15 August: Puno to Llachon

After breakfast this morning, we were taken down to the Port on bicycle tuk-tuks. Then we got onto a boat and headed off to explore Lake Titicaca. Our first stop was at the Uros Floating Islands which the Uros have been living on for 2000 years. It was quite incredible to see how they live and how they build their islands. But it was also a bit touristy, with a tourist boat like ours stopped at just about every little island.



I still absolutely loved it tho! So incredible. And I think my all-time favourite bit was their island within an island that they kept bunnies & guinea pigs on (photo on right) - I assume as food and not as pets tho :( And apparently it takes about 100 years for the floating island to eventually reach the bottom of the lake (they add more grass and rebuild their huts regularly), and then they set off and build a brand new island. Apparently they need the islands to float because the water level of the lake rises 8 - 10m in the rainy season.

I bought my trip-memorabilia item there tho, an awesome wall-hanging of an Incan belief. I can't quite remember exactly what it was but I remember thinking that their beliefs weren't that different to what I know of Wicca, where the earth is God and all things come from the earth and are equal. I love it!

After that we had a 2hr boat ride, heading to our home-stay on the peninsula. When we arrived, we split up and had lunch with our new house-mammas (This one is called Bebida, which means drink in Spanish ... ?!?!). I was quite worried this time, especially after our awesome experience at the last home-stay, when she spoke so much Spanish. We couldn't understand a thing over lunch.

But then it turned out that I think we won the home-stay lottery again because after lunch we were supposed to help out with some of their day-to-day tasks and our mamma took us to "walk" the sheep. They were all tied up to shrubs and stuff just outside her house, so we untied them and then herded them down to the water for them to have a drink. At one point our mamma picked up her littlest lamb and haded it to me to hold. So adorable! They didn't get a very long drink before we took them back home again. And then we thought we were done.

So The Ageing Aunt and I said we wanted to go for a walk around the area (handy that we remembered we had a Spanish-English dictionary along with us now!) and our mamma said she would come with us. It turned out to be such an awesome afternoon! She took us to her cousin's (a few houses above hers on the hill), who was sitting outside weaving and then after leaving us there went home to get her spindle to make wool. It was amazing sitting there watching these 2 women. We chatted to them quite a lot using the dictionary. We spoke about how old we were, how many children they had and the animals. It was lovely. After probably an hour of that, she then took us down to where her parents were pulling the heads off wheat, which we helped them with for a while. And then she took us down to the pier to get on a fishing boat to go and help the men put out fishing nets. It was a truly incredible afternoon!

After we got back on the fishing boat, we played a few volley-ball games with the people from the village, on the grass next to the beach, them in their local dress with cows and pigs (beach-pigs!) watching on. Such a laugh.

We stopped as the sun was setting and @UselessRob and I then went off for a walk before dinner. We ended up going up the mountain (there were stairs), which gave us a very cool view of the village and out across the lake. We stayed there watching the lights of Puno come up, spotting shapes in the clouds and searching for shooting stars.

Then it was back to our individual houses for dinner. The Ageing Aunt and I went and sat in the kitchen and chatted with our mamma and the boat captain while she cooked, which was nice. Dinner was more soup (seriously, we eat soup at almost every meal except breakfast!!) and Saltado sin Carne, quite nice and not too much. We seem to constantly be being fed on this trip!

After dinner I wanted to go to the place @UselessRob was staying, because again, 20h30 is just too early for bed and he'd brought cards along. But my mamma wouldn't let me go until she'd dressed me up in the local costume. Apparently we were supposed to have gotten dressed up for dinner, but she'd forgotten and was sure if I went over there they'd all be dressed up. Sigh. So after dutifully getting dressed up (keep in mind this is all put on over what we were wearing) and having her walk me right to his door in the dark (nearly tripped over a cow!), he opened the door dressed completely normally. And nearly died of laughter. Naturally. It was pretty damn funny, honestly.

We didn't end up playing cards after all, instead we went and sat outside and watched the stars and chatted instead. It was amazing how clear the sky was (the clearest and best view we had of them our entire trip!).

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14 August: Sibayo to Puno

I had an absolutely awesome morning in our home-stay. We sat and had breakfast with our house-mamma (breakfast was friend egg and chips, I even got some cheese with mine ... she'd wanted to give us rice with our breakfast as well!). During breakfast we managed to chat to our house-mamma about all sorts of things using hand signals (to show how old we all were) and some very basic Spanish (mine has definitely improved during this trip!).

The Ageing Aunt had brought some photos from home (apparently we were all supposed to, but trust her to be the only one who'd remembered!), which we showed our mamma and I showed her a few on my Blackberry. And then she even brought out her own photo album to show us, which was really interesting!

Then we left Sibayo and started our long day on the bus. We did stop for a 45min walk to see some rock carvings, which was awesome! Other than that the rest of the day was pretty much spent driving. We did stop to see a few flamingo on the way as well, where we found ourselves all quite out of breathe walking around at around 4500m above sea-level. A little nervous again now for the The Lares Trek because the highest point on that is about 4800m!



We arrived in Puno at about 15h30 and had an hour at our hotel, Munay Tambo, to shower and relax before we headed off to the local market to buy another round of gifts for our next home-stay. After that we went for dinner (spot the tourist restaurants with their English translated menus!). I had a very nice pizza (apparently Puno makes the best pizzas in Peru and there are certainly enough pizzeria's around!).

By the time we were done, it was only 20h30 so @UselessRob and I went to a little bar called Positive for a drink. It was very cool, with all sorts of messages written on the wall. I drew my gladtobeagirl logo and wrote the url - hahaha!

We got back to the hotel around 10pm (I was feeling a bit weird, I assume all altitude related because I've had a few light-headed spells since arriving in Puno) and the whole place was locked up! Noticing a trend here. We tried ringing the doorbell (let's keep in mind that this hotel reception is an entire courtyard away from the wooden door we were stuck outside, so yelling was not helpful) but, it didn't seem to help! Luckily had his phone and our tour leader's number, so he called her to tell her we were stuck outside. Turns out the damn doorbell wasn't actually switched on :P How mad. Anyway, at least we didn't have to spend the night on the streets of Puno ;) Haha.

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The Stuff Weeks Are Made Of

Is the weather in Joburg at the moment not fabulous? I forgot to mention how awesome it was to come back to Spring! I really wasn't expecting such a change in 3 weeks, but it was drastic. The sun is up noticeably earlier, it's so much warmer. The Bundles have switched over to their summer schedule already (cover down during the daytime to stop the sun instead of at night to stop the frost). It's a beautiful day.

So this week ... right. Monday night was a special SCM Dinner cause we were celebrating 2 birthdays, was an awesome evening :) On Tuesday evening I spent the evening at home. My first weekday night at home since I got back from Peru and I loved it. Sometimes you really do just need to climb into bed at 6pm and have popcorn for dinner. Which is not what I did on Tuesday evening, but it's the thought that counts. I have no plans that I'm aware of for this weekend and I am definitely trying to keep it that way. I just need some down time to relax and do much of nothing.

Yesterday we had a Team Breakfast at Tasha's in Morningside. I know most people love the place (or so I've heard) but I don't think I'm won over. And I'm trying to overlook the fact that they had no water (municipality) and couldn't make coffee, which meant no iced coffee for me (since I don't drink actual coffee), which was only my second choice because they have the most limited range of fruit juices. Seriously, who doesn't stock Mango or Strawberry juice ?!?! The breakfasts were too large in my opinion, and therefore over priced. But, that said the place was *packed*. On a weekday morning. Clearly other people do not share my views. But then again, I've said it before, I'm fussy about breakfasts out and since Doppio took my breakfast off their menu I've found nothing that makes me want to eat breakfast out more regularly.

In the evening I ended up at the same center, at The Green Peppercorn, for dinner with Liary. Such fun catching up. I am going to miss her when her Monday-to-Thursday work trips come to an end. I had a delish Chocolate & Chili Ostrich Fillet. OMG it was so much better than the ones I've had before (usually at Madame Zingara).

And that has been the week. Tonight is book club at my house. Book Club seems to have disintegrated a little while I was away ... so it'll be interesting cause we got a few new members too.

And then hopefully that'll be followed by The Weekend of Nothingness.

ps. Have been *very* bad with my #365 without my slr :( Not sure when I'll be able to get it back yet, but at least it isn't going to cost nearly as much as I was expecting.

13 August: Chivay to Sibayo

We woke up super early this morning and headed off to see the Andean Condors at Colca Canyon (they can be seen best between 8 and 9am). I can't remember the last time I've seen so many tourists altogether in one place! It was insane. In fact, it's been an annoying part of this Colca-Canyon trip, that we are surrounded completely by other tourists at every thing we do. It gets a bit like driving from point to point in convoy!

Anyway, we did managed to see a few Condors. Apparently their wing span can be up to 3m! After the crowds dissipated, we went for another 45 minute walk along the canyon. We saw a flock of Andean Parakeet which was very cool! I think this is their way of slowly acclimatising us for The Lares Trek, which I think is a fantastic idea! So far I haven't had any altitude problems at all, aside from waking up feeling completely parched and getting out of breathe while going uphill on these walks or up stairs. But I could feel an improvement in today's walk already.



After that we stopped to enjoy all the terrace views, it's really quite amazing. And we got to see some pre-Incan tombs high up on the mountainside. The reminded me of swallows nests!

We stopped at another buffet spot for lunch, again with a billion other (of the same) tourists, back in Chivay. Seriously, we are starting to recognise members of the other groups, it's that bad!

After lunch, The Ageing Aunt, @UselessRob and I took a stroll around the local market because we had to buy "gifts" to take to our house-mammas at our home-stay this evening. The Ageing Aunt and I bought some rice, sugar, lentils, quinoa, flour and pasta for ours. It was really quite fun, and awfully helpful to have @UselessRob around to translate and ask how much everything cost ("Cuanto cuesta?"). After that I bought myself a fab 100% Alpaca wool Peruvian-style hat (Chullo), which I adore. It came in plenty handy over the rest of the trip, most especially while on The Lares Trek!

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And then after a quick pack of our day-packs for our overnight stay, we headed off to Sibayo to meet our house-mammas. The Ageing Aunt and I are staying with Edu. Let me tell you, it's quite a different experience because neither of us knows much Spanish and certainly even less Quecha.

Our house-mamma's dressed us up in the local dress on arrival and we found out we were very lucky because we happened to be spending the night during one of their 3day wedding celebrations. How cool!

But first (after a good laugh and plenty of photos of the whole group of us all dressed up!) we had a wander down to see their trout farm. After that we went to the wedding reception to deliver the gifts we'd been given to carry in the traditional way (bundled up and on our backs) by our house-mammas. We were clearly quite a novelty at the wedding because a few of the locals were rushing up and trying to sneak some photos - kinda weird to be on the receiving end of that! We got to taste a local drink (a corn-based alcohol called Chicha de jora) which smelt revolting but had almost no taste at all. And then we got to dance in a circle with the bridal couple, which was quite fun. (The photo below is actually of our home-stay house, on the right, taken from the town-square)



After our dance we all got ushered back to the house The Ageing Aunt and I were staying at, where we'd be having dinner. We got involved by peeling beans, potatoes and carrots for part of our dinner. Our guide made us some very nice hot Pisco drink as well.

The wedding customs here are quite strange (or very modern , which I guess I didn't expect from a small poor community out in the middle of nowhere in a very Catholic country). The bride and groom live together for 3 or 4 years "trying each other out" and having kids before they actually get married, usually only in their 30s. Apparently it's because it is so expensive for them to get married (because they have to invite the whole community and provide a party for 3 days), so they wait until they can afford it. Everyone from the community brings gifts, from furniture to food-stuffs (we'd taken corn and potatoes). What also interested me is that in their traditional dress, the hats that the girls wear indicate whether they are married or not, even if they are widows!

12 August: Arequipa to Chivay

This morning we left the hotel around 08h30 after the best breakfast we've had on this trip so far. Usually it's just rolls with butter (and jam, if we're lucky!) with tea and a glass of (usually) gorgeous fresh fruit juice (often papaya which is fab!).

We got to see Vicunas, Alpacas & Llamas on the drive as we climbed in altitude. We even spotted an Andean Rabbit (which is apparently officially called a Viscacha - I love Wikipedia!). We arrived in Chivay in time for a huge buffet lunch, which was quite nice because we got to taste a variety of different things.



After lunch we went to our hotel, The Colca Inn. Then we took a 45min walk to the nearby Hot Springs. Wow, it is definitely educational walking at altitude, am a little terrified for The Lares Trek now. "Dude, look out for the pterodactyls!"

We didn't actually end up swimming in the Hot Springs (about 3 normal looking swimming pools packed with people). It was already after 5pm so the outside air was quite chilly already. We took a walk across the Colca River and had a look at some Incan Terraces (they had Gummy steps!).

Dinner was at what felt like a *very* touristy restaurant with local dancing. It wasn't very entertaining, honestly, until the last dance (of 4) which told a bit of a story (was quite hysterical with whipping!). After that, most of us got pulled up to dance around the room, all linked arm to arm in a chain, with them. The food wasn't great but, it turned out to be more of a fun evening than we thought initially. And after it all, we decided to walk back to our hotel to cool down :)

11 August: Arequipa

Arrived in Arequipa this morning at about 7am and got taken to our hotel, the Tierra Mistica Majestad. We had a shower and then set out to see the town and go for a wander around a local market.

Quite cool to see everything all on display, it reminded me of the markets in Spain I went to. Weirdest part tho is definitely Jugo de Rana ... Juice of the Frog. Yes, apparently they juice live frogs right there for you to drink. Understandably, none of us was willing to give it a try - yuck! It was also nice to try some of the different fruits that they have that we hadn't seen before.

Arequipa was our first free time of the trip, we had the afternoon to spend as we pleased. So, The Ageing Aunt and I bought some rolls and avocado from the market for our lunch which we ate back at the hotel. After that we went for another walk around the main square. I'm struggling a little today because she is being so slow and wants to stop at every single little Alpaca wool shop to "price" the jerseys (one of her missions for this trip is to buy loads of jerseys?). Whereas I just wanted to have a wander around the town and see the place. My feet are also quite sensitive although I seem to have managed to avoid getting any blisters - yay.



Spent the rest of the free afternoon having an afternoon snooze, a luxury on a trip like this where usually I'd want to be out and seeing and doing things, but there's not much left within walking distance I want to see. Before dinner we had a briefing from our next Tour Guide (we used numerous Tour Guides along the way who were specific to the area we were in at the time whereas Intrepid provided a Tour "Leader" just to manage all the logistics etc.) on our next few days which we'll be spending visiting various places around the Colca River.

We went to Nina Yaku for dinner, which was delish. We even ordered a Guinea Pig (Cuy) to all share as a starter. It was just plain weird. Most especially because it arrived at our table whole, like a spatch-cock Guinea Pig with it's head still on! Thank goodness they took it away and cut it up for us because I don't think we could've eaten it looking like that. It was really strange, there wasn't much meat at all (and no, it didn't taste like chicken! Haha) and it was very odd eating around all these tiny little bones. I certainly wouldn't order it again, thanks.

When we were done we all went back to the hotel, but since it was only about 20h30 and we'd both slept that afternoon, @UselessRob & I decided to go for a drink. It was surprisingly hard to find a spot (Can you believe that the Llama & Leprechaun was closed?!). We also tried a little place that had a table in the window with a mannequin dressed up like Che Guevara, but it looked more like a food-place so we ended up at a place next door to the restaurant we'd eaten dinner at earlier. Tried the Cusquena beer this time and we stayed there chatting till about 23h30.

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It was very strange walking back to the hotel at that time because the place that had been bustling during the daylight was now quite deserted. And then we walked right past out hotel because they'd closed the outside doors! Haha. It was a good evening :)

Did I ever go on Holiday?

Wow, already my second Monday back at work. Last week just flew by!

On Thursday I went to JBs corner and had a lovely catch-up dinner with some friends. On Friday evening I was only going to pop past a friend from work's birthday for a quick drink, but it ended up being great fun with loads of us from work there and I ended up staying a lot later than I'd expected.

I didn't wake up feeling 100% on Saturday morning and so lazed in bed quite a bit longer than I was expecting since I had plenty of admin planned. Went to buy TheBundles a new hay bale and dropped my SLR off at CameraTek for a service and proper clean (should hear on Tuesday how much that is gonna end up costing me - yikes!). It is going to cause a bit of a problem for the #365 tho since I won't get it back for a good 8-10 days. And I had a bit of a look at what was available in the little point 'n click market at the moment since mine officially needs replacing after this trip. It was freaking useless a lot of the time. I think the auto-focus mechanism went because it just used to shake once switched on. Which I think is ridiculous since it's not very old ... although perhaps 2&half years is a fair enough age for a point 'n click. Plus mine does travel a fair amount ;)

And then CollegeInstructor and I headed off to have a look at hard drives. I decided I desperately need some form of storage for all these photos since my laptop is almost completely full now. We each got ourselves a Samsung 1.5Tb External Drive from Makro who were selling it on promotion for R899. Hahaha, so far I still have over a Tb of free space on it, after copying my Photos and Music folders across. Yay.

We also went round to see my new little apartment again. I wanted to see it in the daylight. Still thrilled with it, but really must now get a move on with the new-tenant-hunt because I have decided that there really is no way I can live there myself. The traffic from Lonehill would cause me to die a slow daily death :P

Later on Saturday afternoon I headed off to Cool Runnings to meet up with the SCM Dinner crew for a birthday bash which started with watching the Rugby. We won't discuss that ;) I didn't end up staying too late. I was completely exhausted from my week and still not feeling great so decided that at home and in bed with series would be a far better use of my time :) And it really was.

On Sunday CollegeInstructor and I went to Doppio Zero for breakfast. He, TheHousemate and a few other people had had rather a large night so were all suffering a little I think. Urgh. Doppio irritates me. It's like I have to go back there every few months to remind myself that I don't actually like the place since they took my favourite breakfast off the menu :(

Later that afternoon (after some running about trying to find new fairy lights, which is no easy feat), I went to visit @saulkza and @Nadgia at their new home. They haven't moved in just yet, but the renovations are finished and the place is looking *amazing* :) We finished off the evening with dinner at Piza e Vino. It wasn't as awesome as I remembered it from my first meal there, but still pretty yummy pizzas :)

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So, yes, as usual ... I spent the weekend eating out - hahaha. And this week isn't going to be any less busy than last week. Shoo.

10 August: Nazca to Arequipa

This morning we had a later start and went to the Chauchilla Cemetery. It was quite fascinating but, sadly was only found because the grave robbers got there first so the mummies weren't in as good a condition as I can only imagine they would've been - mostly they were just bones after being discarded in the desert heat. But it was still pretty damn awesome to see! All the mummies are in foetal positions and have been wrapped (which is how they were buried). Most of them are in what they assume are family groups and there are plenty of very young mummies too! Is amazing to see how well conserved their hair is too! And they had *very* long hair!!

It is also kinda surreal to me that it is all still out there wide-open (as opposed to having been relocated to a museum or something). There are large open grave excavations in the dry earth, with nothing more than a shade cover above them. Plus there were two more mummies that were in a museum room which were saw after walking thru the actual cemetery that were undiscovered by the robbers and in original condition.



We also got to stop at a more recent cemetery on the way back to town ... I dunno why, but I think graveyards are just gorgeous for photographs :) And it's fascinating how people remember their dead. Although I'm all for cremation, I'll admit the idea of a gravestone or something really does appeal to me.

After that they took us to a few other places to show us how the Nazca made pottery and then to see a demonstration of the gold mining process. Nothing too spectacular, honestly. (Clearly my preference is for dead people - haha).

The we went for lunch at Rico Pollo, which I guess is a bit like their Nando's. A quarter chicken & chips (Pollo a la brasa) with an Inca Kola is the standard order, which is what I had :)

After lunch we went for our flight over the Nazca Lines. *YAY*. Well, it's quite a strange experience. We went up in a tiny 4-seater place so that we all had window seats (in groups of 4, obviously). And honestly, even tho I'd taken an air-sick tablet beforehand, I felt I couldn't really appreciate the experience until I'd landed and was looking thru my photos because I felt positively ill for the entire flight. Which I suspect was mostly due to flying in circles at a right-angle to the earth (see photo on right - makes me ill just looking at it!), twice for each Nazca Line, to ensure each side had a chance to get some photos. Nausea aside tho, I am not sure how I feel about the whole experience. I am no closer to understanding what they are all about that I was before the flight (did I think I would be?!?), and really, they are not glaringly obvious as you might expect from photographs.

There are so many lines all over the earth (something to do with the type of earth & the lack of wind(?) there, apparently there are still car-tread marks made in the 1920s), but when you see one of the figures, they are clearly not accidental. I'm not sure how they know when they were made tho. And I do wish we'd had a chance to actually go and see one of them from the land, up close ... even if we couldn't have seen the figure from that view-point, just to get a better idea of what they look like in real life and not from the air (does that make any sense?). Still, they're fascinating.

During our flight we flew over the Whale, the Trapezoids (which seemed quite different in style to the others), the Astronaut / Extraterrestrial / Owl-man (no one can seem to decide what this one is ... I think it looks like a Teletubby :P), the Monkey, the Dog, the Six-Legged Bird Head (which I think would've been more aptly named the Turnip), the Condor, the Spider (photo above left), the Hummingbird (photo below), the Tree, the Lizard, the Hands, the Parrot, one of the Frigate Birds (don't ask me what that is?!) and the Flamingo. Sadly, although I got some great photos, I couldn't include many of them here because the lines aren't really discernible when I scale most them down small enough for the blog :(



And that was us for the day until we caught our 21h30 bus to Arequipa. @UselessRob & I hung out at the hotel pool chatting the time away. So far our group is fab and based on the dynamic so far, I really think the smaller groups work better. I'm also fascinated how the more I travel, the more places remind me of other places. Peru so far definitely has aspects of Namibia and Egypt.

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09 August: Pisco to Nazca

We were up quite early again this morning (05h30) to be ready for a boat trip to the Ballestas Islands. It's strange to me how similar it felt to the boat ride I did in Swakopmund, apparently because they're both West Coastlines, or so my Ageing Aunt tells me. The land at the port was pretty much all sand. The launch was full of pelicans and blue-footed boobys and we saw dolphins as we were going out on the boat too. En route to the islands we stopped for a look at El Candelabro on the cliffs. Apparently the Incas and "The Extraterrestrialies" made it :P I suspect that it was never supposed to represent a candle-stick (or some kind of ancient lighthouse, like we were joking!), but rather more likely to be a cactus (perhaps?).



And then it was on to the Islands themselves. They are completely barren and all rocky outcrops with awesome holes thru the rock and almost every surface is covered with birds. Mostly the boobys, and some pelicans and cormorants. There are a few seals around as well (nothing like Cape Cross in Namibia, which is sorta what I was expecting). It was quite interesting to see but, I'll be honest and say I'm not sure it was worth it personally.

After that we climbed into a private bus and drove to Ica (apparently one of the only towns in the world that is built around a sand dune). We went and had lunch at the Huacachina oasis. Had a delish avo stuffed with shredded chicken, carrots, peas and mayonnaise ("What's your favourite condiment?") called Palta Rellena. It seems to be quite a common dish because I've seen it on most of the menus. Also tried Inca Kola for the first time, it's a luminous yellow fizzy drink.

After lunch we took a wander around the oasis. I can only imagine what it would've been like long ago to come over the top of these giant dunes and find it there!



Then we went to a local distillery to hear about the history of Peruvian wine and how they make Pisco. It was quite interesting to see a small production site like that (it's still used in the summer months to make Pisco). Then they showed us how to test the purity of the Pisco and we got to taste a few different Pisco's (made with different grapes) and their Vino Perfecto Amor ("Perfect Love", which is a lot like sherry), which is also called "the Twin Maker" after some old local story they told us (can't find it online). And then they demonstrated how to make a Pisco Sour, which is quite easy :)

After starting on the alcohol, we decided to get some beers (Cristal) to drink on the bus (honestly, I can *not* believe how much beer I drank on this trip due to lack of options ... since I never drink beer in South Africa!). Eventually, we arrived at Hostel Alegria in Nazca and then went to dinner. Tonight I tried Aji de Gallina, which is quite a bit like a curried chicken dish and I really liked it.

After dinner we went for a drink and I had "Sex on Nazca Lines" (they were all Pisco-based cocktails). It was quite strong!!

First Week Back

So, as I said before, being home means being back to crazy busy weeks :) Which is awesome ... although it does mean that the house is still covered on all the non-clothes items I unpacked on Saturday and haven't sorted thru yet. Terrible, I know.

But I have been slowly making a bit of a dent in my #365 project. In a lot of ways, it's as hard as doing the blog posts because there are so many photos to choose from for each day. But I'm up to the 12th August so far.

On Monday night I went to SCM Dinner. It was lovely to be back, especially since @clairam made a truly delish goulash! Although there was a fairly small crowd there, most of whom I'd already caught up with on Saturday evening.

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On Tuesday evening I went to @jarredcinman's for another delish dinner (yay, have not yet had to buy a single grocery since arriving home ;) ). He made us a *very* nice Vegan pasta dish (although he specially bought some feta for me!) and I took along a very nice bottle of wine. It was an awesome catch-up evening and I took my laptop along to show him the photos (his request, ordinarily I would never bore anyone with *all* of them). Had a bit of a panic attack because I hadn't been thru all my pics yet and I noticed quite a few were missing. Checked the baby-camera when I got home and they're all still on there (and this is why I *never* delete holiday photos immediately!), but hadn't copied across. Seems the battery had run out so haven't yet been able to get them safely off there. But have decided that this weekend I'm going to have to invest in a new storage drive for my photos, the laptop is just about full! I suspect it has to do with the images being so much bigger these days and the fact that I'm taking multitudes more since starting my #365. Will be good to have them all backed up somewhere too.

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And then last night I went to *finally* watch Inception, which actually opened just before I left. Couldn't believe it was still showing ... more so tho, I couldn't believe I wasn't the only person in the cinema at the 17h45 show. How annoying. It was like going to watch a normal-time movie. Pfft.

But, the movie was quite brilliant. What a fun concept. The only thing I think they did wrong was to start the movie with a scene from the end. Often it works quite well to set a movie up, but by the end I felt like it had just been a waste in this movie and entirely unnecessary. And I will admit it took a while to figure out what was going on as they only explained some things later in the movie, but I that I'm entirely okay with :) Seriously if you haven't (cause clearly I wasn't the last person in the world to go see it, as I was expecting), go and watch it.

And after the movie I popped round to my new little studio apartment. I hadn't seen it since I'd put the offer in way back in March. The old tenant had brought the keys round on Tuesday after she'd moved out and had the place cleaned. Wow, even at night I still like the place. I even had a moment of wondering if I could in fact move in there myself ... okay it would mean putting a fair amount of stuff that I bought this year into storage, it only being a studio, but it's not as tiny as I remembered it. And the garden is probably about as big as the bed-lounge area of the unit too. Sigh, but although it's not *miles* away, it's the wrong side of traffic for me and I'm not sure I could live with that! But yay, I'm glad to still be happy with my purchase :) So if anyone is looking for a little garden studio apartment to rent in Lonehill, drop me an email. I'm on the hunt for a new tenant.

And tonight I'm off to another dinner with friends :)

08 August: Lima to Pisco

Tried the Coca tea this morning, as usual I'm not a fan of tea and this isn't too different. But, apparently it has all sorts of fabulous "properties" (They really plug the Coca stuff here as being good for the altitude, not that that's a problem for us yet here at sea level :P), so I figured it was worth a try :)

We took a wander around Lima with the group this morning and met our 2 other tour-mates too. Our group has people ranging in age from 23 to 62 consisting of an American couple, The Ageing Aunt & I, our Peruvian tour-leader and 3 Aussies (1 guy, @UselessRob, & 2 girls all traveling individually).

> Follow @UselessRob on Twitter:

We started at Plaza San Martin and walked up to Plaza Mayor (the opposite walk to what The Ageing Aunt & I had done yesterday) but this time we got some explanation of what all the buildings surrounding the squares were.

The architecture in this area of Lima is really quite amazing. Such ornate building decorations & more colourful than you would believe! Plus they also seem to have those old-style enclosed wooden balconies that really reminded me of Zanzibar! View of the Government Palace and Plaza Mayor below.



We popped into the Cathedral of Lima and saw people giving confession! There was even a queue. I dunno why but, I was really keen to get a photo (Oh the fascination I feel at the whole concept of religious confession and that people actually do this!) but, I felt guilty (it being a private thing and their prerogative and all). The joke was that I could've taken a photo anyway and then just joined the end of the queue myself to ask for forgiveness - haha!

Then we went to the Convento de San Francisco. We didn't really go into this church but, instead took a tour into the Catacombs. It was really quite a cool tour, aside from the actual bones in the Catacombs which had all been removed for research and then replaced. They were all in piles in the different areas, sometimes making pattern from the variety of bones (which I thought was just plain strange honestly). The absolute best part of the tour for me was the library with masses of *ancient* books!! Just being in the room felt powerful. Sadly we couldn't take any photos at all :( :(

After that we went back to Plaza Mayor and watched a bit of the changing of the guard outside the Government Palace. There was a band playing and the guards put on quite a choreographed show! Can't quite believe they apparently go thru all this effort every day. And sadly you can't really see it all that well because it is all behind the palace gates and there is quite a bit of security ensuring you can't get anywhere near them.



Then it was time for lunch. We went to a restaurant called Tanta that is apparently owned by quite a famous Peruvian Chef. I tried another Peruvian speciality called Lomo Saltado (none of the ones I saw on the trip looked anything like that Wikipedia photo!!), which in simple terms is beef, tomato and onion stir-fry with chips and rice ... the chips are usually in the stir-fry with the rice on the side. I think the official Peruvian dish may just simply be rice with chips because just about every meal came with both and our Peruvian tour-leader was quite upset if a meal included one but not the other. Me, I'll stick with the choice of one or the other like we get back home, thanks. The amount of rice that got served but left un-eaten over the trip was huge! I don't even eat rice with my Thai or Indian curries, that's how little I like the stuff - haha. Anyway, the Lomo Saltado was quite tasty.

After lunch we caught a public bus to Pisco (the place, not the alcohol ... this time). It took about 4hrs and we eventually arrived at our hotel at 7pm. We're spending the night at Posada Hispana Hotel.

The drive to Pisco was uneventful, but I was quite surprised by the scenery. Mostly desert, quite like Namibia. And all these box-shaped houses covering sand dunes, top to bottom in some areas! Also reminded me of parts of Egypt, actually.

We had dinner at our hotel tonight - apparently there isn't much to see in Pisco since the 2007 earthquake it hasn't quite recovered yet. I will say from the little we saw driving thru the dark that it does look quite run-down.

Dinner was a "personal" (the size) pizza with ham, pineapple & *peach* (their version of a hawaiian). Was quite nice actually. And, of course, a Pisco Sour. We also had plenty of laughs at the menu: "chicken with smashed cookies" and "fish in orange sauce and honey-bees" were my favourites!

And now to bed, we've got an early morning tomorrow!