly scraped up. The sand was so hot that when it got in your shoes, you had to empty it out immediately.
Prior to Ica, I met some friends (one of whom is a girl from Spain that I met a few months ago in Honduras) in Lima. It was great to see her again and I traveled with them a few days. I´ll see them tomorrow in Nazca, I think. Cool group of people, 3 swiss guys, my Spanish amiga and another cool chick from Australia.
Lima was pretty cool, I really liked it there. I stayed here http://www.andeantravelweb.com/peru/hotels/lima/hostal_espana.html it´s a former private home from the 1600´s. Gorgeous art work on the walls and original architecture. There is a nice rooftop terrace that is home to two good size turtles and a cool cat. A number of people commented that the main plaza in Lima was cooler than Buckingham Palace. Now I haven´t been to London, so I can´t verify this information. I went on a tour into the catacombs of a church and saw many, many old bones. They were nicely sorted into bins. A bin of leg bones here....a bin of skulls there. One enterprising monk made a gruesome display of art with various bones. I snapped an illegal picture, so I can show you all when I get home next month.
I did see Pink Floyd, it was a really great show...the venue was outside, which is the best way (in my humble opinion) to see a show. Although they did cheap out on the laser, and Roger Waters could have stepped up to the plate and learned more Spanish than ¨gracias...muchas gracias¨. I went with a friend from Britian...who I had met back in Ecuador. I got a seat in her section...but mysteriously enough, my row (the last in my section) did not exist. No one put chairs out for it. Lucky for them I´m a champion seat mover, so it was a simple exercise of moving on up. The show got a little political. At one point there was a giant floating pig on ropes (think the size of the Macy´s Thanksgiving day parade floats). All the names of the evil world leaders were written on it. Bush, of course, was on the bum. Well, wouldn´t you know it, but they released the ropes and it sailed away. I´m still wondering where in the hell in Lima this giant pig landed and what havoc it caused.
Ohh oohhh! I met him...yes..that´s right...my doctor...my doctor without boarders!!! But, God damn it..he´s a married grandpa. Lovely gentleman. We were on the same bus that crossed the border from Ecuador as we both continued onto to Lima on the same flight, too. The boarder crossing by the way, was a nice simple road and bridge with a couple small buildings where you go to the windows to do your business. Also on the bus, I did get to chatting with a cool chick from Mexico..she´s living in Ecuador, owns a restaurant, and like me was heading to Lima for the Pink Floyd. Poor thing though, she got denied entry to Peru because as a Mexican citiizen a visa was required. I had a moment of panic hoping that I had my information correct and that I did not need one too. I´m not sure if she was able to get her visa in one day (doubtful) and if she ever made it to the concert . oof! Anyway back to the doctor. He is from New Brunswick, Canada and just a really nice guy. He´s here taking auxiliary classes on..you guessed it... tropical medicine.
I´ll be heading to the Nasca Lines tomorrow where I´ll take a flight over the lines. Then from there, in a few days, I´ll be continuing south to the city Arequipa. I´m going to take my first overnight bus. It´s a 10-12 hour bus ride, and from what I´m told the bus is way swanky with seats that recline all the way into small beds.
Take care...love to everyone. I hope you all are well.
Peru, along the coast is desert. Really dry desert...it´s actually giant sand dunes, which suprised me. South of the equator weather patterns orginate east travel west and the Andes trap all the percipitation. It´s jungle and amazon on the eastern side and desert on the western side. I´ve heard from more than one person this is the driest (but not the harshest) desert in the world.
The town I´m in now is called Ica, and its claim to fame are its sand buggy rides and sand boarding. This morning I went on a buggy tour and although I only went down the dunes sitting on my snow (sand) board, I did manage a spill that got me a round of applause at the bottom. I´ve got a pretty bad headache at the moment and am slightly scraped up. The sand was so hot that when it got in your shoes, you had to empty it out immediately.
Prior to Ica, I met some friends (one of whom is a girl from Spain that I met a few months ago in Honduras) in Lima. It was great to see her again and I traveled with them a few days. I´ll see them tomorrow in Nazca, I think. Cool group of people, 3 swiss guys, my Spanish amiga and another cool chick from Australia.
Lima was pretty cool, I really liked it there. I stayed here http://www.andeantravelweb.com/peru/hotels/lima/hostal_espana.html it´s a former private home from the 1600´s. Gorgeous art work on the walls and original architecture. There is a nice rooftop terrace that is home to two good size turtles and a cool cat. A number of people commented that the main plaza in Lima was cooler than Buckingham Palace. Now I haven´t been to London, so I can´t verify this information. I went on a tour into the catacombs of a church and saw many, many old bones. They were nicely sorted into bins. A bin of leg bones here....a bin of skulls there. One enterprising monk made a gruesome display of art with various bones. I snapped an illegal picture, so I can show you all when I get home next month.
I did see Pink Floyd, it was a really great show...the venue was outside, which is the best way (in my humble opinion) to see a show. Although they did cheap out on the laser, and Roger Waters could have stepped up to the plate and learned more Spanish than ¨gracias...muchas gracias¨. I went with a friend from Britian...who I had met back in Ecuador. I got a seat in her section...but mysteriously enough, my row (the last in my section) did not exist. No one put chairs out for it. Lucky for them I´m a champion seat mover, so it was a simple exercise of moving on up. The show got a little political. At one point there was a giant floating pig on ropes (think the size of the Macy´s Thanksgiving day parade floats). All the names of the evil world leaders were written on it. Bush, of course, was on the bum. Well, wouldn´t you know it, but they released the ropes and it sailed away. I´m still wondering where in the hell in Lima this giant pig landed and what havoc it caused.
Ohh oohhh! I met him...yes..that´s right...my doctor...my doctor without boarders!!! But, God damn it..he´s a married grandpa. Lovely gentleman. We were on the same bus that crossed the border from Ecuador as we both continued onto to Lima on the same flight, too. The boarder crossing by the way, was a nice simple road and bridge with a couple small buildings where you go to the windows to do your business. Also on the bus, I did get to chatting with a cool chick from Mexico..she´s living in Ecuador, owns a restaurant, and like me was heading to Lima for the Pink Floyd. Poor thing though, she got denied entry to Peru because as a Mexican citiizen a visa was required. I had a moment of panic hoping that I had my information correct and that I did not need one too. I´m not sure if she was able to get her visa in one day (doubtful) and if she ever made it to the concert . oof! Anyway back to the doctor. He is from New Brunswick, Canada and just a really nice guy. He´s here taking auxiliary classes on..you guessed it... tropical medicine.
I´ll be heading to the Nasca Lines tomorrow where I´ll take a flight over the lines. Then from there, in a few days, I´ll be continuing south to the city Arequipa. I´m going to take my first overnight bus. It´s a 10-12 hour bus ride, and from what I´m told the bus is way swanky with seats that recline all the way into small beds.
Take care...love to everyone. I hope you all are well.
posted by amy at 7:36 PM
1 Comments:
so nice to hear from you! soulds like that was a fun time!!
missing you!! and managed to find myself a hot 26 year old crunchy hippie! woo-hoo!
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