Altitude

It fuckin sucks ass.

Seriously, Cuzco was the first time I had experienced altitude and the effects it has on the human body. Now as you all know I don´t claim to be a healthy individual, in fact if you´ve read the other posts I´ve written you know I´m a bit of a lazy shite. So imagine my chagrin when I found that in Cuzco, what with it being about 3500 meters above sea level I managed to get out of breath whilst doing feck all. Seriously I lost my breath when lying in bed sometimes (and not when I participating in nocturnal fun stuff either). Everyone is in the same boat so it´s not really anything to do with my health or lack thereof, the air is just really thin. It did mean that I hated steps with a passion. Not helped in any way by the fact the loki Hostel we were staying in was 116 steps up from the town centre (I have numbers OCD, I count all sorts of weird shit - my old house was 198 steps from the shop and it took 8 minutes to drive from there to my brothers house, just strange.)

Cuzco is probably the most touristy town we have visited, everyone who wants to visit Macchu Pichu comes through here, so it´s not just decked out for the backpacker trail like most places, there are loads of "tourists" around, Americans wearing hiking boots and vest jackets with loads of pockets, that type of stuff.

There are a couple of good night spots though, Paddy Oflatterhys is an Irish bar we frequented on a nightly basis followed by Mama Africa´s, a dingy nightclub full of Peruvian slappers. The former was just full of coke fiends and dirty locals...we went a couple of times.

So the time has come, off to the king of ruins, just a taxi and a train ride away is Macchu Pichu!

Sand Boarding

Photobucket Album

Sand Boarding in Ica

So as Stu said there was not much done in Lima, drinking and movies. So the day came to leave we had a plan to go to Pisco, Ica and Nazca but the funds were running low and we decided to go straight to Cuzco. Then we changed our minds again and decided to go straight to Ica for some sand boarding. Well we really went to a town just outside called Huacachina. The bus there was amazing it was the president class with fully reclining lazy boy seats. It was like an 80's rock band's touring bus.

So after the bus you have to get a taxi to Huacachina, like on most South American roads that we have travelled on there were road works, the road was basically gravel, very bumpy. The health and Safety here is brilliant it seems like the only thing they have to do is tell you where the emergency exit is. Even in open fronted restaurants where the Exit is obviously the big gaping hole in the front of the building they still have an emergency exit sign. But here in Huacachina instead of the nice yellow flashing lights that we have at road works, they had paint cans with oil in them on fire! very safe!!!

Huacachina is a very pretty town surrounded on all sides by huge sand dunes it actually is an oasis which I found truly amazing, we have been so lucky to get to see so many different things, places and to meet so many lovely people on this trip. We wandered round, bought some jewellery and drank pisco sours. The reason for coming to  Huacachina was the sand boarding. We had been told that the boarding was good but the dune buggy ride was great. So the next day off we climbed into the buggy strapped ourselves in and just as we were pulling out 2 girls walked passed and shouted that our driver was the best one so that was sounding hopeful.

So off we go 5 of us in this big buggy Stu was a bit disappointed that we didn't have a smaller one cause he thought the big one wouldn't be as fast or get air (how wrong he was). We started by mounting the sand dunes just at the edge of the lake at tremendous speed. So our guide takes us hairing round the sand dunes at break neck speed. He did hand break turns (which I didn't think you could do on sand). For half the time he wasn't looking forwards he was just looking for the next sand dune to hurtle us down. Then it came time to get out and do some boarding, we were given our boards and some candles to wax them with and told that on this first one we should go down on our tummies. So what you have to do is lie on your board then the guide stands in front of you and pushes down the through his legs. It is not the most graceful of poses. Stu kept putting his legs up before the guy pushed him down, not very good for to poor guy and his chances of child making.

This went on for a while driving round scaring the crap out of me and the girl behind me. I was like being on a roller coaster. The thing is that there is no perspective when you are on the sand you don't know if the next hill is flat or has a vertical drop behind it. It is very nerve wracking but strangely I loved it. I have always had a fear of being in a car crash or the car that I was in rolling and have always had to be dragged onto roller coasters, but I think now it has been cured somewhat. There were a few squeals and pleading with him not to go over the next hill.

As we went on the dunes that we boarded down get bigger and bigger and the amount of wax that was put on the board got more and more. I tried to stand up but kept falling on my bum, and any ways it was much more fun hurtling down head first. Our guide brought us the the last one it was very big and everyone was a bit weary of it. The guy told us that he would drive to the bottom of the next one that we should go down one, climb up the next hill and meet him at the bottom. The second dune didn't look that big and we were a bit disappointed that our last dune was going to be a small one. So down the first and climbed up the last one. It is so hard to walk up the sand with a board and the scorching sun belting down on you. Up we went to be met by a shear vertical drop that was bigger than anything I have ever seen and we were to throw ourselves down it. Oh god!!!! Down we went after a bit of trepidation from me but it was so fun. We have said that it is the most fun that we have had on our trip so far and have been telling everyone to go. It was brill.

We went back to the hostel to have the all you can eat BBQ, when I say all you can eat it was really meant that they would cook a load of food and you could eat till it ran out. Stu thought the best thing to do was to have a swim to get all the sand off then he thought I should too and he walked into the pool with me in his arms fully clothed, Jesus it was cold! I was tipping sand out of my pockets for days after that. So there is not much more to do in Ica so it was time for a bus again to Cuzco and Machu Picchup, the place where all the planning started, where we were to be for our 30th and 25th only almost 2 years late ah well!!!!

A tangent into the present

So, as you may be aware we are slightly behind in this blog, I sit here trying to remember what happened in Peru when in fact I am sat in the bar in La Paz, Bolivia. I just thought I'd take the opportunity to tell you about the fact we had a party last night. We are both working in the hostel bar at Loki La Paz, our days are filled with work or sleep and the nights with booze and work sometimes. Booze is a constant, it is impossible to work behind the bar without getting pissed!
So last night was a fancy dress party, the pictures will follow. There was dancing on the bar till the early hours and I drew the short straw and had to work this morning at 8am! It sucks but someone has to do it right?
The night was full of drinking and debauchery, one girl fell off the bar and cracked her head off a light fitting and then into an amplifier, there was blood and tears, quite a commotion was made, I could barely stop myself from laughing, I find that shit funny!! ! She didn't see the funny side though and someone thought she might have concussion so said she should be kept awake for 2 hours else she may fall into a coma!? I don't know if thetas true or not but wasn't happy they had decided she should sleep in the staff dorm and in my bed no less! Now don't get me wrong, really drunken girls falling off bars is funny to me but when aforementioned drunken girl is now in my bed with the possibility of falling into a coma the humour just drains away! more so when I have to be up in 4 hours to start work! She didn't fall into a coma and just fell asleep, the regular none coma type.
I don't know how true the whole concussion coma thing is, she did give her head a good whack though, theres even a massive dent in the amp now!

To get to the point though the reason I have taken this tangent to the present was just to let you know I have had maybe 3 hours sleep and am now sat behind the bar taking breakfast orders and I needed something to do to keep from falling asleep!
If I have a drink now it may mean I have an alcohol problem......
but it would be rude not too.