Banos

Banos
20 - 22 April

We left Monanita at the crack of dawn (9am!!!) to make our way along with Sarah to Banos. Little did we realise the journey which lay ahead. Thick fog, crammed bus, nail biting mountain passes - enduring all this for 12 hours in order to do the 60km Cycle from Banos to Puyo the following day. We finally arrived at around 11pm, smashed a pizza and headed for a late night internet cafe in order to make contact with our respective lovers.

The town of Banos, meaning baths known for its hot springs, lies surrounded by beautiful green mountains and an active smoking volcano.

The following day, we hired bikes and began our 60km descent (with hills) to Puyo. In typical style, we got covered in mud and attacked by mosquitos. We stopped off along the way, to look at the waterfalls scattered along the route, and a look out over the jungle and the river Negro, a tributary feeding into the Amazon River. We stopped for a lunch on the side of the road (literally, sitting on the yellow lines) inhaling truck fumes as they passed, enjoying our sandwiches and freshly purchased maracuya and tangarines. It felt good to have some exercise after a week of sitting at the beach! When we reached Puyo we tossed our bikes onto the roof of a bus and high fiving each other, journeyed back up to Banos.

That evening we bumped into dozy dutch Martin from Arequipa, and persuaded him to join us on a tour up to view the volcano spewing sparks, fumes and flames as shown in photos in the advertisements. However, Martin had to endure a ride in an open bus with less than adequate space for his Dutch legs and a poor performance by the volcano ie. a hill and he's vowed never to accept an invitation for a tour with us again.

Ryan arrived early the next morning from Montanita. We both hired quad bikes, while Ryan hired a motorbike. We were given strict instructions from the quad bike rental not to go off road and up the mountain... so naturally we did, giving lifts to 2 local little girls walking up who rewarded us with a naartjie each. We made it to the highest point we could, ending up a local papaya farm. The farmers proudly showed us their green house, and the puma they had shot, stuffed and perched in a tree. We sat for a while watching the smoke rising from the volcano just 500m above us. On the way down, racing to meet a deadline to return the bikes, we were stopped by an old man wanting us to taste his apples. We politely picked his apples and ate the pieces he cut off for us using his dirty rusty knife. Now even more delayed, the stress of the gravel on road at speed on Gayle's quad bike, caused the back metal grid to break off. Ryan had to rip it off to prevent it catching in the back wheels.

We returned the quad bikes, after getting lost in the streets. They didn't mind that Gayle had broken their bike and instead offered her drugs. Ryan still had a some more time with his motorbike, so Gayle hopped on the back for a ride to another view point on the otherside of the river.

That night despite our attempts to have a quiet dinner with just Ryan and Sarah, Martin tagged along with numerous others. We ate quickly and left the masses to catch our bus that night onto Coca and the jungle!

We're waxing down our surf boards..

Montanita
13 April - 20 April

Over the green Andes, we bussed from Cuenca down to the desolate Ecuadorian coast. Now classifying ourselves as experienced travellers, we easily mastered the national bus system which involved a skillful bus change at a "village" from a coach to a local bus. We were separated on the coach, due to our less than timely boarding - we'd bumped into traumatised looking Immy at the Guayagil Bus Station and Gayle wanted to know the gossip as Johnny was missing! Gayle nearly lost out on a seat, until a kind man summoned her from the back, while Nicky found a seat and had to endure a sleezy local man making kissing noises at her through out the journey. Once again reunited on the local bus to Montanita, we were like long lost friends with much to catch up on (all three hours of separation!!)

On arrival, we stood on the dusty national road, unsure what our next moves were, we befriended .... a Montanita local in his board shorts and surfboard in hand who showed us to the town and recommended a hostel. We realised that we had arrived in bungy surfers' paradise, with only 2 sandy roads and restaurants, bars, hostels and surfing rental shops spilling onto the streets. We quickly dumped our bags in Tikilimbo hostel and headed straight for the beach. We bumped into Swedish Martin and his Danish young lover in tow (clearly The Game was working for him), where we could see his mind working frantically trying to place us. We put him out of his misery and reminded him of our time spent together a week before at Mancora.

We had an early first night after a long day of travelling, only to be rudely awoken at 3am by 2 guitarists having a jam session. Despite being pissed off, we were actually quite impressed and entertained by their singing. The next morning there was no question about whether or not to stay - we packed up our things, handed in the keys and marched over to a quieter and more spacious accomodation recommended to us by Martin. We ended up scoring a 2 storey room with a sea view, en-suite bathroom, 3 double beds and a bunk bed for a bargain of $8 each. Despite all the space, we still shared the double bed downstairs in order to reap benefits of the single fan.

We initially planned to stay only about 4 days, but the surf, sunshine, Crazy Donkey restaurant (for its melt-in-your-mouth swordfish) and good company - that present and that awaiting - kept us in Montanita for a week.

We soon developed our daily routine... breakfast on the verandah; beach and spanish conversations with our 60 year old ex-surfer now turned umbrella man; lunchtime break for banana, maracuya and raspberry smoothie from our regular smoothie vendor, and when available cut up mango from the mango man. This was then followed by an hour at the internet cafe researching jobs back in the real world...or rather possiblities to extend our stay in South America; then back to the beach mid afternoon, with Nicky joining the surfing gang consisting of gorgeous German Laif (pronounced Life), Martin and the Dane, while Gayle overdosed herself with Vitamin D. and awaiting in anticipation for the unpredictable arrival of the Ozzie.

We managed to sub let one of our beds to Sarah (from Bariloche) who needed little persuasion to join us, the unpredictable Ozzie, however, was somewhat more of a challenge and finally arrived the day before we left.

Interlude

11 August 2007
London

As we sit here at East Putney tube station 4 months later, on our way to Camden, in order to purchase a replacement for Nicky's Argentinian ring (see Lost Property at side), and knowing that we'll soon be separated again this time indefinitely, we thought we'd better get onto attempting to complete the final posts of our Excellent Adventures.

From here on all writing is written in retrospect using photos and journals as main points of reference...

Panama Hats and Interesting Characters

Cuenca, Ecuador
11 - 13 April

Cuenca was our next destination. This city had a colonial feel with its whitewashed buildings,

cobblestone streets, and balconies adorned with blooming flowerboxes. With Henley and Ascot in mind, it was here we made our second extravagant purchase – a Panama hat – a must-have purchase in Cuenca. Here we were greeted by a lovable old man, Alberto, apparently famous for making these intricately hand woven Panama hats, as demonstrated by the numerous photos and magazine articles framed up on the wall. When questioned about our nationality, a very excited Alberto pulled out his scrapbooks and proudly showed us photos of previous visitors to his shop as well as postcards sent from their countries on their return. So we had our photo, and we have yet to send our postcard to him.

We then ventured on to the Museum Prohibido Centro Cultural on recommendation by Hubert, the crazy German from Vilcabamba. Unfortunately (or fortunately) it was closed and while we admired/gawped at the strange and freaky façade we attracted the attention of the friendly, grey bearded neighbour, who summoned us over in Dutch. As a retired captain of a ship he captivated us with his stories of his time at sea and him leaving Holland for his Ecuadorian love. He then invited us into his house to view his collection of various antiques he’d accumulated over the years. “You can buy anything in my house” he kindly informed us! As much as we were tempted, we wisely decided against substituting our faithful backpacks for one of his elaborate wooden chests.

After that interesting encounter, we wandered around and followed the sounds of marching bands where we found ourselves at the centre Cuenca’s 450th birthday celebration. Various companies and schools participated in the parade, each having their own theme and costumes, ranging from men on stilts to Miss Cuencas doing the sultry royal wave on board a float.

On our walk home, Gayle splashed out on a £3 haircut by a gay, long haired flamboyant Columbian hairdresser who randomly cut at will, in between posing for photos, hugging his “brother” (lover?) and getting over excited about our attempts to communicate in Spanish. It came as no surprise, that Gayle then wore her hair in a pony tail for the rest of the trip!

After a long afternoon of ambling around the cobble streets, we went for dinner at an Italian restaurant where we giggled and had a heart to heart over a bottle of wine.

Vilcabamba

Vilcabamba
8 - 11 April

We finally relaxed, and set our nerves at ease after a traumatic border crossing, in Vilcabamba. On recommendation from a Kiwi couple in Mancora we jumped in a taxi, and showed the driver the card for Izcayhumba Hostel "the luxury of a hostel at the cost of a backpackers". However, he unfortunately deposited us at the wrong place on the other side of town and had already driven off by the time we realised. Politely we looked around the 'wrong' place, using the excuse that we wanted a pool to say no, and the lady phoned a taxi for us. Luck was on our side that day and we had to laugh when the same taxi driver arrived to take us to the correct place. We didn't think it was out of line to refuse to pay for his mistake and Nicky was not afraid to tell him this - in unbelievable spanish! On arrival at the Izcayhumba we were met by Hubert, the receptionist, and most eccentric German ever who told us all the ins and outs of the hostel...

The hostel, built and run by ex-travellers, catered for every need - huge fluffy towels, free mineral water, and all day breakfast - stating that when they had been travellers they had never made it to breakfast at the set times, so thought it was important to have all day!
The hostel diningroom looked over a fabulous view of the lush green valley and mountains.

Here we met Heidi, from the USA, who was suffering from a severe case of verbal diarrhoea after not seeing any gringos for a good few days...

Day one we borrowed the hostels 'skadonks of a mountain bikes' with dodgy brakes and gears that hardly changed and attempted riding into the mountains. Here the bug got the better of Gayle and the cycle ride ended with a trip to the pharmacy for antibiotics...

The following day we hiked the Mandango Walk with Heidi, and Isla, an Australian travelling around South America on a motorbike (Che style). Was a great walk with beautiful views over Vilcabamba. Spent the afternoon chilling and relaxing and then left for Cuenca
the following day. We were really touched when we were told by Heidi that we were the nicest and funnest girls she had met on her travels! A great few days chilling and trying to get over "the bug".

Chaos

Border crossing Peru to Ecuador
7 April

After a hearty breakfast at our regular joint we set off with Thomas and Louisa into the unknown - the border crossing between Peru and Ecuador. This is infamous for being one of the worst border crossings in South America and we chose to do this in possibly the most dangerous way making use of local taxis and avoiding the direct bus - madness?!

Comforted by our safety in numbers, we hitched a ride from Mancora in a 1974 American Dodge. This ride is pretty much summarised by Thomas - see quotes.
At the border we were unsurprisingly swarmed upon by 2 men who told us if we stuck with them we were guaranteed a safe crossing. We knew this was completely unnecessary however one of them was completely insistant, even getting in the car to come with us from the customs office to the border (a ridiculous 5km away). Our driver then dropped us off in the middle of the chaotic market leaving us to fend for oursleves against our conmen! We eventually managed to get rid of them after telling them there was no way we were going to give them any money and felt very vulnerable as we walked through this border town across a 20m bridge and into Ecuador. Once at the other side of the bridge we first had to buy and onward bus ticket before getting our entry stamp into Ecuador. We had to leave our bags on the bus, catch a taxi to the customs office where we prayed that the bus would actually pick us up as promised and we would be reunited with our lives - our backpacks.
Amazingly this all occurred relaively smoothly - Nicky has a brief heart stopping moment when the official had to look up visa requirements for South Africa, but fortunately the information she had this time was correct, and she was ecstatic when her passport was stamped.

It was incredible how much the vegetation and scenery changed almost immediately from a barren Peru to lush green mountains and rain - the pot holes and mudslides along the road making for precarious passage, and as a result a flat tyre on our bus trip! The plan was to go through to Vilcabamba but due to the delay after changing 2 bus tyres we arrived really late in Loja and decided to rather stay the night.

Epic

Mancora, Peru
3 - 7 April

We arrived at 5.30am, blurry eyed, and took a rickshaw to our hostal and crashed... The next day, determined to be based at the beach front, we wondered around the town trying to find alternative accomodation. Unfortunately due to the Easter weekend everything was doubling in price so we decided to stay put at La Posada.

Our days were spent at the beach with our little gang including Ollie, who soon became our roomie; Swedish Martin; Israeli Roy; Swedish Immi and Irish Johnny; and our favourites Ryan and Crazy Dave (the hot surfers from the bus!). Nicky took a couple of surfing lessons while Gayle attended Yoga sessions at Thomas and Louisa's Lodge. The sunsets were never to be missed as a low cloud on the horizon reflected the sun as it sets creating incredible shapes - squares, mushrooms, hourglass... Most evenings we met up with Thomas and Louisa for our "seven o clock supper dates". Bonfires on the beach in the evening were a magnet for gringos and locals alike and we met a couple of interesting characters - an American who lost his American accent and gained an Irish one after working a couple of weeks in Loki. In true ignorant style this gem could not believe that being white we were from South Africa (ever heard of Apartheid?). A local also tried his luck romancing Gayle with tempting offers of moonlit walks on the beach, whispering sweet nothings in her ear ("What is your city like? Do you have roads?"), and trying to impress her with his daredevil firethrowing tricks. Alas, all in vain.




The Easter weekend brought many locals to Mancora and the big event of the week was the Full Moon Party/Rave. It was a big night, more so for some that others - Gayle's enthusiastic dance moves landed her on the floor and she was completely oblivious to the fact that she had cut her head open especially after being reassured by Ryan that everything was ok. It was only when Dr Fredericks noticed her blood soaked shirt and blood trickling down her neck that she was marched outside for a cleaning and inspection. Convinced that his wasn't a problem Gayle was determined to go back to the party but the Dr dragged her home for a proper sterile cleaning and some overnight compression bandaging.


On our last night, what seems to have unintentionally become a tradition, we had another all-nighter. A group of us took over the Luna Bar with crazy dancing, conversations with Ollie about Aliens, teaching Roy how to smile (spaghetti!). When the bar closed the owner drove us to a rustic beach house in the middle of nowhere with the DJ from the previous nights rave mixing, a green strobe light pulsing, and us embracing the spirit of the night...

Beach Bums

2 April
Huanchaco, Trujillo, Peru

With 2 overnight bus trips in a row broken up by a day in Trujillo, we were torn between spending a day at the beach or at the Pre-Inca ruins of Chan Chan. The ticket seller, who was delighted to practice his English, recommended the beach, and still feeling ruined-out, we didn't need much persuasion. Our new friend kindly stored our backpacks in his tiny office and we headed off for a day of sunshine and rejuvenation!

Our stomachs still feeling a little delicate, we sat chilling on the beach within close proximity to a toilet! Met a good Catholic German boy volunteering for a local church for a year who educated us on Peruvian music after whipping out his ancient wireless radio. It was clear he was very excited to have some Gringo company and kindly offered to show us around Trujillo - unfortunately we had to decline as we were catching a bus on to Mancora that evening...

While waiting at the bus station we couldn't help but notice the 2 sunkissed hotties walk in with their surfboards and we were delighted when we all boarded the same bus!

The Sanatorium

30 March -
Huaraz, Peru

The Cordillera Blanca is the highest range in Peru and the second highest mountain range in the world. The story of Touching the Void occurred and was also filmed here and in the nearby Cordillera Huayash.

We were eager for a couple of days of hiking, however Huaraz`s reputation as "the place where you are most likely to pick up a travel bug in Peru" did not let us down. We contracted the bug within a matter of hours of arriving. Fortunately the hostel has a great DVD selection!

Totally underestimating the power of the The Bug, we decided to do a cycle up to Lago Llangaanuco with Damon, an Aussie. We caught a local taxi/bus, where we were absolutely crammed in (SAfrican taxi style), to Yunguay and then hired bikes from here. The cycle around the lakes was absolutely beautiful with the sun illuminating the lakes to a brilliant turquoise. Unfotunately Nicky was overcome with stomach cramps and nausea and had to abort the downhill ride and catch a taxi back to town, while Gayle awed Damon with her daredevil speed on the gravel road down the mountain.

We realised something was not quite kosher when every new traveller arriving at the hostal came down with The Bug and within the first 12 hours of arrival. We therefore decided that in the best interests of our health, we should get out of there and head to the coast for the sunshine we were craving having spent the last month in the high altitude and cold.

Shell shocked

Lima
27-29th March

Seeing bright lights, Macdonalds, Pizza Hut and Peruvians not dressed in traditional attire left us feeling a bit shell shocked after spending the last few weeks in very rural areas of Peru and also Bolivia.

Having had such a good time at the Loki Hostel in Cusco, we decided to stay at its Lima version. We felt like the Granny´s of the dorm as we were wanting to see some fo the cultural sights of Lima, however the other dorm members priorities lay in being permanently stoned or out boozing til 6 or 7 in the morning and sleeping all day - hence we never got to know many of our dormmates due to their nocturnal hours. Our first night was rather eventful, a drunken Dutch girl stumbled into the dorm wearing only her knickers and trainers (not sure where her jeans went?!) and was helped into her top bunk by the receptionist. We woke up to the disturbance and waited for the inevitable, as she restlessly flung her body and limbs from side to side - the CRASH - we turned on the light to see her sprawled amongst the backpacks on the floor. Gayle kindly helped her into bed - the bottom bunk this time (fortunately the owner was still out partying) - to prevent further injury.

After much deliberation, we decided that the Galapagos was way out of our budget as we were scrimping and saving at every possible moment and as a result, finding it stressful and not enjoying our time travelling as we should (it´s important to be able to treat yourself to that chocolate or beer when you need it). The new plan is to go there for our honeymoons (not together!) Although as James W has advised us, "Screw the money, marry for the passport" (fortunately we have the latter, so can go for the first!) Having made this decision, we both felt a huge weight off our shoulders with the Galapagos Fund now the "Fun Fund".

Our first day in Lima we ambitiously decided to walk to the Musee de la Nacion, completely underestimating the size of Lima we managed to see a large proportion of Lima on foot! On the way, now able to afford the postage of Nicky´s frame, we stopped at the post office to send it home. (Is it there yet mum?) Aaron, who we met in Arequipa, recommended we went to this museum to see the exhibition on the Nazca lines to make up for having skipped them in Nazca. Unfortunately the exhibition was closed and the explanations for the other exhibits of the Inca and pre Inca civilisations were all in Spanish...by the end of this museum we were well and truly "ruined-out". Luckily an amazing photographic exhibition saved the day - we were both shocked and impressed by the display showing graphic photos of the last 20 years of violence and terror in a time of political unrest in Peru. We felt completely ignorant of this recent history when much of Peruvian history is focused on the Incas.

We were very proud of ourselves when we mastered the local transportation system and caught a bus back to the hostel.

While in Lima In order to keep our avid readers happy, we also put serious dedication into updating our blog. We also met up with Thomas and Louise (from Salt Flats Tour). Was great to see familiar faces and catch up, sharing stories of the last 2 weeks since we`d last seen them in Sucre. As we were about to leave we realised we knew the gorgeous "out-of-this-world" blonde who walked into the hostel. It was Oli, our long lost German friend (minus Oolie) from Punta Arenas. Had a quick catch up and realised we`d be reunited in Mancora in a couple of days.

Desert sands

25 - 27 March
Huachachina, Peru

It was here at Casa Arena that we bumped into Aussie Scott, our ex-roomie from Cusco, loking very pale and wilted after picking up a nasty bug from an Amazonian boat in Pullcapa. We spent the day at the pool catching up with Scott and enjoying the warmth and sunshine again.

As Ica is the wine capital of Peru, we signed up for a wine tour that evening. During dinner we had been discussing our lack of encounters with the notorious and disliked Israeli travellers. Ironically we found ourselves on the wine tour with a mob of them. The only highlight if the wine tour was stomping barefoot on grapes, something we`ve both always wanted to do. The wine tasting itself was somewhat unconventional. We were given plastic shot glasses which were filled with rancid wine and then ordered to down them - none of the classy smell, note the clarity, savour the taste on your palate way we are used to! After tossing most of it onto the floor when no-one was looking (Scott managed to get both of our feet at various times) we were taken outside and given a huge jug of more rancid wine, and at various intervals were forced into group shots. It was clear the aim of the night was to get us pissed - so we`d forget how shit the tour actually was! The rowdy Israelis lived up to their reputuation.

The next day after a morning at the pool we went for lunch and had some disagreeable cake which left us feeling very unwell and flattened in bed for the rest of the afternoon. Scott saved the 4 o clock photo and had a photo of himself on the sandboarding/buggying trip which we postponed and did the following day.

The adrenaline pumped faster as we climbed into the suped-up 4x4 beach buggy, and realised our driver was the infamous Ronaldo, known for his crazy rally-like driving on the dunes and the only driver who dared to go backwards. We raced up and down the dunes as if on a human driven rollercoaster with steep slopes of around 100m and sharp turns and skids. At various points we stopped to sand board down the dunes. Nicky attempted to sandboard down while Gayle lay on the board and went straight down head first. Got back feeling a little bit of jelly-legs after the hair-raising ride but would definitely recommend it and thought of a few of you dare-devil snowboarders Jon, Paul, Shax, James, Rob and Kerry who would have loved it.

Being blonde has its bonuses

25 March
Bus Arequipa to Nazca

While on the bus we decided that the Galapagos Fund couldn`t support the Nazca lines so when we arrived in Nazca we asked the bus driver if we could pay for the onward trip to Ica. This appeared to be ok so we remained in our seats. Shortly after the bus left Nazca, the steward seemd pretty abrupt and was muttering in Spanish and motioning for us to follow him. Convinced we were about to be dumped on the side of the road, we got out of our seats terrified, and followed him downstairs to the drivers enclosure where we were shown 2 front row seats next to the driver. Still uncertain as to what was actually happening and fearing for our safety we sat down and smiled sweetly.... We knew it was all ok when we were offered some of the drivers chicken and rice and told this was a free favour for us. They were obviously just craving some female company so we chatted in our best spanish all the way to Ica, high fiving our stow-away status and best seats on the bus!

From the bus station in Ica we caught a taxi to the desert oasis town, Huachachina, surrounded by huge sand dunes, where our driver hooted and whistled at every girl we passed and was flabbergasted that we didn`t have lots of boyfriends on the go like he did! The delighted duo were thrilled to see a swimming pool at our hostal and the thought of wearing slops again.

The Japanese Tour

• 23 - 24 March
  Colca Canyon, Peru
  
  As much as we hated to see the Colca Canyon in a bus, at this stage we were trekked out from the Inca Trail and couldn`t face another hike. So we resorted to doing the less desirable option - a 2 day tour in a bus.
  
  As the name implies this involved sitting in a bus with continuous comentary by our guide (which lulled us to sleep), and stopping at various viewpoints where everyone in the bus pile dout, took photos, and then piled back in the bus. Us wildlife spoilt South Africans could not bring oursleves to get out and take photos of guanacos (similar to a llama) and could barely pry open one eye to have a quick glance.
  
  Adrian aka DJ Serene - "the hottest DJ in Holland" according to The trip was made for us however, by the awesome group of Gringos
  
  Aaron who needed to do warm up exercises for his cheeks in the morning in order to smile (hum-de-de-day)


• his Bolivian gig advertisement



• Crazy Yankee Kate



• Goofy but lovable Martin



• Amin, an outdoorsy German who detested the Japanese Tour more than us!

That evening we went to a dinner and cabaret show. There was a traditional Peruvian band bearing ponchos and playing the pan pipes, as well as a couple performing traditional dances. One of the dances, had a shocked audience in hysterics when they brought out the whips and they took turns lying on the floor while being whipped and straddled by their partner! Aaron got into the spirit of things when he was pulled out from the audience for a whipping. Unfortunately for his partner, she dropped her whip, so Aaron quickly grabbed it and had a turn at giving a beating!

After the show, we went back to Casa de Anita for a few beers, backgammon and chess.

We had an early start the next day in order to get to the mirador to see the condors majestically soaring in the early morning thermals. We also saw impressive hanging pre-Inca tombs on a cliff face and Inca farming terraces.

On the way home, to our elation our tour guide stopped talking. However our joy was short-lived as the silence was shattered by Nicky`s favourite - the pan pipes blearing through the speakers. On a positive note, this resulted in sleep eluding us, and we were able to see the scenery all the way home (with our Ipods/MP3 players at the highest volume in attempt to drown out the pan pipes).

When we got back to Bothy Hostel we were relieved to find out that our bus to Nazca, which Raul had booked for us, was a couple of hours later, giving us time to shower, eat and pack. Adrian came with us to the bus station to buy his and Aarons bus tickets to Santiago. We were absolutely delighted when he was so impressed with our Spanish that he asked for our assistance in purchasing his tickets!

Our bus left about an hour late much to the anger of our fellow passengers who impatiently stomped their feet and shouted "vamos" over and over - much to our amusement. When the bus finally took off we knew it was going to be a long overnighter when 13 Dead men was the in-bus movie!

Baby face at 27 - Gayle´s birthday!!

22 March
Arequipa, Peru

Gayle woke up to tea in bed - a rarity when travelling and present wrapped up in Nicky´s sleeping bag liner and sarong inside an oversized pink Winnie the Pooh bag.

During breakfast, Raul suggested joining him on a visit to a poor resourced primary school on the outskirts of the city. Before leaving we joined forces with two gorgeous but brown haired Danish boys also staying at our hostel, and purchased chalk, crayons and a soccer ball. At the stationery shop, our lack of spanish vocab had all four of us demonstrating the use of chalk by drawing on the floor and imaginary black boards until a shop assistant finally put us out of our misery and pulled out a dictionary.

The school is situated in a dusty, barren neighbourhood. The kids, aged between 4 and 10, were all very excited to see us and we had a great time playing soccer, hopscotch, spinning them around and putting our artistic skills to the test - learning a few new Spanish words in the process. Gayle was sung "Feliz Compleaños" by one of the older classes before we left. It was a great way to spend a birthday.

We then treated ourselves to amazing crepes, followed by a power nap in preparation for a big night ahead. Nicky however, snuck off to buy the most scrumptious, decadent chocolate cake. That evening, while making the salads for the barbeque, Paranoid Juliana was horrified to discover that:

1. We did not peel the mushrooms - didn´t know they had skins..?!



2. We didn´t wash the vegetables in bottled water



3. It was then that we discovered that we should also be brushing our teeth in bottled water.

There was a good turnout for the barbeque, had a few drinks downstairs at the bar and then we hit the town for some salsa-ing. Much to our disappointment we discovered that Peruvians (well, Raul and his friend Carlos anyway) were pretty shit at salsa. Luckily our dishy Danish came to the rescue, Gayle defying Confuscious´ law, while Nicky fought off sleezy Peruvians.

Lotions and Potions

21 March
Arequipa

We arrived mid morning in Arequipa and shared a taxi from the bus terminal with a very paranoid German, Juliana, who was convinced the taxi driver was going to rob and rape us, and then dump us on the side of the road naked. We are not quite ssure what the source of this paraonoia was as the thought never crossed our minds, and unsurprisingly we arrived safely at Bothy Hostel. On arriva we were "meeted and greeted" by Raul on the the Peruvian owners. He told us about various activities in the area, and when he found out it was Gayle´s birthday the following day, he put the wheels in motion for a braai/barbeque on the terrace.

We wondered around Arequipa, which is described the dude who discovered Machu Picchu, this is the prettiest town in Peru due to its architecture and it being shadowed by volcanoes.

That afternoon we went to the local market with Raul where we tasted Maca, a yellow milky drink made from corn (which the locals drink daily and is supposed to enhance your libido). We then moved on to a ´potions and lotions´ seller where we discovered various Peruvian superstitions:

• a little wooden man which 3 times a week you are supposed share a smoke with by putting a cigarette into his open mouth and discuss your day and thoughts and concerns etc. This little man wears numerous little objects eg fake dollars, miniture llamas, popcorn, model of a car which all represent money, wealth food and love. Through spending a bit of time with your little man a few times a week he brings you good luck in various aspects of your life.


• llama foetus (which Raul made Gayle hold) which by burying in the garden or incorporating into the foundations of your house is supposed to ward off evil spirits.


• Have a shaman come to their house once a year


• Parcels of kitsch plastic toy-like objects which they dedicate to Mother earth..


• If you want a girl to fall in love with you, first wash yourself with the fall-in-love-with-me soap; take a piece of her hair, intertwine it with yours and mix it with the fall-in-love-with-me cologne which you dab onto your neck and TA DAH... she´ll find you irrestible.

We also wandered around the market and Raul explained how everything was organised with the various rows of fruit, meat, fish, bread etc.

That evening Raul organised a French Canadian and his friends to come over to the hostel to play guitar. Unfortunately not a sing-song as all the songs were in the French, but a good evening nonetheless.

Extravagant Day

19-20 March
Cusco, Peru

After our first lie-in in four days, we were excited to see that the mob of trendy GAP students at Loki Hostel had been replaced by fellow mid-20 crises travellers. Maarten went off to Spanish school, so naturally we headed off for the markets. It ended up being a rather indulgent day which resulted in the purchase of 2 paintings (Gayle), a dress each, and a beautiful hand carved wooden frame - now the bain of Nicky´s life as it costs nearly 7 times more to post it home. She has now resorted to dragging it around taped up in various beer boxes - patience is wearing thin and it is at high risk of being dumped on the side of the road. The extravagance of this day has led to scrimping and saving at every possible opportunity - all in the name of the Galapagos Fund.

On our last night we braved the Cusco nightlife with some gringos from the hostel and a Peruvian body boarding champ who we made friends with at the bar. Once at the square, as a gringo you are inundated with free drinks offers from locals trying to entice you to their club. Club number 1 (Up Town), involved a free rum and coke, Gayle salsa-ing with an old man, caterpillar demonstrations and then when the jocks paired off with the girls who would give out, we moved with Scottish Rosie and Kiwi Matt to Mama Africa (apparently owned by a South African). We met up with Maarten and had a fabulous night dancing with our gringo friends and Gayle inviting herself to dance up on the bar.

We left the next evening after a late start and an afternoon of admin. Maarten decided to stay in Cusco for another 2 weeks of Spanish school, so we were back to the fabulous duo.

The Inca Trail

15-18 March

The Inca Trail, which instigated our trip to South America, finally arrived and we weren't disappointed, except that Sally Munro was unable to join us due to her not getting her A into G in time.

It was a tough 4 day walk - we were chuffed when Celso, our guide, told the two of us that we were good hikers and asked about our previous experience..(!?) This was no great feat considering a few of the other 4 members of our group suffered various hindrances; Diana flew in from the USA a few days before the trail and so had some difficulty with the altitude, Kris overexerted himself on the 1st day in order to keep up with us, so stressing his knees in the process and requiring our medical attention and patience for the rest of the trip! His wife, a South African (and the only South African we've met so far!) who has lived in London for the last 9 years and is now moving to Oz (sounds familiar..Gayle?), has lost her SA accent and unpatriotically badmouthed her home country, much to our disgust! Maarten worked hard over Dead Woman's Pass to keep up with us, but on the 2nd day was leading the group.

We did the trail with Llama Path who we found very organised but to some extent we felt we were unnecessarily treated like royalty; basins of hot water met us at every meal to wash our faces and hands with a porter standing close by to pass us our facecloths, 3 course meals at every meal, high tea including milo and our tents pitched awaiting our arrival at each campsite. Nevertheless, we had a great team spirit with the porters cheering for us whenever we left or arrived at camp and us cheering them on whenever they overtook us on the trail. It was intimidating having the snake of red (our porters wearing their red uniforms) charging up the mountain behind you carrying packs more than 4x the size and weight of ours, containing dinner tents, chairs, tables and gas cylinders! The physiotherapist amongst us was very happy to see all our porters wore back supports and specially made rucksacks with comfortable straps in comparison to porters from other companies who had pieces of rope cutting into their shoulders and underarms. Our porters definitely looked the fittest and happiest.

The scenery was unbelievable and varied - jagged peaks, lots of steep mountian passes and steps, dense forest areas and inca archaeological sites along the way. These sites would have been resting places for messengers and travellers, small communities or temples. Strangely this was the first time in all our walks in South America where we heard birds and frogs AND we even saw a bear eating a deer on the mountain side!

On our final day, we woke up at 4am to be first in line at the control point to Machu Picchu with the hope of seeing the sun rise at the Sun Gate. This hour and a half final walk in the dark with our head torches, turned out to be stressful and hair raising as over eager and aggresive gringos raced and pushed past you on narrow cliff paths to be at the Sun Gate first - all in vain as on arrival there was thick cloud obscuring the view of Macchu Picchu! As we descended, the clouds lifted and we saw Macchu Picchu for the first time illuminated by the early morning sun. This sight made the last 3 days so much more rewarding as opposed the lazy tourists who merely caught the train up that morning (we were however very jealous of their fresh and sweet soap smelling aroma).

Celso gave us a insightful tour around Macchu Picchu and then he left us to explore on our own. We found a perfect spot for a quick snack until we were whistled at from the other side of the ruin by an angry official, for being in a restricted area. Our exploration of the ruin ended prematurely with a short power nap on a grassy patch. It was only when we awoke with sleep lines on our faces that we realised our position was in the view from the prime photographic point - all tourists visiting Macchu Picchu on the 18th March were graced with 3 comatosed blonde gringos in their photos!

It was an incredible experience, only wished that more of our friends from back home were there to share it with us.

The Navel of the World

12-15 March
Cuzco, Peru

Admin and scenic days in Cuzco, "acclimitising" and preparing for the Inca Trail while soaking up the gringo vibe.

Cusco was the capital of the Incas and hence our base for indulging in the history. We went to a fascinating museum where we saw Inca mummies which were buried in ceramic pots in the foetal position as their believed in reincarnation. We spent a day, walking around 4 ruins just outside Cuzco, the last of which, Sacsayhuaman, was the most impressive and made from huge granite rocks some up to 3x3metres in size. Many of the rocks were taken from these sites by the Spaniards to build their own cathedrals in the centre of Cuzco.