Mexico the final frontier

Hello All,

We have arrived in Mexico,  the last country to visit  before returning home to France.  We absolutely love it here so much, and i think this may be the first time that we really love the local food.  There is such a wonderful atmosphere here, and luckily for us it’s low season and the Mexican peso is pretty weak.  So we have decided that we are going to stay that extra week, especially since we think we can afford it now, or maybe not?

Our arrival in Mexico from Guatemala was interesting, we were told that we had to pay 20$ entrance fee into the country, and then we were stopped on the road again 2 minutes later when this group of men demanded that we pay and entrance into the national park that we did not see.  So there was lots of screaming and shouting mainly  from Aurelien and I, eventually we just paid the money so we could move on away from there.  Our first town was Palenque, small and sweet.  We stopped there to see a Maya site called Palenque.  We loved it, it was much better than Tikal, which we thought was not worth the 20$ entrance.   Palenque was just beautiful and there was still some detail left on the walls to admire.

Next we took a bus to San Cristobal de las Casas, a lovely Colonial town, i think  it’s the best one we’ve seen.  It’s full of beautiful sites, churches and cute little houses.  We loved just walking around taking pictures.  From here we went horseriding to a nearby Maya Village called San Juan Chamula.  This is a very special Maya town because it has a tradition church that you are allowed to visit.  The Maya here are Tzotzil one of the many different types of Maya.   The church floor is covered with pine needles and  there are no benches to sit on.  People just sit around, pray, breast feed, play musical instruments, light candles, burn incense and drink sodas.  They believe that if you drink soda like coke for example it will help you to get rid of evil spirits by burping.  They also rub eggs over sick peoples bodies, then break the egg into a cup so that they can read the egg to see what is wrong with the person.  They apparently use chickens for something too, and then kill them.  We didn’t see any chicken killing thankfully.  We then rode the horses back to San Cristobal, on the way we decided to do a bit of a gallop.  My horse went a bit crazy and went running on the side of the path next to the trees.  It ran to fast for me to see the low hanging branches so i managed to bang my head on a branch, it bleed a little and now I have  nasty little bruise.  So we’ve decided to give up on horse riding for awhile, our bodies are still aching from it.

Next we went took a tour to see the Canon del Sumidero.  It’s was a little pricey, but very nice to see.  We went on a boat trip for about 2 hours, the whole setting was quite grand.  We also got see some birds and crocodiles sunbathing on the side of the river.  Not exceptional, but relaxing.

We then decided that some good beach and sun was needed so we took a 12 hour bus to Puerto Escondido on the Pacific side of Mexico.  It’s lovely and quite here.  The town is a famous surfing spot, but there are also some nice places to snorkle and swim.  We stayed far from the main drag, near to a good swimming beach called Playa Carrizaillo, a perfect place for some rest.  All we did for 4 days is eat, sleep and walk to the beach.  We had a wonderful hostel with our own balcony, which we sat on every night and talked until early hours of the morning.  We should have stayed longer!!!

We then took a bus to Oaxaca, where we found the worst and the most expensive hostels in Mexico.  The town is cute with lots of arts and crafts, but thats about it.  There are some things to see around the city, but we’re stressed and tired mainly because we’re trying to stop smoking, so we may just move onto Mexico city quicker than we think.

So Mexico City is fabulous!!  So much to do and see, we just had enough time to see what we wanted to see.  It’s so grand, full of Churches, Museums, plazas, monuments and markets.  It’s quite beautiful, and not as polluted as we were expecting, but heavily populated.  We found a wonderful hotel for under 20 euros in the historical center, it was nice to be comfortable for a change.

We went to see a huge site called Teotihuacan.  Teotihuacan is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas. Apart from the pyramidal structures, Teotihuacan is also known for its large residential complexes, the so-called “Avenue of the Dead”, and numerous colorful, well-preserved murals.  It was a long hot day for us, but worth the visit.

Next we went to visit an area called Coyoacan, just outside of the center.  Wow, what a beautiful town, i think if we ever had to live in Mexico we’d live in Coyoacan.  We went there to visit the Frida kahlo museum, also know as the blue house.  Frida is a famous mexican artist, i love her work, so we had to see the house that she grew up in, and lived in for most of her life.  It was beautifully presented.  We also went to see the Leon Trotsky museum, it is also the house he lived in and was murdered in.  We were happily surprised with it, very informative and interesting.  We also visited the area next to Coyoacan, called San Angel.  San Angel is also a cute town, but we went to see the Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo.  It’s two houses joined by a bridge.  The artists lived in their own houses, and could walk along the bridge to visit each other whenever they wanted.  I think it’s the best way to survive marriage.

The one other thing we did, which i could have missed was to go see the Lucha Libre.  It’s like the stupid american WWE wrestling, it’s all a show, we decided it was a bit gay.  I mean if you going to hit someone then do it, don’t pretend.  We were rather bored, i don’t think we’ll ever do that again.

So now, we think we’ve seen enough and would like to go home.  Our flight is in a few hours.  We can’t wait to have some homely comforts again.  13 months is a very long time to sleep in hotels and hotel rooms!!!!

Kisses and hugs

pictures are here

Guatemala, rain, rain and no tourists!!

Hello all

Well firstly i’d like to mention what a crazy mission it was to get to Guatemala. We had a bus booked from the capital of Nicaragua, (Managua) which was supposed to pass through Honduras and then through El Salvador, and finally ending in Guatemala City. Well this did not happen as we planned, because when we got to the bas station at 4 in the morning they told us that all the borders into Honduras are closed due to Political problems in the country at the moment. So that left us with only one option, unless we wanted to wait for a few days to see if things would get better in Honduras. So we took a taxi to the airport, and purchased a very expensive ticked to Guatemala City, as i said we didn’t really have any options.

But we got here in one piece, and left immediately for Antigua. Antigua is a lovely little town full of nice hotels and restaurants that we can afford. But it’s a nice place to visit for a couple of days. It is also a world heritage site and used to be the capital of Guatemala at one stage. It’s full of multicoloured little houses, and it’s surrounded by 3 volcanos in the distance. We went on a tour from there to climb the Volcan Pacaya. The volcano is active and has constant lava running down the sides. It does not erupt so it’s safe to climb and look at the lava up close. Apparently there have been some accidents, but i don’t see why because the guides are aware of where the lava is flowing down, and where to walk. So as long as you stick with your group there is no danger. It was a very worthwhile experience, it was incredible to be able to get that close to lava!! Aurelien said that it’s one of his favorite activities that we have done this year.

Next we took a shuttle to the Lago Atitlan, one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, it is absolutely breathtaking. We stayed at a small village the first night called San Marcos La Laguna. It’s the place to go to relax, there’s massages, saunas, yoga, lots of spiritual healing centers, and lots of good healthy food. We went for a yoga class first thing in the morning, which was Aurelien’s first ever. He liked it but said that 2 and a half hours was a bit long for him and it was hard work. After that we took another boat to another village called San Pedro. This village is bigger with some more activities to do, hiking, horseriding, cannoeing, etc. We did a 2 hour on horseback ride, to see some great views of the lake, coffee fields, and a beach.  I loved it, we were allowed to go as fast as we wanted.  That’s the great thing about Guatemala, activities are not dulled down with rules, there is so much more freedom.

Later that day we took a boat to Santiago Atitlan, it is popular because the locals are all in traditional dress, and it is a real treat to go visit Maximon!!   Maximon is supposed to be a combination of Maya gods, Pedro de Alvarado (the Spanish conquistador of Guatemala), and the biblical Judas.  He often looks different, but the one here in Santiago is a wooden figure draped in colorful silk scarves and smoking a cigarette.  He spends a year at different houses all over the town.  People come to visit him, and offer gifts.  The whole ceremony was odd, but interesting.

Next week took a shuttle from Panajachel, through Antigua into Guatemala City.  Guatemala City reminds me alot of Johannesburg.  There’s shopping mall after shopping mall, electric fencing, high walls, basically you’d expect from the most dangerous city in the world.  We took an overnight bus from there to Flores.  Well Flores is cute, but not much to do there, so we took a mini bus to El Remate which is by a beautiful lake, very good for swimming.  The real reason to visit here is to see the famous Maya site called Tikal.  Tikal is is a beautiful forest, which you have to walk through to see all the sites.  It’s nice, we weren’t that impressed, especially because it costs 20$ to get in.  Well lets just say it’s no Angkor Wat!!

So now we’ll be moving on to Mexico, for our last 12 days.  We’ve decided to come home a week early, because the stupid plane ticket we bought to Guatemala has ruined our budget and we don’t have enough money for the last week.  Oh well, it’s been good, we’re tired maybe it would be nice to have some homely comforts again.

Kisses and hugs

Photos here

Chao Costa Rica , Ola Nicaragua pobre

Salut a tous ,

Nous avons fait une petite halte plus que rapide au Costa rica.Arrives a San jose la capitale, de laquelle nous partons le jour suivant pour Tortuguero vue que la capitale a vraiment rien de spéciale! Après un peu de bus , un peu de bateau nous arrivons a destination. L unique raison de notre visite eclaire sont les tortues! Nous arrivons dans ce petit village très touristique , joli mais rien de spécial! Nous admirons les tortues immenses , de 2 mètres environs pondrent a une vitesse vertigineuse quelques 200 œufs sur la plage. bref cette petite escape de deux heures nous aura quand même coûte 25 dollars chacun! Un très bon bizz a mon avis!

Bref nous retournons a San jose , direction Isla de ometepe au Nica. Changement radical de decor ! Je voulais venir ici depuis le debut de notre voyage! Quelques explications quand meme , l ile est au milieu d un lac de 276 km2. Elle est composee de deux superbes volcans de chaques cotes de l ile verdoyante , un decor magnifique!! Trop fatigues pour escalader un des volcans, nous nous contenterons de marcher au alantour , d admirer les nombreux oiseaux exotiques , une faune et flore execptionelles et de nous balancer sur nos hammock. A peine arrive au Nica , je peux deja dire que c est un pays aux atouts multiples , les gens sont tres sympatiques , les paysages meme ressemblant sont d une beautés extraordinaires. C est un peu le laos de l amerique centrale. Le tourisme est plus que sous développé, ce qui n est pas une mauvaise chose pour nous. Nous sentons également que les gens sont pauvres ici bcp plus que le costa rica. La femme de menage nous raconte qu elle gagne 20 dollars par semaine en travaillant 11 heures par jours , 6j/7 quand la chambre double nous coute 14 euros. C est un peu comme chez donc , tout pour le pratron rien pour les autres!!

Nous nous dirigeons vers Granada , une petite ville connue pour son architecture coloniale bien conservée. Rien de bien sprecial a notre gout! Nous decidons de couper court et de partir pour Managua , la capital! Nous prenons donc un chicken bus. Les chicken bus sont des bus ou tout peut etre transporter, des valises aux poulets en passant par des emormes valises ou meubles.. bref se que l on veut.

Managua est une ville ayant tres peu d interet , est assez dangeureuse! Nous nous sommes donc sentis pas tres rassures.  Nous achetons un ticket de bus comme  prevue  pour le lendemain matin  5.00  pour Guatemala City. Un bus que nous ne prendrons jamais !!!!!!!!!!!!

Pictures are here

Panama

Hola Old folks!

Nous avons traverse des frontières en bus, a pied, en taxi mais encore jamais en bateau. Nous partons donc de Cartagena pour un trip de 5 jours sur un Yacht avec 8 autres personnes, plus 2 crews. Voici le programme 5 jours de navigation pour rejoindre  les  îles San Blas au panama , puis rester sur place les jours restants!!! Bref le programme semble sans faille, c est parti pour le Paradis! Nous nous retrouvons avec pas un  deux ou quatre mais 8 australiens! J ai rien contre!! pour l instant!  Les centaines de canettes de bières chargées a bord pour ne pas mourrir de soif (ils pensent a tout ces gens la)!! Surtout  a boire en faite.  Les 2 premiers jours se passe plutôt bien, même si tout le monde a le mal de mer! comme de vrai marin nous prenons des tours de garde a l avant du bateau la nuit afin d éviter tout accident.. Nous arrivons aux San blas le matin après 1 jour et demi de traversée. le temps est nuageux mais nous pouvons déjà admirer le décor magnifique qui s offre a nous. Nous passons la journée a nous baigner autour des atoles , palmiers et sable blanc. Le deuxième jour, nous nous rendons sur une île un peu plus grande ou vive une famille d indigènes, les kunas. La discussion se limitera a pescado..  étant donne qu ils parlent a peine espagnol! Nous mangeons donc , crabes et poissons tout les jours! Les jours passent , vite très vite et nous arrivons deja au dernier jour ou nous resterons a Porvenir , un village au milieu de l eau. C est de la que nous sommes parti pour rejoindre la terre ferme afin de nous rendre a Panama city. Ce trip a été exceptionnels malgré les cons avec qui nous étions ou la seule discussion furent drogues et alchool et ….. rien d autre!!

Les photos sont ici

Après 45 minutes de bateau , deux heures de jeep a travers la jungle et 2 contrôles de police, nous arrivons a Panama City. Nous restons dans le Quartier de Casco Vejo. A moitié restaure ce petit quartier a bien du charme et sommes bien évidement aller voir le Canal de Panama. Des gros bateaux passant a travers un petit canal!

Nous partons demain , destination Costa Rica!

A bientôt.

Colombia- the risk is FARC and not wanting to leave!!!!

Hello all

So Colombia!!!!  Well it is a magically beautiful country, we’ve only been here for 4 days, we’re still in the South and the landscapes are magnificent.  We got over the boarder from Ecuador pretty easy, (no searches for drugs in our bags).

We firstly spent the night in Ipiales, which is a pretty standard unattractive boarder town, except for the most beautiful church in the most attractive setting.  It’s called the Santuario de las Lajas, where apparently there was a sighting of the Virgin Mary many years ago, so they built a church there.  Pilgrims from all over Colombia and Latin America come here to see it.  Aurelien gets a bit freaked out with all the Catholics, but the church is very special none the less.

Next we took a bus to Popayan, a beautiful old town, which has been preserved with elegant taste.  Everything is white washed, there are many churches, bridges and museums.  It’s good for a day or two.  The hostel we stayed in was nice, except for the freaky old lady, who pulls chairs from under your feet, and watches you every move, we felt terribly unwelcome.

We then took an early bus to San Agustin, which was an adventure in itself.  We got stoped in a roadblock, by the FARC.  The FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army).is a self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninist revolutionary guerrilla organization.  They are considered as a terrorist group by the Colombian Goverment, and the rest of the world.  We are not sure of what they want, but as far as we understand they tax coca farmers for use of the lands that the FARC have total control of, by doing this they ears millions of dollars.  They control as much as 30 to 40 percent of Colombia, all jungle regions, where they hide out.  30 to 40 percent are women, which is amazing, and somehow made us feel a little calmer.  They also made millions of dollars by kidnaping Colombian businessmen, and other important people.

So they stoped our bus, got us to get off the bus, and listen to a talk, about their ideas and reasons for fighting against the government.  They were very polite and gentle, well as polite as you can be when holding huge guns.  They didn’t mean to scare us, which they DID, i think they’re looking for support from the people, so i guess they just wanted to talk and be heard.  After that they let us go, and about 10km later we got to a millitary check point, where the driver of the bus informed them of FARC presence.  The millitary then uncovered their machine guns, got into their tanks and went to go look for the FARC.  It was a terrifying experience for me, Aurelien was quite calm.  So many things could have gone wrong, we could have been robbed or kidnaped, but it didn’t!!!  It was an extremely strange experience, which never happens to tourists.  SO i don’t know if we are fortunate or unfortunate to have met them.

After that horrid experience, we got to San Agustin which is a nice small town, and we stayed at a French hostel called Casa Francois.  It was the most perfect place to relax.  So we did nothing for 4 days, except for lying around in hammocks and reading books.  We did manage to go see the Parc Arqueologico, which was interesting, and we did plan to go horseriding to see more of the sights, but we were far to lazy to get off our hammocks.

San Agustin houses pre-Columbian archaeological sites, these sites form a  UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The largest group of religious monuments and megalithic sculptures in South America stands in a wild, spectacular landscape. Gods and mythical animals are skilfully represented in styles ranging from abstract to realist. These works of art display the creativity and imagination of a northern Andean culture that flourished from the 1st to the 8th century.

Next Bogota, well not an entirely safe city, but the Candelaria area is totally safe during the day, due to the amount of millitary.  We didn’t spend much time here, but we did get to see the famous Museo del Oro and the Museo Historico Policia, where they have a interesting display of Pablo Escobar memoribilia.  Unfortunately the Emerald traders market was closed, i really wanted to see that.

Anyway we got on the bus again to see a town called San Gil.  San Gil is an excellent place for adventure sports, and it’s cheap!!  So we went rafting on the river Fonce, (it was my first time!), with a crazy Colombian family, who made the trip much more fun.     We also visited a nearby town called Barichara, which is so worth a visit, it is quiet, small and so beautifully quaint.  Just like a postcard.  We did a short walk to the next town called Guane, which was even smaller and sleepier. So nice!!

Next we went to Santa Marta on the Carribean coast.  We were hoping to do a 6 day trek into the jungle to a pre-Colombian site called Cuidad Perdida, but it was way too expensive!!  Santa Marta is pretty ugly, but we moved to a nearby fishing village called Taganga, which was much nicer.  Aurelien did his Padi openwater certification(scuba diving) here, because it’s rediculasly cheap, only 170Euros!!!  I tried, but unfortunately had some problems with one of my ears  .  It is incredibly hot here on the Carribean coast, about 34degress and humidity is pretty high, so it really helped to have a swimming pool at our hostel   The people here on the Carribean coast are darker, louder and drink alot, even drinking shots while lying in the sea, they are very different from the people on the high lands that have more money.  It’s it’s all so merry and harmless, loud music and people dancing on tables.  I like it!!

We also went up 600m (45min) from Santa Marta to a small town called Minca.  It’s lush, cool and filled with finca’s (small farms), that produce coffee.  There was not much to do here, except for short walks, but it was so nice to get out of the suffocating heat for a day.

So next we had a bit of a disagreement on where to go next, this is the first time it’s happened in a year.  Aurelien wanted to go see the Wayuu People, and i wanted to go to Cartagena for my birthday.  SO we went to Cartagena, and it’s they first time we had to sleep in a dormitory in almost a year, so that was crappy!!  Cartagena is an amazingly beautiful city, it’s colonial and so colourful and full of the regular Caribe people.  The whole city is surrounded by a wall, which is pretty fun to climb on.  So my birthday was ok, we spent most of the afternoon looking for flip flops for Aurelien, because his were stolen, and he couldn’t possibly wear my crocks anymore.  In the evening we went for dinner and wine, and that’s about it.

Next we went to Mompox, a very sleepy town by the Magdalena river.   It took us all day to get there, firstly a bus, then a boat and then a taxi.  So beautifully looked after,  you still get the feeling of what it was like in the old colonial days, when the city was thriving.  Howler monkeys still swing from the trees, but there’s little or no traffic on the river.  The people spend the evenings sitting on rocking chairs outside their houses.  Mompox is know for their Mompoxino rocking chairs, they are famous throught Colombia.  They are also famous for filligree jewelery, which is all made by hand.  Mompox is also the setting for Gael Garcia Marquez wonderful book “A hundred years of Solitude”, which is very easy to imagine.  We didn’t do much here, as the heat was suffocating.  Walking around the town was entertaining enough.

Then it was back to Cartagena, so that we could go to Playa Blanca for a few days.  Playa Blanca is on a Island called Isla Baru, which is close to the Islas del Rosario (27 small coral islands), very close to Cartagena.  Playa Blanca is that dream paradise island that you always hope to find.  It is totally rustic, no running fresh water, that means no shower!!  All the locals are basically squatters on the beach.  There are a few simple restaurants, and lots of hammocks to sleep in.  We stayed at Campamento Wittenburg, which has a french owner who has lived on the beach for many years now.  We slept  in hammocks in front of the sea, it was a wonderful experience.

Then it was back to Cartagena to visit the Volcan de Lodo el Totumo, a really “different ” experience.  You get to bath in a volcano full of mud!!  Aurelien hated it and didn’t stay long, i thought is was fun.

So we are now waiting for our boat to Panama, we met our captain last night and he seems to be sane.  So we leave tomorrow, it’s a 5 day, 5 night voyage, via the San Blas islands.  Should be good!!

Kisses and hugs

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army

Hola Equateur

Salut a tous , encore une fois la difference entre deux pays est flagrantes!! D un cote le nord du peru , un guetto qui me fait penser a l Inde et de l autre , des montagnes verdoyantes, une proprete made in Switzerland! Nous voici en equateur. Pour la premiere fois a la douane une viste medicale improvisee est obligatoire du cote de l equateur pour la detection du moindre signe de gripe H1N1. Nous passons le test avec mention et nous voici donc en route pour Cuenca.

Cuenca , ville au patrimoine de l UNESCO situee a 2500 metres d altitude. Tres jolie ville borde de batiments coloniaux espagnoles agreable a vistiter pour quelques jours. Nous avons bien evidament achete un chapeau traditionel Monte cristo !!! a la demande d hilda.

Nous partons deux jours plus tard pour banos haut lieu touristique ecuatorien. C est la deuxieme fois que nous pensions mourir lors du trajet. 5 heures de bus de nuit au programme, nous arrivons 1heure et demie avant l horaire, entier a 4 heures du matin sous la pluie apres un rally de quelques heures. La petite ville de banos entouree de montagnes verdoyantes et d un volcan qui il y a quelques annees a connu une eruption qui forca les habitants a partir pour queques mois pour des raisons de securites. Nous decidons de louer des velos , pour un petit trip de 60 km majoriterement de la descente afin de visiter les environs! Nous nous arreterons apres 35 KM a la demande d hilda un peu fatiguee, et surtout a cause de la pluie qui s abat sur nous. Apres deux jours assez relax nous partons pour la capitale Quito.

Nous choisissons le quartier historique, moins tourisitique, plus joli, moins dangereux, plus authentique. Nous arrivons un dimanche.. Grosse erreur!!! Tout est ferme. Nous nous contenterons de 2 chorros en guise de repas. Le centre historique avec quelques 27 eglises en fait un quartier magnifique!! Nous realisons que meme en semaine les resto ferme tres tot, vers 8 heures ca sera donc 2 empanadas pour le repas du soir!!! Meme le matin apres 10 heures plus de dejeuner…..

Nous partons demain pour la Colombie. Ca parrait un peu dangereux, mais d apres nos lectures beaucoup moins que le peru par exemple tant que nous restons dans les endroits touristiques et que nous nous promenons pas n importe ou a n importe quelle heure!

Que te vaya bien!!!

Pictures are here

Hola Peru

Hello All

So Peru has been a total mess up so far, the people here can be so nice and helpful, and others are such barstards.  Anyway that’s how it goes in countries with a high tourism rate, where the people are poor and look at you like you’re a dollar bill!!  Getting kinda sick of the game, we’re definately seen the most tourists in S.America, here in Peru.  We’re hoping that after Peru things will quieten down again, and things won’t seem like such a battle.  Exhaustion is setting in, and i think we’re going to need a break soon.

So we’ve been here for 5 days now, we took a bus from Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian side to Cuzco.  Cuzco is a very nice city, it’s really beautiful.  But it’s only good for a few days, because it’s expensive, there are way too many tourists, and there’s a million people trying to sell you something, nearly every 2 minutes.  So you can stay here only as long as you can handle all of the chaos.

We planned a trip to the Machu Picchu, which was supposed to be a 2 day, 1 night thing.  Stupidly we decided to use a travel agency, which was a huge mistake.  What shitty people, we gave them alot of money to plan the trip, which included entrance tickets, bus and train tickets and a hotel.  Well, we had to wait 4 hours for the 1st train, the hotel forgot to pick us up at the station, and the 2nd train ticket wasn’t organised, and we had to buy tickets ourselves, and had to leave a day later than planned, and had to sleep in the shitty expensive town, called Agua Calientes.  We were so tired and stressed, everything was a disaster.  But we did however get to see the Machu Picchu, we had to wake up at 4.30am to walk up the mountain to see it.  Those damn Inca people love building things on top of mountains, with hundreds of stairs.  Anyway, it was really a very special place, we were wondering why people spend so much money and effort to see it, but we finally understand why, it really is something different.  Aurelien insists that it is only beautiful because of the huge mountains around it, the scenery is breathtaking, but i have to agree, that the ruines are not enough to make is special.  We also managed a trip to see 2 sites in the sacred valley, which were interesting, but the Machu Picchu was definitely more glorious.

So we are back here in Cuzco, waiting for our bus tonight to Nazca.  We have gotten some money back from the crappy agency, that ruined our trip, thanks  to IPeru, the tourist assistance office, who fought for our rights, and got the acency to accept they were wrong, and compensate us, for our stress and frustration, and anger.  (Aurelien threatened to bomb the agency!!)  I hope we can laugh about this soon.

Next we took a 14 hour bus to Nazca to see the famous, and very strange Nazca lines.  We had to book a 35 minute flight in a small plane for 6 people, we were both very excited, as it was Aurelien’s first time in a small plane, and i got to sit next to the pilot.  The flight was great, the lines were interesting and more visible that we thought they would be.  No-one really knows who made them or why It took a very long time to make them.

Next we took a bus to Lima, and a hour later took another bus to Chiclayo, and straight after that we took another bus to Puira, and then another to Loja in Ecuador.  That was a grand total of 30 hours and 4 buses.  We are starting to feel like we’re on an episode of the amazing race!!!  We are now in Cuenca, in Ecuador, and enjoying a day’s rest before moving on again.

Kisses and hugs

Pictures are here