7th November 2006 - Peru, where "medio litro" means 625ml

A note about Peruvians: they need to learn not to just chuck litter everywhere. It's disgusting. They throw bottles (both glass and plastic) out of windows or on the street. No wonder there's rubbish all over the country, from the sand dunes to the jungle.

White water rafting was awesome.
We did lots of class III with one class IV, great fun for an hour and a half. David keeps on saying (repeatedly) how we should've done that before the three days.

From Arequipa we got a night bus to Nazca. It was supposed to be a super delux "Super Dorado" and we paid s/80 for it as we wanted a good night's sleep. Bloody tour operator man. He put us on a less fancy bus and on the ticket it was only s/65. So we didn't arrive in Nazca in the best of moods and then we had the fuss of trying to find a flight. Which we did.

And it was awesome!

The pilot was lovely and we saw all the famous lines, as well as some not on maps that are more obscure shapes, hard to name. It's such a mystery how they got there. We went up the viewing tower as well (you can only see two shapes not so well) and there's still no hint as to how the lines appear, or stay - even during sand storms!

The best part (for me) was getting to fly the plane, great fun! David didn't have quite a good time as, when we were about to land - he threw up. Bless.

Onwards we continued to a desert oasis. A complete picturebook oasis called Huanachina. A lake surrounded by palm trees which has developed into a small village. We had a great few days just lounging by the pool, swimming a bit and drinking real coffee and fruit juices in a lovely cafe run by an English lady.

Myself and Sancha also went evening sandboarding, it was spigging awesome! We drove around the sand dunes in a dune buggy and did some boarding, but the driving was most fun. There was a beautiful sunset as well.

Next we travelled to Trujillo and Huanchaco to explore some pre-Inca sites. Huaca del Luna (a Moche temple) had some amazing paintings that have survived 1500 years, still brightly coloured, and Chan Chan, a Chimu city that the Inca's invaded.

Then, it was onwards to the JUNGLE!

We started our journey at 12:30pm on 5th November and arrived here in Yurimaguas on 6th November at 6:00pm.
We travelled by coach, taxi, car, mototaxi and found our home on a boat.
The coach from Trujillo to Tarapoto was a moonlight drive through shadowy peaks, arriving as the sunrose in the beginnings of the Amazon basin. Amazing. Then it was a car ride (colectivo) from Tarapoto to Yurimaguas on dirt roads up the sides of mountains covered in rainforest. Great stuff!

The real adventure has begun.
We've slung our hammocks up on the boat, very comfortable. We slept on the boat for free last night.
Today at 2pm we depart for Iquitos, a town only accessible by boat or plane. Two days and two nights on the boat and then, who knows?