Week 13 - Mancora

This week we set off to the sunny north of Peru, heading for Mancora, a town known best for its fantastic waves for those surfers and kite surfers. Here is what happened:

Day 1 Monday- It was a sunny day when we awoke and so we spent a lot of time basking in the sun outside, although by midday it was too hot and we had to vacate our grassy patch for lunch. We booked our tickets for Mancora for Tuesday afternoon and as we were saving money spent most of the day relaxing.

When evening came around we accompanied Johns grandparents and some of his relatives to a local church as it was a special day in rememberence of those family members who had died.

Day 2 Tuesday - We brought a whole bag of food from the local supermarket and then packed our bag and headed to the bus station for our afternoon bus up to Mancora. We went cama which has more spacious seats than usual for the comfort on a 18hour journey.

Day 3 Wednesday- We arrived in Mancora at approximately 10AM and hoped onto a tuktuk taxi to our hotel which we learnt was actually only a 2 minute walk down the road. Our hotel was not quite as we had expected, cold salt water showers did not exactly make us feel clean and the pool was nice and cloudy with no way out as the stairs were broken (john learnt this after he jumped in). However it was the cheapest hotel on the street so we were happy with our £5 per night deal.

After we had settled we headed to the best beach in Mancora called Los Pocitas. It was a lovely clean deserted beach however there was a lot of wind and no where for John to swim as there were many rocks. However the rock pools were warm and so you could sit and relax in one of these natural hot tubs (as long as you found one without any fish). We drew some pictures in the sand and brought an ice cream and after that decided to head back to our hotel to try out the beach in front of it. This beach was Mancora's main beach and really is only for surfers as the waves were too large to swim in. However we still managed to sunbathe a little.

Later in the day we spent some time in the cloudy one way in, no way out  pool which we were certain would dissolve our swimwear.

For our evening meal we went to a resturant on the main strip right by our hotel run by an elderly couple who were ever so sweet. It is so cheap here and being right on the seaside all the dishes were fish based so ceviche for starter and fish and rice and salad for main with fresh lemonade all for 8 soles = £2!

Day 4 Thursday- Today we decided that bathing beside the pool for the majority of the day was our best option as we had begun to get sick of removing sand from our towels and clothes. We had the pool pretty much to ourselves which was nice, but only because most people were put off by its cloudiness. We met a nice english couple who we arranged to meet later that evening with a couple of their friends also.

For lunch we went back to the main street for another meal deal along the coast with a cool beer to wash it down with. We then returned to the poolside for some more tanning.

After dinner of Burritos at a cute take away place, we headed out for a few beers on the beach and met a man named Jon (without an H) who told us about his work as a film set designer in New Zealend. He had apparently worked on The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings etc. It all sounded amazing. After a few beers we went back to our hotel room to meet the guys we had seen earlier that day and spent a few more hours out with them sipping cocktails and downing beers on the seafront. We ended up back in our room late that night.

Day 5 Friday - We slept in until check out came around as we were a little fragile from the previous night. We had all swapped facebooks and so hopefully we were to meet up with one couple again back in Lima. We packed up and headed out for lunch again grabbing a bargain meal deal. We then mooched around the local arts and crafts market. After we searched for our bus stop and waited for our returning bus to Lima (altough it was 2 hours later than we had originally thought :().

Day 6 Saturday - There was a lot of traffic when entering back into lima which made our journey another 2 hours longer! UGh. When we finally returned noone was in the house but the chocolates from Johns mum had arrived! There is no greater chocolate than cadburys so the afternoon was spent relaxing and munching on junk food.

Day 7 Sunday - Today John was under the weather....we fear it is food poisoning from either the bus food or one of the seafood dishes from Mancora, either way Johns grandparents and I are nursing him back to life...he will be soon his normal self.

Vicky and John

Week 12 Paracas and AAVAP Charity

So this week we spent the first three days in Paracas a lovely seaside town south of Lima very close to Ica, Pisco and Nazca. In fact you can see the town of Pisco from Paracas and you could even walk there if you wanted. We also spent Sunday with homeless doggys for AAVAP Charity. So here is the breakdown of our twelvth week in Peru:

Day 1 Monday- We got the bus to Paracas today; a mere 4 hours so really nothing in comparison to our previous monster journeys. When we arrived in Paracas the bus stop was nothing but a hut so not your typical station. We realised soon that Paracas is a very small town where everything was in walking distance and being by the sea there was sand everywhere, it was nice. We walked 600m down the road to our hostel 'The Backpackers Hostel', although every other hostel was similarily named, so could have been confusing had we not received previous instruction from the owner, Alberto. Alberto was a older gentlemen, fluent in English and very friendly. After we had settled into our very very basic room (but it was cheap) Alberto showed us where the best places are to go eat in Paracas. We then booked with him our excursions to the Ballestas Islas and National Reserve for the following day.

We made our dinner that night, pasta n' sauce, and then made our rolls for the following days lunch. Early night as early start.

Day 2 Tuesday -  Up nice and early today to visit the Ballestas Islands (Spanish for Crossbow Islands). We went by speed boat which was fun but pretty darn chilly due to the wind. On the way we stopped briefly to see the Candlebra. These are lines in a sand dune thought to be made by the Nazca people and have remianed in tact as the wind only blows on the opposite side of the dune and it never rains in that place either. Some say it looks more like a cactus which personally I would agree with, and apprently they used to eat cactus or drink it too at that time and so it really makes more sense. After this we carried on to the islands which inhabited thousands of species of birds including pelicans, peruvian boobys and penguins! We also saw many sea lions which were lazing about in the sun. The only down side to the island was the smell, with that many animals I guess it can be expected there be a lot of excrement.

We returned to shore at 10 and had a quick rest as at 11 we were off to our second booked excursion to the National Reserve of Paracas. This is a vast desert area home to 8 different habitats and many beaches. We first visited a museum which told us about the Paracas Boom in 19th century where the excrement of guano birds created 80% of the countrys income as it was craved by England and France for its use as fertilizer. We then visited many beaches including the Playa Roja, a beach with red sand! We also saw the Cathedral; a rock formation off the coast, however only half remains as half fell down in the 2007 earthquake.

We ate out in the evening enjoying a seafood rice dish and mussels with a yummy salsa on top.

Day 3 Wednesday - In the morning we visited the mini arts market in Paracas. Only a few stalls however but John managed to get a few gifts including Tejas for his mum. Yummy!

We got the bus back to Lima this afternoon, however we had two annoying French women in front of us so the journey was not as pleasent as the first one.

Day 4 Thursday - We went for Lunch today with some of Johns family friends or relatives....we are still unsure. It was very tasty!!

We spent the afternoon organising our trip to Mancora next week. Mancora is known for its fantastic beaches being right next to Equador!

Day 5 Friday - This morning we visited the Museo de la Nacion in Lima. It was free entry surprisingly, as it was such a grand place. We saw a lot of artistic artifacts from Peru ranging from the Pre-Colonial period (where pots and clay statues of figures were used to honour the Pre-Colonial gods) through to the Post-Colonial period where you saw the influence of the Spanish, Flemish and Italians in their artworks (where religious paintings were the main focal point). Personaly my favourite was Post Colonial where many artists stepped away from traditional religous art and begun to paint anonymous images on the famous backdrops of peru e.g Amazonian fauna and the Andeas mountain range.

In the afternoon we made pancakes or panqueques for Johns grandparents, although they preferred to smother them with manjar blanco (very sweet condensed milk) rather than the traditional lemon and sugar John and I are used to.

In the evening we went with Jose, Sebastian and Luciana to a pub in Barranco. We drank beer and played games and even got our photo on the wall (we were the only ones in there). We then went to try apparently the worlds best french fries, however nothing can compare to English fish and chips in my opinion.

Day 6 Saturday - As we returned late the previous night we had a little sleep in in the morning. We then headed to the supermarket to buy our packed lunch for the following day as we were going to AAVAP dog charity all day and would need food to take with us.

In the evening we went to Johns cousins 13th birthday party at his house on the outskirts of the city. They have a beatuful fluffy Samoyed Husky dog. She was called Luna and so friendly. We did spend a lot of the evening however trying to work out whom was related to whom.

Day 7 Sunday- Today we were up nice and early to go visit the dog shelter with AAVAP; a charity organistion run by Univeristy del Pacifico. We all met at the university and then hopped onto a bus and headed out of Lima to Callao where the shelter is held. We got off and immediately herd the barking of many dogs. We got given some rope to create a collar and lead from, and chose our dog from a selection they had out for us. It was difficult to catch some and some really did not want there collar on them! Once we had our dogs we went out for a walk down the beach in the sand dunes. It was a lot more nakering than we thought although my dog powered through, Johns kept taking breaks to roll over for a tickle. Being untrained, occasionally a dog would get loose and you would see its walker run past after it. We never lost one however because we were there pack so I doubt they would have run very far. We each carried water bottles and containers as well so we could give the dogs water at each rest point.

When we got back we were given a tour of the shelter where we met more animals like Alan the Ostrich who ate corn out of our hands. Soon we learnt all the animals brought in were badly treated in the past. We also learnt often when the dogs are not found for the shelter the government takes them away and kills them. Very sad. The government also does not help with these such charitys and there are no laws against animal cruelty in Peru and so they have very little money and the dogs live off rice most of the time. We decided that when we return to England with the information of AAVAP we would try do some fundraising for the charity, as most of the shelters' money comes out of the owners own pocket so they still lack the basics like enough food and care for the animals.

We returned home to shower as we were filthy and rest for the evening as we were exhausted!

Miss you guys

Vicky and John

Week 11 - Halloween in Lima

So this is our eleventh week in South America. It is just flying by....there are only 7 weeks left in Peru!

Here is what happened this week:

Day 1 Monday - Since Halloween crept up on us quickly we took a trip into Miraflores in Lima to try and find some sort of half decent outfit to be seen in. We searched some of the fancy dress stores and in the end settled on the idea of going as zombies. We both had white t'shirts we no longer needed that we could distress and brought some face paints for our faces.
   Later on we went back to the markets in Lima to search for more gifts for you lot! We spent most of the time searching for a very very very specific jumper for Johns mum which was unsuccessful.
   In the afternoon we went down to the beach front in San Isidro for a pleasent walk. When we returned back to the house we went straight out again for Anticucchos at apparently Lima's best resturant, serving only antichuchos and choclo....therefore I only ate choclo....John was very happy (he still claims his Nannys is better).

Day 2 Tuesday - In the morning we took a local bus to the center of Lima to visit the main plaza. We ended up at Plaza San Martin the next plaza. The two plazas however are joined by a walkway full of shops much like Avenida Florida in Buenos Aires (but with less people shouting cambio every five seconds). Once we finally arrived in the main plaza we visited the Cathedral. Very grand and inside lay the bodies of many important religious figures, including that of Pizarro the Spanish founder of Lima. We were given an english leaflet which had details of each section of the cathedral, however it was so poorely translated we could make neither head nor tail of it so our knowledge is nonethewiser.
    After lunch we spent the afternoon distressing our clothes with rocks and using a mix of kethcup and nesquick to make our fake blood stains.

Day 3 Wednesday -  We woke up to the sun shining through the fog so we thought we best make the most of it and headed to a local plaza to do a bit of sunbathing! After we were nice and toasty we came back to cook lunch for Johns grandparents...'in a bag' chicken so fairly easy recipe so really we just chopped the veges up and chucked everything together. After lunch we started to get ready for the Halloween fiesta including using up our 'Superior Ron' rum from a few weeks back (:S). We had no white paint so used talcom powder and suncream to make one... gave a creepy effect because it did made our skin look pretty dead with it flakin off our faces! We met our friend Jose and went to another Jose's house for the party. Along the way to the house party we realised that people didnt make as much of an effort if at all of dressing up and for one night we ended up being famous, cars stopped to take our photo and even kids parent hid there eyes so as not to look at us....must have been pretty scary haha. At the fiesta there were lots of sweet and lots of alcohol and even more dancing! It was a great night and we ended up home at 5am!

Day 4 Thursday - Day spent in bed nursing hangovers!

Day 5 Friday - In the morning I went with Johns Nan and got my nails done again for 2.50! After this we met Johns Tio Tito and went to the center of Lima to a certain street where they sell nothing but musical instruments! Johns Tio is very good at bargaining and I managed to get myself a present for my brother and John got his xmas gift of a guitar...which he is now obsessed with and wont stop playing (he even talks to it).
   In the evening we went to Johns Aunties house, Tio Titos daughter, for a BBQ where we met alot of family, with a lot of names! It was a fun evening and we practiced our espanol alot!!

Day 6 Saturday - Today we spent the majority of the day hoping for wind as these are the conditions we needed for paragliding...however it never came so this adventure is for another day.

Day 7 Sunday - At midday we went to the zoo to see the the animals with Johns nan. We saw hippo's, tigers, lions, wombats, birds, monkeys etc. It was a lovely day however the only thing that ruined it were the vast amount of children. I propose there should be a day for children and a day for adults! We went for Chinese lunch again!! After this we brought some limons and made homemade lemonade...Yum.
   Later on we packed for our trip to Paracas on Monday!!

Miss you all
Vicky and John