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Swakopmund, Namibia – Day 88 – Crossing the border to South Africa

We woke up early and caught the sunrise which was beautiful and turned the river orange maybe that is why its got its name?! Today was a long drive to Citrusdaal. We crossed the border at around 7am when we drove over the Orange River bridge and got our visa. We stopped over briefly at Springbok for a quick internet fix (the first for many days!) and then it was back to the truck. This journey seemed really boring, but the scenery was fascinating and the mountain passes were incredible. We arrived at the hot springs just before sunset. The valley is beautiful with vineyards at the bottom and scattered jacaranda trees. It reminded us of an alpine valley. The camp was within the trees and the facilities were quite basic. All water was hot (hence the hot springs) and the bar was a hike up the hill but worth the hike! We enjoyed some local red wine and rolled into bed quite late for us!

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15 Nov 2005

Swakopmund, Namibia – Day 87 – Sam’s 21st and we are in the desert

Another early start to make our way to the Orange River. It was Sam’s 21st Birthday and we were keen to make a phone call but being in the middle of the desert made it difficult. We ended up driving round various establishments for an hour, before successfully finding a card phone, and someone who sold the cards that worked in that phone! Sharon called her, but was cut off after just a few minutes, so we bought another one!!

Meanwhile our fellow truckers were enjoying the coffee and toilet facilities at the holiday resort! We then drove to the Namib/South African border for lunchtime. We decided to have one final upgrade as the bungalows were gorgeous and great value for money. Whilst others battled the river (and the wind) on a canoe the rest of us chilled out in front of our cabins on the banks of the river. We then all got together for one final group photo and enjoyed a meal of Braaied Lamb, mash, squash and gravy.

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14 Nov 2005

Swakopmund, Namibia – Day 86 – Fish River Canyon, 2nd largest in the world

The long drive to Fish River Canyon through the Namib desert seemed to take forever. That morning we had to put our tents down quickly as a sand storm had whipped up through the night. Kathy woke up covered in red sand from head to toe it was very fine sand and had been blown in through the roof ventilation mesh. All in all it took just 40 mins to drop the tents, have breakfast and get going. Admittedly the washing up was not done that morning but it would have been a waste of time as they would have ended up being covered in sand! After the long and boring journey through endless rock, we put up our tents and drove out to the canyon. Some of the group walked around 2km along the rim of the canyon, which was tough terrain underfoot, and round to the main view point. We were was a bit disappointed by the sunset think sunrise would have been better! But Fred enjoyed his sundowners none the less.

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14 Nov 2005

Swakopmund, Namibia – Day 86 – Fish River Canyon, 2nd largest in the world

The long drive to Fish River Canyon through the Namib desert seemed to take forever. That morning we had to put our tents down quickly as a sand storm had whipped up through the night. Kathy woke up covered in red sand from head to toe it was very fine sand and had been blown in through the roof ventilation mesh. All in all it took just 40 mins to drop the tents, have breakfast and get going. Admittedly the washing up was not done that morning but it would have been a waste of time as they would have ended up being covered in sand! After the long and boring journey through endless rock, we put up our tents and drove out to the canyon. Some of the group walked around 2km along the rim of the canyon, which was tough terrain underfoot, and round to the main view point. We were was a bit disappointed by the sunset think sunrise would have been better! But Fred enjoyed his sundowners none the less.

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13 Nov 2005

Swakopmund, Namibia – Day 85 – Sossusvlei and the Namib Desert

What an early start, we woke up at 4.15 to drive all the way to Dune 45, and be there before sunrise. The most of the group attempted the climb up the huge sand dune. We both stayed at the bottom, taking lots of photos and enjoying the changing colours from black to red then orange. We all had a big fry up breakfast at the foot of the dune at around 7.30am and then drove out to Sossusvlei and Deadvlei. Four of us took the 4×4 shuttle whilst the rest of the truck went on a desert walk.

Back at camp, we chilled out all afternoon and went to bed early, exhausted!

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12 Nov 2005

Swakopmund, Namibia – Day 84 – Leaving Swakop and the coast

Today was our last day in Swakop, we enjoyed a lie in on our beds in our cute bugalows, then went into town to have a full English breakfast at Roxys. After a spot of provision shopping we called home as it was Mums birthday (sorry it was so early!) and then met the truck to drive to Walvis Bay where we had lunch by the ocean and all the birds (flamingos and pelicans mostly). We then drove the 300km to Sesriem restcamp and set up camp.

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11 Nov 2005

Swakopmund, Namibia – Day 83 – Fly like a bird…

Well today’s events were eclipsed by this afternoon’s tandem skydive. It’s something I’ve been planning to do for a while but wasnt sure I could do it because of my hip. The team were great – took it in their stride and Simon and Craig got me down safely. We headed out to the air field at 4.30pm and had our safety briefing. I was then fitted out in a rather fetching cat suit and harnessed up. I explained what I could and couldn’t do hip joint wise and they worked out a plan on how to get me out of the plane safely and then worked out to land, it would be best if I just sat down with my legs out. The plane ride up took ages – about 25 mins but great views. Then I shuffled along the floor of the plane and Craig hooked my right leg out first and then the left. Before I really knew what was going on, Simon was pushing me out of the plane – but thankfully we were attached! I then flew for about 30 seconds, where I had to kick Simon’s arse – literally – and have my hands out to steady ourselves. Then the chute cord was pulled and we soared upwards. It was a little uncomfortable on the tops of the thighs but Simon detached bits here and there (gulp) and allowed me to sit down. He then removed my goggles and I sat back and enjoyed the view. He talked through the landing and we worked out what I could physically do – and we agreed to just have my legs out straight. Then I could see the rest of the group standing at the airfield and before I knew it I was sitting on the floor. I sat there while he collected the chute and then he pulled me to my feet. Unbelievable and so much fun – I want to do it again. Sadly the cost is rather prohibitive but who knows …

Earlier in the day we did all our washing (have you seen the photos?) and then headed to town to wander round, do some internetting and photo uploading and grabbed a KFC. Tonight we grabbed a pizza and sat infront of the PC MSN-ing which was also cool. Late start tomorrow – yeah – leave at 10am to go to Walvis Bay. Loved staying here in Swakopmund and its a shame we have to leave – but we only have a week to the end of our trip in Cape Town. Lots to do before then!

Hope you enjoy the photos halfway as much as I enjoyed sky diving! Kathy xx

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10 Nov 2005

Swakopmund, Namibia – Day 82 – Swakopmund and hitting the dunes

This place is fab, we are really enjoying our time here in Swakop. Today we walked into town after a leisurely breakfast and wandered round the shops. We got to an internet cafe – the first for a while – and caught up with some messages. It’s really sunny today, but there is a nip in the air. It’s like a beautiful Autumnal morning in the UK and we are enjoying wearing jumpers and shades!! I took my watch in to be repaired (the other one’s battery went and the one I took in had a broken strap) at the place in Ruund street – they didn’t look too confident but told me to return in 4 hours. We went to another internet cafe (had some sad news about Kath’s gran who fell from the top of the stairs. She is ok but really shaken and lucky to have no broken bones – feeling very useless so many thousands of miles away) and generally swanked around the very quaint Swakopmund. It’s like Whitby in the low season – there’s hardly anyone around. The roads here, though are huge – really wide and of course there is too much sunshine for it to be just like Whitby! There are so very modern shops and pavement cafes – all very civilised!

We then went to Nando’s for a spot of lunch before heading back to our restcamp. There we met Bindy, Corey, Brendan, Keryn, Will and Maria for our pick up… cos we were going Dune Buggying! I collected my watch and it was all fixed and that refused to charge me – so please tell your friends about them!! We then paid and got into our Yamaha Rhino Buggies. After a safety and eco-briefing we were reading to fire them up and boy can they make a noise. We followed our lead buggy through the streets and out to the river bed. What a fantastic way to spend 3 hours. Driving up and down river beds, rocks and sand dunes. It was exciting, scary and downright good fun – better than any rollercoaster, as I was in control and much longer too! At one point, the leader told us we didn’t HAVE to do one of the drops of a rock. Shaz was looking mighty scared and chickened out – so it was left for me to take the buggy down the near vertical drop. Maria and Bindy also sat it out while their other halves took it down the rock face.

Fantastic!! What wonderful machines and unbelievable as to what they can do. Whenever we hit any sand you had to put your foot down so we loved going up and down the sand dunes. Will post some pictures soon – but they dont do it justice. Suffice it to say we had the best time and took ages to come down from the high! That evening we went out to the Lighthouse restaurant and had fantastic mussels and fresh fish fillet. Will enjoyed some Oryx – which we were only photographing earlier this week – it was very tasty like a smoky venison beef steak!

Now in the coin-op laundrette catching up with the diary whilst washing everything apart from what we are wearing!! Didn’t fancy doing the equivalent of the Levi ads … but tempted!

Check out the Rhinos at: Rhinos

If anyone is undecided as to what to get us for Christmas – a rhino would be perfect!!

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9 Nov 2005

Swakopmund, Namibia – Day 81 – Cape Cross to Swakopmund

The truck picked us up at 8.30am (everyone jumped out to use our toilets!) and we made our way to the coast to see the Cape Cross seals. There were lots of seals (but not as many as normal) and they were very smelly and noisy. We had lunch on the edge of the Atlantic (brrr!) and had a wee stop in the desert (everyone squatting at the side of the truck!) From there we drove across the desert to Swakopmund where we went to an adventure shop to book our activities for the next 2 days. Watch this space to find out how we get on! We are now in some bungalows at www.swakopmund-restcamp.com and we are sharing with the lovely Maria and Will. Its a really nice town and so South African! Looking forward to the next few days and an opportunity to chill out, spread out and sort out our stuff!

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8 Nov 2005

Rundu, Namibia – Day 80 – Twyfelfontein engravings, Uis, Brandberg mountains

Another lazy start and off to see some engravings over 2,000 years old. It was a bit of a trek over rocks and up big boulders. There are so many engravings of animals, and footprints. Even penguins, giraffe, lions, elephants, etc. Its the best example of pre historic engravings in Africa. From there we headed to Uis, a town with not much apart from a guesthouse and a supermarket. We stocked up on goodies and then headed to our bush camp in the foothills of the Brandberg mountains (the highest in Namibia). Some of us had already decided that we didnt need to climb the mountain and fancied a night in a lodge. So after dropping off the intrepid climbers and bush campers we headed off to our lodge for a spot of luxury for the night (we had enjoyed desert camping in the middle east and didnt feel the need for any more just yet!) Plus Sharon hasnt been feeling too great as her eye has been hurting with a mild infection. We had a proper meal at a proper table and drank wine all very civilised! We then lounged on leather sofas and watched the sunset over the mountain range. A very pleasant evening!

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8 Jul 2006

Cancun, Mexico – Day 322 -Last Day in Latin America

Today was always going to be a sad day, as it was the last day with Robin

However, we had breakfast on the beach and then hit the pool to muck around for a few hours before checking out and getting the ferry back to Cancun.

That evening we headed to the Hotel Zone and the Isla outdoor shopping centre. There we wandered round and stumbled across the fabulous restaurant called Thai Lounge . It was truly stunning, with tables in individual Thai style huts, some even ontop of the water. Without a reservation we were lucky to have a water view.

The food was absolutely devine and the whole setting was wonderful. What a great experience for our last night. It did cost a bit but worth every penny, and we highly recommend going there if you are ever in Cancun.

Our intention was to have an early night as Kathy and Sharon had to get up at 3.30am to get our early flight – but we ended up chatting with Robin for hours and didn’t get much sleep at all .

We didn’t sleep through the alarm – phew! And said our farewells and left Robin to go back to sleep as he wasn’t flying til the afternoon.

Thanks Robin for a great week and sorry you can’t get more time off to travel with us any longer – it was cool to have you around!!

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7 Jul 2006

Isla Mujeres, Mexico – Day 321 – Rob & Kath dive the reef

This morning Rob woke early to get to the dive shop. He enrolled for a discover Scuba diving course. Sharon and Kathy were going to join him on the boat to dive and snorkel respectively. Plans were scuppered when it was revealed that overnight the reef had become choppy and there was no way Sharon would have enjoyed snorkelling in 5ft waves! Shaz stayed in town whilst Kath and Rob got kitted out for the dive.

Visibility was pretty poor and on the first dive Kath and her buddy Todd were told to meet the group at the cross on the bottom of the sea. When we went down, we couldn’t see any cross, or any other divers and we searched for what seemed a while before the divemaster found us and told us to go up. turns out Robin was waiting at the cross while his instructor was helping a diver who wasn’t comfy and wanted to get out… all in all a bit of a muddle to start off with.

Anyhow, it all worked out in the end and we enjoyed two more dives along the reef and saw fab fish! It’s a shame it was such hard work with the current and lack of visibility but we made the most of it!

Check out the photos for Rob post scuba diving

This afternoon we chilled out round our hotel, updated the web and then had traditional Mexican fare in the street (until the heavens opened and we ran inside for our main course!) The rain only lasted 10 mins though!

We spent the rest of the evening learning card games, finishing off some rum and redistributing our back packs so that Robin ended up with the heavier backpack (he’s taking loads of stuff home – thanks mate )

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6 Jul 2006

Isla Mujeres, Mexico – Day 320 – Exploring the island

Robin again – I’ve been told I have to earn my keep. (Apparently carrying Kathy and Sharon’s back packs everywhere, doing the washing up and buying them dinner on the first night isn’t enough )

We treated ourselves to a lie in this morning and then collected our free breakfast from the beach side restaurant. (Toast, Orange Juice and coffee – although no coffee for me, they’ve not heard of caffeine free in our hotel ) Then we hired a golf buggy again, this time we intended to do a tour of the whole island. Kathy, aka Speedy Gonzalez, negotiated the hire of the fastest buggy on the island to ensure we could see it all in 2 hours to keep costs down. I’m not kidding, we overtook every other buggy we met!

It was quite sad driving down the East side of the island, the damage left by Hurricane Wilma is still very much in evidence and some people are still living in temporary housing whilst the government builds them new houses. Although we did see one house that made us smile, it was shaped like a sea shell! I’m guessing a rounded shape will make it more Hurricane resistant.

After doing a handbrake turn at the bottom end of the island (well that’s what it felt like ) we returned up the west side of the island, stopping off at the Turtle Sanctuary. If you’re looking at the photos, be preapred to say “ahhhhh!” Many of the Mexican’s on the island used to kill the turtles but a kind hearted fisherman decided to open a farm, he asked the locals to bring in any turtles they found rather than kill them, and he started to care for them. From that small beginning he has now started rescuing the turtle eggs from the beach and incubating them in a special compound where they won’t get eaten. He then keeps and feeds them in special pools shaded from the sun. Once they are big enough he releases them back to the sea. The turtles seem to know that he does this because they now all come back to his beach to lay their eggs rather than anywhere else on the island!

Check out the photo of the cute turtle gasping for air

After the turtle sanctuary Kathy whizzed us back to our hotel where we got changed and headed for the beach. Think of your typical Carribean beach, white sand, azure sea, hot and sunny and you’ve got the picture.

Whilst Kathy and Sharon laid back on their sun loungers, read their books and drank their free drink, I decided to go for a swim in the Caribbean. Only I discovered that a gently shelving beach means you have to walk half a mile before the water is deep enough for you to swim without hitting your knees on the bottom! After 30 minutes of swimming up and down the coast I chilled out on the sun beds whilst Kathy and Sharon went Snorkelling.

Soon the heat became too much, I was turning lobster red (I forget that Kathy and Sharon have been out in the sun for nearly a year now) so I retreated to the hammock on our balcony for a snooze whilst they sun bathed.

As the sun set we showered and changed and then returned to the beach bar (think Tom Cruise and Cocktail) for a sun downer, well a Cerveza, we couldn´t afford the cocktails at the prices they were charging! Sharon sat on a swing whilst Kathy and Robin sat on benches. (The hammocks were all taken, much to Robin´s disappointment.) Check out the photos.

We then headed down to the pedestrianised main street for Quesedillas, Enchiladas and Fajitas. (I´ll be glad for a steak when I get back to the UK ) A lovely Mariachi serenaded the diners on the street with his guitar whilst we ate.

Well you´ll be pleased to know I´m handing back to Kathy and Sharon for the updates from now on. They´ve given me a wonderful insight into back packing and I´ve thoroughly enjoyed myself. I can´t wait to go and visit somewhere else soon, THANKYOU Kathy and Sharon.

Robin xxx

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5 Jul 2006

Tulum, Mexico – Day 319 – Tulum to Isla de Mujeres – Ruins to beaches

It’s Robin here, Kathy and Sharon have asked me to write up today’s report whilst they go and have a Cerveza (beer) in the bar. (Just kidding, they’re uploading some photos for you all to see.)

Well it was an early rise this morning to get to the Mayan ruin of Tulum for the opening time of 8am. These were my 6th Mayan ruins and K&S’s 2nd but once you’ve seen one ruin you haven’t seen them all, Tulum is perched on a cliff above the sea and looks quite unlike the other ruins we’ve seen. Tulum continued to be a Mayan trading city long after Chichén Itza and other Mayan cities had fallen to the Spanish. It has walls around three sides and the Carribean sea to the East which helped them defend themselves. (It also made it difficult for us to get out – We went round twice before we found the exit!) Fred enjoyed taking a look around (you can see his photo in front of El Castillo or The Castle pyramid.) After an hour Fred needed to cool down so we all sat in the shade under a tree, where the cool sea breeze made the hot and humid weather much more bearable.

Just as we were preparing to leave around 10.30am, the coach loads of day trippers started to arrive – wow what a difference! The tranquility of the site was no more, as throngs of people buzzed all over the ruins – check out the before and after photos to see the benefits of arriving at Mayan ruins before the coach loads do!

We headed back to town, collected our packs from the hostel and headed for the bus station. After some confusion (the ticket office said buy the tickets on the bus, the bus driver said buy the tickets at the office, Kathy pulled her hair out!) we eventually boarded the bus to Cancun. Once there we jumped in a taxi to the port where we boarded a boat to Isla de Mujeres or Women’s Island. (On board we played “The Minister’s Cat” to distract Kathy from her new found susceptibility to sea sickness, it worked, we had a vomit free crossing!) Isla de Mujeres is a beautfiful sandy island, just north of Cancun, that is only 3.8km long and still retains it’s Mexican charm.

Sharon watched our packs in the bar whilst Kathy and Robin walked around the island looking for somewhere suitable to stay, we will be here for three nights so wanted somewhere nice. It was very hot and humid and after seeing a few horrible places we were getting frustrated, but help was at hand, we hired a golf buggy and so could whizz around the island viewing many more hotels. We soon struck lucky with a hotel room right by the (best) north beach, with air con, a sea view, swimming pool, fridge, hammock and breakfast included – what more could we want?!

Once checked in, we showered and changed and went out for the evening. The main street is pedestrianised and very narrow, people eating outside any of the restaurants can touch the tables of the restaurant opposite! Everywhere there are Mexican Mariachis serenading diners with beautiful guitar music, it feels very Mexican! We enjoyed a lovely meal washed down with Kath and Sharon’s first bottle of Mexican wine, it was fruity and much more paletable than we were expecting, and all for only 7 pounds.

I think we are going to like this island

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4 Jul 2006

Valladolid, Mexico – Day 318 – Valladolid to the newly named Mayan Riviera !!!

Happy Independence Day to all our American visitors. (And belated Happy Canada Day for the 1st July to all our Canadian visitors.)

The bus to Tullum didn’t leave until 1.15pm so we had the morning to explore Valladolid. After a lie-in and typical Mexican breakfast of Burritos, Mexican style eggs and Hot cakes (scotch pancakes) we walked around the town square looking at the imposing cathedral and all the shops selling Sombreros – Robin’s tempted to buy one!

We made a quick trip to the supermarket to buy lunch before boarding the bus to Tullum. An uneventful journey passed quickly, (even quicker for those that slept through it all – Robin!) and we soon found ourselves in Tullum. We met an American at the bus station who told us about some Cabanas for rent at the south end of the main road through Tulum. Against our better judgement, Kathy and Robin went to view the Cabanas and after some hard negotiating, secured a lovely air conditioned Cabana for a very reasonable price.

It was too late to go to the ruins so we settled down in a bar in town to watch the end of the Germany v Italy game with a Cerveza. We can’t believe it will be the first World Cup final without either Germany or Brazil in since the 70’s!

Kathy cooked dinner which we sat and ate whilst out on the Verranda supping our Bacardis and Coke, then Robin did the washing up – isn’t he a sweety?

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3 Jul 2006

Chichén Itzà, Mexico – Day 317 – Mayan Ruins

Our first Mayan Ruins (and Robin’s 5th) we found ourselves at Chichén Itzà. It was very hot and sunny as we wandered around the various buildings and even a scarificial well where they used to throw in virgins, animals and other valuable objects.

There was a ball court that had us all thinking about Quidditch (!) where a team of 7 warriers used to play against another team with a ball that they could only hit with their elbows, hips and knees and the goal was a hoop on its side. All pretty amazing since it was built in 600AD. The only thing the experts don’t know is if the winning captain or the loser had his head chopped off. Is Beckham looking worried?!

From Chichén Itzà we got a bus to Valladolid, a nearby pretty Mexican town that is world’s away from Cancun!

We found a bargain hotel with aircon (boy its hot and humid here!) and Kath negotiated a 10% discount making it just 7 quid a head. We quickly got changed and jumped in the pool… lovely!

That evening, Rob took us out to a Mexican restaurant where we enjoyed some traditional fare washed down with lots of delicious Piña Coladas!

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2 Jul 2006

Cancun, Mexico – Day 316 – Robin is here!

Well he is finally here! Can’t quite believe it but Robin touched down this afternoon. We went straight to Cancun on the bus and got him into our hostel. After we took delivery of all the items he brought out to us … including Cadbury’s chocolate and OK, Now, Heat and Wanderlust magazines (isn’t he a sweetie?!) we headed for the Hotel strip.

There we had a meal at the Hard Rock Café that got damaged by Hurricane Wilma last year. Sadly we were told there were no alcholic drinks available as it was election day. We tried to tell the waiter that we weren’t voting so any alcohol consumption by the 3 of us wouldn’t affect the overall result … to no avail!

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1 Jul 2006

Cancun, Mexico – Day 315 – What a contrast!

Waking up in Cancun it was dark. Kath went to find some accommodation and it didn’t take long to find a room that could take us in that early! We showered and went to bed for a couple of hours snooze.

By light it was hitting hard how Mexico was so so different from its neighbour, Belize. Back to loads of shopping plazas, Mc Donalds on every street corner and plush houses.

We dashed around trying to find a cafe or restaurant showing the England vs Portugal football game – it was only on Sky sports and not everyone had it. We asked so many people – who were all very sympathetic but unable to think of anywhere. We ended up in a posh hotel, watching it in the airconned attached betting shop. A bit smokey but at least we could watch the match.

After the devastating result, people were kind enough to come up to us and say things like “sorry guys” or “you should have won” – which was quite sweet!

That afternoon we ended up in an internet cafè having an MSN video conference with Kath’s family which was really nice! We could even see Robin packing for his trip out here as he was running around in the background trying to find things – nothing like leaving it to the last minute, bro!

Saturday evening we ended up bumping into Steph (AGAIN!) and she helped us work out which bus to get to the hotel zone. There we wandered round seeing how the other half live. It’s like a little bit of Orlando has been dropped on the Mexican Caribbean coast! All very nice … but very unauthentic – we had to laugh!

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19 Jun 2006

San Cristòbal de las Casas, Mexico – Day 303 – Day out visiting a Sumidero Canyon

We decided to go and visit Sumidero Canyon today which is a 1,000m deep canyon and now a national park in the Mexican Chiapas region.

The drive there was spectacular, if not a little too twisty and turney so Kath’s new motion sickness problem reared its head again. Thankfully she kept it under control and was able to enjoy the scenery if not the driver’s desires to be a Mexican Michael Schumacher. Apparently indigenous warriers, unable to endure the Spanish conquest, hurled themselves into the canyon rather than submit. But all in all, a great place to die! Wonderfully lush vegetation punctuated by cascading waterfalls and abundant birdlife. We were also surprised to see so many caymen, of all different shapes and sizes from a giant one to several babies sunning on a rock.

We explored the canyon by boat and spent an hour winding through the canyon before turning round and coming back again.

Afterwards we were taken to a local village where we found a shady spot for our ham and cheese sarnies and bought some travel sickness tablets for 20p which seemed to work on the return journey!

Great day out finished off with a bargain meal for just US$2 each at El Gato Gordo!

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18 Jun 2006

Mexico City, Mexico – Day 302 – never rush to choose your crisps!

Oh, we forgot to tell you! ………………..

We were on our posh bus, had decided to skip a meal and then 3 hours later we were regretting it as our tummies were rumbling.

Thankfully the bus stopped at a place called Pueblo for 5 mins to let on passengers. I ran to the front and asked the driver if I could go and buy some food. He pointed in the rough direction of a shop so I dashed to it.

There I found a selection of cakes and stuff and crisps – I grabbed 2 packets of Doritos and a bag of mini doughnuts, paid and ran back to the bus, jumped on and sat down. We opened the bag and stuffed a few crisps in our gobs…..

… woh! They were HOTHOT man! We grabbed our water bottles and tried to cool off. I looked at the packet… it was the international Doritos logo and then I saw the flavour….

“Devil Flavour” and there was a smiling devil with a three pronged fork laughing at us both for choosing such bloody hot crisps.

That will teach us to not

a) skip a meal

b) replace it with crisps

c) read the packet

We cooled off with 2 mini doughnuts each and didnt finish the packets

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22 Apr 2006

Màncora, Peru – Day 244 – 245 : Taking it easy beside the beach

Well, to be honest we haven’t actually done that much. We’ve been enjoying the beach in Northern Peru, sunbathing in the mornings and then wandering round the town in the afternoon. Last night we had a fabulous BBQ which huge bits of chicken and fish, with jacket spuds (haven’t had them for ages) and BBQ veggies and salads. It was delicious and worth every penny.

Making the most of the time to relax as we are back on the road tomorrow heading to Ecuador.

In the meantime, we are gonna do our own form of Inca Sun Worship

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20 Apr 2006

Chiclayo, Peru – Day 243 – More Peruvian treasures… in the form of Sipàn’s Tomb

On our way North, we stopped off at a museum showcasing the amazing artefacts found in Lord Sipàn’s tomb including his remains… nice!!

It’s the most important tomb discovery after Tutankhamun. And it happened in 1987, following grave robbers stealing around USD 60m worth of artefacts, but they had no idea what was below.

In a pyramid shape, lay several tombs housing many important royal people from the early 3rd Centuary AD. With them they had a myriad of artefacts made with gold, silver, copper and most precious – sea shells.

It’s a great collection and really well presented. From there we had a long journey to get us to Màncora – a lovely beach side town where its hot and sunny!

We are here for the weekend so are going to take it easy.

Thank for your emails, we do love hearing your news too!!

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19 Apr 2006

Huanchaco, Peru – Day 242 – Chan Chan and La Huaca de la Luna

We didn’t know much about Chan Chan before today. It turns out to be a rather impressive collection of crumbling mud walls which is the largest mud brick city in the world. The site is one of the largest pre-Columbian cities in the Americas and was built in around AD1300.

Archeologists have restored one of the Royal compounds in the Chimù people’s capital. We got to see impressive walls of fish, waves, birds and diamond shaped fishing nets carved into the mud bricks. There was also an ingenious fresh water well and huge areas for talking to the masses.

All in all, pretty impressive. Well we thought, until we went to Las Huaca de la Luna or Temple of the Moon.

This site predates Chan Chan by 700 years and was only recently discovered. As a result you feel you are walking round an ongoing archeological dig where they are slowly peeling away more and more layers of wonderful colourful friezes. This has to be the best site we have seen on our travels of ancient ruins. Everything still in place and looking like it was wallpapered only yesterday.

The trouble with Peru, is there are many theories but no one really knows the truth. Certainly they have thousands of sites that need to be explored, if only they had the right investment.

All in all, it has raised our awareness of human religion over the last 3,000 years and the similarities between them all.

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18 Apr 2006

Huanchaco, Peru – Day 241 – Back on the road heading due North

It was good to be back on the road again and moving away from the big city. The scenery isn’t that great around here. Quite desolate, but what the Peruvians seem to have managed to do is irrigate the sandy earth and cultivate on it… quite a feat and something that maybe Africa can learn from.

It was a long bus journey with nothing really to report. We arrived at Huanchaco in the dark and checked into our hostel. Dinner was a simple omlette over the road!

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17 Apr 2006

Lima, Peru – Day 240 – Lima

As you have probably guessed by now we are not big fans of cities and Lima was not going to be exception. With all the stories of robberies and specific examples of pick pockets we were on high alert. We enjoyed a brief walking tour and then spent half the day trying to track the location of our trekking poles which we managed to leave in Arequipa. Long story but they should be on their way.

That evening we enjoyed a slap up Chinese meal in China town which was delicious and good to eat such food after the same kind of stuff we have each day.

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16 Apr 2006

Pisco, Peru – Day 239 – Easter Sunday with no chocolate!!

Today we got to enjoy a video conference with home! It was the first time all the bits and bobs were working and we had headphones AND webcams! It was great fun and can’t really believe the technology despite being so far away!

Round town, everyone was celebrating Easter, which was great fun to see. People dressed up, kids playing wind instruments badly, teenagers dressed up in ill fitting robes and not one Easter Egg!! Queues still happening around the blocks to get into church and flowers everywhere. Feel very special to have experienced Easter in such a country where the celebrations are all so public and enjoyed by so many.

We bumped into the Tucan group who were also planning on going to Lima this afternoon. We decided to pay double to enjoy the safety of being with the group as they had a private bus booked which would take us to the hotel directly. Hearing nasty stories about Lima and want to be on high alert.

After checking in to Lima hotel we went out and enjoyed some cheapo chicken and chips on the main strip and also found a supermarket so stocked up on goodies including granary bread rolls, tuna, spirte zero, ham and cheese, etc.

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15 Apr 2006

Pisco, Peru – Day 238 – Visit to Reserva Nacional de Paracas y Islas Ballestas

We woke early today for our 6am pick up to take us out to the Islas Ballestas. We didn’t really know what to expect, but we got on a speed boat which took us out on the Pacific to the marine sanctuary.

There to be found were thousands of birds including booby, pelican and penguins. What tickled us was that all these birds produce thousands of tons of sun baked, nitrogen rich guano (or bird shit) which are exported (we kid you not) to USA, Australia and Europe by the shipload! So Peru make money from exporting their shit to the Western world… classy!!

We also got to see the maternity beach for sea lions who apparently mate just after the female gives birth. All in all it was very noisy with babies crying and males grunting! There were even some cute teenagers, taking a group bath in the many rock pools.

We also got to see the Candelabra, a giant 150m figure etched into the hard sand. As it rarely rains in this area (just 1.6mm a year) and its protected from the wind, it still remains from hundreds of years ago.

Back on dry land we enjoyed a cheapo breakfast before getting a bus to the National Park, There we visited a centre which explained about the special ecological environment, and the fact that the marine life changes every time there is a Niño current (about every 15 years) where planton dies as its too warm and so other marine life including fish and seals die too. On to the coastal path where we could see the amazing rock formations including the Cathedral and then to the beach where the sand is red. A short lunch and we were back on the road to Pisco to enjoy the afternoon in Pisco. That evening we had Cuba Libres from the Tres Balconies bar overlooking the Plaza des Armas which was awash with people. They were in their Sunday best, praying away at as many churches as they could get to.

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14 Apr 2006

Huacachina, Peru – Day 237 – To the Oasis

Having dumped our bags securely in our room, we got a local cheap bus back to Ica to seek out the Oasis our guidebooks talked about. With just small change and a bottle of water, we felt really safe and soaked up the people, smells and general atmosphere. Once at Ica, we jumped into a little tuk tuk to take us the short ride to Huacachina. We joked around with the driver as he was trying to guess where we were from, and then couldnt believe we were English! He also tried to say that the fare was USD 3 not S/3 – even though we agreed 3 soles before we even got in. He was trying it on, but was so humourous about it, I just patted his back and said “Si, 3 Soles!” Sure enough, when I handed over the S/3 he smiled, knowing he couldn’t pull the wool over our eyes, but enjoying the process of at least trying to!!

We wandered around and made our way to the lake. The village is very touristy – there is not much else they can do with it! All around the landscape is arid and full of sand dunes – we likened it to a not very nice Namibia as the dunes all look a little black and are full of plastic bags and bottles.

We talked about getting a dune buggy – but it was a case of shovving as many people as possible into a buggy and then driving them very fast over dirty dunes. If you remember we had the most amazing time in Namibia, driving ourselves in modern Suzuki’s and this wasn’t going to top that experience so we gave it a miss.

We grabbed another tuk tuk back to Ica – this time we weren’t even sure if we’d make it up the hill as the engine was so small but thankfully we did! We grabbed some wonderful maize (giant sweetcorn) on the cob for lunch from a nice street seller. And then it was back on the regular bus to Pisco which cost just S/3.50 to go the hour along the Pan American straight back to Plaza des Armas.

That evening we enjoyed some pisco sours and pizza.

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14 Apr 2006

Pisco, Peru – Day 237 – Being stranded !!

We had to get off our bus rather quickly as it was heading on to Lima, then we found a bus company that could take us to Pisco. Unfortunately there wasn’t a central bus station, so we had to walk from bus company to bus company. At 6am that wasn’t ideal. Anyhow, I asked if we could have 2 seats to Pisco and I was told the bus was leaving now and the cost would be S/3 each (60p). I paid up whilst Sharon got the bags checked in underneath.

We sat back and waited the hour we thought it would take. We pulled into several places to pick up and drop off passengers and our ticket to Pisco was checked several times by the conductor.

Suddenly we had an uneasy thought, that we had passed Pisco. I turned round and sure enough the road signs indicated Pisco was the other way. I went to talk to the conductor, who replied “Si” to every question as to which way was Pisco and then pointed in different directions. I said I wanted Pisco. The Driver eventually got it and pulled over at St. Clemente. Sharon made sure the bus didnt pull off without us getting our packs from underneath, while I looked round trying to find a good taxi…ie an official one rather than some bloke who had bought a “Taxi” sticker and stuck it in his windscreen. There were none. The driver suggested we got a collectivo to Pisco, but we had heard these weren’t always safe and we still didn’t know where Pisco was.

I then looked round and up, and saw a police station. We decided to buy ourselves some time and hang around there whilst we went through our options. We kept of being bibbed by taxis touting for business but no radio taxi. In the end we decided to ask the police station if they could tell us where the nearest radio taxi place was.

The guy couldn’t be more helpful he indicated using simple Spanish and sign language that we were at risk of being harmed for our packs so understood why we were asking for his help. Very similar to Arequipa! He looked around for a taxi and then after 10 mins he saw a friend who was a taxi driver. He called him over, who dumped his fare! Then we loaded our stuff and were on our merry way. Everything was fine until he pulled into a petrol station and asked for the full S/10 fare, after asking for S/5 to be put in the tank.

We were reluctant to pay in full, so Sharon paid him S/5 (I was sat in the front and didnt want to reveal where I kept my money) and we said the rest we would pay later. He looked very stressed from that point, opening and closing nooks and crannies – but in retrospect he was probably trying to work out how he could pay us change. On arrival, I whipped out the remaining S/5 and all was happy.

We were shown almost immediately to our room and enjoyed hot showers!!

Then we walked around town bargaining for a good tour the following day to the Ballestas Islands. We found someone we liked, seemed to cover it all and dropped the price too.

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13 Apr 2006

Arequipa, Peru – Day 236 – Cacthing up

Today we caught up with diary entries and photos. We also explored Arequipa, which we really liked, and generally had a bit of a rest day!

That night we got another luxury night bus to Ica with fully flat beds and hot food. At around 12am we looked out of the curtains and found ourselves looking at the Pacific Ocean lit up by the full moon. It was very magical and we reflected on the fact that it had been nearly 2 months since we last saw an ocean, the Atlantic Ocean in Brazil.

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