I forgot to mention that in Lima we did a tour of a few Churches and Cathedrals. The Basilica Cathedral of Lima was very impressive and myself and Stephanie got a guided tour of all the chapels in the cathedral. The pictures I put on Picassa are of another church in Lima, but you get the idea of all the chapels dedicated to Jesus and the Virgin Mary. The Peruvians are very spiritual and devout catholic. 92% of the populations are catholic. .
We had a few longer bus journeys further south in Peru. Its all desert and mountain terrain. Its a totally barren landscape and one of the direst places in the world.
We left Nazca yesterday and on our way to Puerto Inca we stopped off at Chauchilla Cemetery. Chauchilla is basically an ancient cemetery with open graves which have been raided over the years but the mummified skeletons are still there. It was spooky enough but the remains were thousands of years old. Rain has never actually been recorded in the region where the graves are which is amazing.
From there we went to a small seaside settlement called Puerto Inca (ancient Inca Port as you can guess). It was just a few guest rooms and very basic facilities but the view of the bay was fantastic. There are lots of ruins of the ancient settlements to see but not much else to do. It seems that the small resort is run by a couple of families and we ended up playing a game of soccer against the locals! They were fairly handy but we got a few goals too. They had their pitch in the middle of their settlement and were delighted to get the game. They were so eager that some young buck ran straight up to the bus as we pulled in, to ask would we play. So we pitched the tents there, and played against the locals. Then we set up the fire for a BBQ almost on the shore. One of the tour guides made a punch and we had a few around the fire playing various drinking games and having the craic.
We had a very early start again this morning and were on the road at 7am. We did a very long drive and stopped every few hours for breakfast and lunch. At the minute we have set up camp beside a hotel in Arequipa which I think is the third biggest city in Peru, population of about 800k. Tomorrow we are going on an overnight excursion to Colca Canyon, which is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. We are staying in a hotel tomorrow night and bathing in Thermal Springs. We will just have a day pack with us so I wont have the laptop with me. I think we get back to camp in the afternoon on Friday so I might Skype home on Friday night, ill let you know by text.
Where we are now in Arequipa is actually 2400 metres above sea level. I can feel the altitude and have a bit of sinus tension and a slight headache. We will be in high altitudes for the next week, acclimatising for the ascent of Matchu Pitchu.
Im off to bed now to sleep it off
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