Hiking Machu Pichu tomorrow!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

the last few days (or is it almost a week already?) have been great. On our way to see the condors, which are a very spiritual bird for the Peruvians, our truck broke down. this meant that we got to spend a few extra days in Arequipa...not bad! we ended up doing a lot of shopping and enjoying the sun and warm weather. then we headed over to a little town by Colca Canyon...it is supposedly the deepest in the world! we only saw the mouth of it and went for a little walk to see if any condors would make an appearance. luckily for us, one of the girls in the group had a red coat which attracted it...it thought she was dead meat...so as it circled overhead, and stories of condors killing baby llamas spun around in our heads, we couldn't help but feel a bit like dead meat either. but don't worry, it figured it out soon enough when we were all walking and talking.

then we had a 14 hour drive day to Cuzco...this is where i am not and it is also the start point of the climb up Machu Pichu...it is COLD! we start out tomorrow with our last day of hiking on x-mas day. family, i told you i would try to call, but from what i hear they only have local phones, if that. so i will try to call on boxing day instead! i really can't wait to climb it...but i am concerned about the cold and think i might head out and support the local economy some more...my friends here are joking that i am singlehandedly feeding all peruvians...i swear i don't buy THAT much!

but i have to go because my fingers are about to freeze off! but i hope that all of you have a great x-mas (if you celebrate), if not, then i hope that you enjoy the day just the same!! i miss you all!!

love,

adrienne :)

Sand Boarding!!

OH MY GOD - picture yourself lying face down on a snowboard, not strapped in, going down a massive sand dune in the peruvian desert...your toes which are desperately trying to dig into the steep inline are your only form of brakes or steering and as you near the bottom, you are going so fast that you fear falling off and breaking one or all of your bones...scarry or fun? F-U-N OF COURSE!!

Man! The day we went to deset oasis and rode the crazy dune buggies and sandboarded was AWSOME! It was a shame that I left my camera in the safe throws of the truck...because the views were phenominal! Before we got to the sandboarding, we strapped ourselves in to this crazy and colourful looking go-cart with a hefty roll-cage and tackled the dunes. It was scarrier than the most intense rollercoaster... don´t worry, there was no rolling going on, but at the time we certainly thought it was inevitable. The worst was near the start when we were approaching a dune that alost looked like it went straight up into the heavens at 70 degrees and there were tire tracks going up...but then they curved arround. Ali (a detective from England) phrased it best with the simple words: ''Surely not...'' We were all stuck somewhere between horror, at prematurely loosing our lives, and inane laughter at his comment... But the buggy did the turn and we are here to tell the tale.

The last few nights we have been camping out on beaches...I have to admit that I am simply in love with the whole thing. There is nothing like going to bed after a bondfire, under the stars, with the sound of the crashing waves drowning out all other sounds...fantastic really. Three nights ago we were in the national park where there was no one else arround for miles...well, except for a poor bird sitting on her nest who at first was quite distressed at seeing our towering truck pull up.

Later that day we went to the 'poor man's Galapagos Islands'. We saw all kinds of animals...from penguins, to sea lions, to pellicans, to dolphins, to peruvian boobies (they did not have blue feet like at the real Galapagos).

Where we camped last night had the most insane waves...four of us braved 'swimming' in them. Really, we just got tossed arround and thrown into the shore...

The view out the window today was the best of the shoreline. Most of the 9 hour drive to Arequipa was spent on a coastal highway (PanAm) winding arround the base of the mountains as they sharply droped off into the ocean. Sometimes the rocks were dark brown..almost black...and looked volcanic because of their smooth but textured shapes. Sometimes there were interludes of soft yellow sand between the rocks or along the shore. But always the water today was deep blue and vibrant with motion.

The Hostal we are staying in here seems ssoooo luxurious...but it makes us all laugh at what passes for luxury in these parts: Hot water, toilet paper, toilet seats, a drain plug (that is a really BIG deal), soap...it´s amazing the things we take for granted at home. But actually, this place surpasses those luxuries and feels so much like a beautiful hotel at home i almost flushed toilet paper! (another big no-no in latin america...it is too hard on the old pipes)

I hope that you are all doing really well whereever in the world you are!!

all my love!

Adrienne :)

The drive to Lima

Hey everyone!

All I really have to talk about today is the drive to Lima from Huanchaco (since that is all we really did). Once again I was amazed at how lovely some of the scenes passing by our windows were... none of these pictures are mine (still trying to find a nice digital camera here) and are stolen from the net, but i chose them because they are really what it looked like along the way. The top one was one of the prettiest, but harder to come across scenes. Most of the time the sand dunes were found between hardened sand mountains that you can see in the distance in the second picture.

I was unable to find a picture of my favourite scene which took place in the last few hours of the drive. This picture below is the closest I could find.

My favourite scene was where the sand dunes met the ocean...after seeing seemingly endless sand for a while, it was a relief to see a break of blue in the distance. Then even better was when a dusty brown mountain or cliff would jut out of the sand and be confronted with the bustling water. About 4:00pm here seems to be the best time in the afternoon to catch the sun on the water. It looked like the tips of the waves were threaded with magic silver beads. Stunning. Simply Stunning.

There are also a lot of Hawks and Vultures in the area. They are amazing creatures that fly with such grace.

The real shame of the desert, however, is the amount of garbage that is discarded everywhere. All of us are shocked at the amount of garbage by the Pan American Highway. I swear, it looks like we are literally driving through a garbage dump. But what makes it worse is seeing people sifting through it, or worse, living in it. Clearly it is a systemic problem that arises from poverty, so I do not blame the Peruvian people who have nothing and this is probably one of the last things they are concerned with. But I do blame the government who really doesn´t do much to help the condition of the people.

Actually, it is quite striking how much worse off the average Peruvian is compared to the average Ecuadorian. So far, we have seen more houses made out of garbage and plastic bags in Peru than Ecuador. In Ecuador at least most of the houses were in better condition...the common thought amongst many people while driving through the desert of Peru is one of raw sadness for these people.

Change of subject: In the next few days we are going to do some camping out in a national park where they found lines that were drawn in the sand thousands of years ago, but no one really knows how they havent blown away! I just found this picture of one of the drawings, and thought I would post it while I have access to relatively fast internet! I am really excited about the Nazca lines too...but more on those after I see them!

Pre-Incan Ruins

Today we went to Chan Chan which is a ruin here in Peru...it was fabulous. I took a million pictures (which you have to wait until I am home to show you since my camera is not digital) ...the Chimú people in general had very simple pots but were highly suerior architects. they made their bricks out of mud, clay and water and built the exterior of the city walls insanely high. they also made a new city for each ruler...i think there were 9 in total, only one open to the public. it was amazing to see because they had beautiful designs made of mud all over the walls which amazingly enough held up. they said that the walls used to be painted, but that over time it wore off.
To check out pictures of the site, go to: http://www.antropologia.com.ar/peru/chanchan.htm

after that we went to the temples of the sun and the moon. these weren't too far away from the predecesors of the Chimú, the Moches. These temples only started getting excavated in 1991, and are immense. it is amazing to see that the original paint work still stands on the walls! to check out the temple of the sun look at: http://www.antropologia.com.ar/peru/elsol.htm. the temple of the sun hasn´t been uncovered yet. the temple of the moon however was fantastic. we could look down and see layers and layers of structures. when ever they wanted to make it bigger, they simply bricked up the spaces in the corridors and built on top. so when they uncovered it, the walls were still beautifully painted. actually, because they only started in 1991, there is still a lot left to uncover. i will have to return in 10 years time! the pictures for that can be seen at: http://www.antropologia.com.ar/peru/laluna.htm

it was a very spiritual experience being in/on the temple of the moon... regardless of the time that has passed, you could feel the energy and when walking up from the north side, you can only imagine how intimidating the whole structure must have been.

One of the amazing things about Peru is the variation in micro-climates...there are about 60 in the country, and the other day when we were driving through we saw diff types of sandy scapes...speckled with green patches. it was lovely!

right now we are at another beach town with really powerful waves. i think tonight i am going to wander down to the beach and watch the moonlight on the waves...tough life huh?

have to get some food...sorry if there are any spelling errors, im trying to rush so that i can get changed for dinner!

lots of love,

addy :)

PS - for anyone who didn't read the comments, candice put her pics from us in ecuador up here:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AYtWzFo4cM2Lmw so if you want to see the eco lodge or the pics from it at least, that or Quito, or the Otovalo market or la Mitad del Mundo... they are all there! it just might take some time!!

pps - thanks to everyone who has written me and informed me on their lives! i love you all!!

Peru!

¡HOLA!

i hope that everyone is doing fine! things over here are great. we got into peru a few days ago and camped out on the beach for a few nights. the first night i put my sleeping bag and underpad down in the dark (lost my flashlight for a few mins) and didnt pay attention to the slope of the land...i found out that sleeping on a slant isnt the best approach, but was too tired after the day int he truck to do much about it. needless to say that the second day i sorted it out and everything was fine!

so i have a few days to catch up on!

the last town i was in was Baños, it was a beautiful location with stunning waterfalls everywhere! we hiked down to one with lava rock...i wont say much about this because i cant remember if i did talk about it last time, but it felt like it was out of the movies...the lava rock was stunning the way that the water molded it. then we moved on to Cuenca which is a gorgeous little town with a lot of history. it made me think of a more spanish version of old quebec city.

then we crossed the border into peru...what an ordeal. you also have to watch your pockets and make sure that the money they change for you is legit. there is a border town between the two boarders that is reffered to as ´no mans land´and its busy and crazy! people are shoving everything at you trying to sell things like remote controls or sun visors for dogs...there were a lot of vendors and it was very colourful!

almost right away the lush green scenery turned into sandy mountains. oh wait! i almost forgot! we got run off the road by a larger truck and got stuck in mud...we had to explain to a local that his 4X4 little truck would most certainly not pull us out...afterall, our truck is 16 tons... a dump truck was along soon enough and got our sinking turck out!

i have to go, but i will write more later!

Amazon Addy

We just got back from the Amazon, and what can I say except that it was incredible!

Right now we are in Banos camping just outside of town at this awesome campsite. Tonight we have a costume party and after a quick visit to town, I decided to go as a nurse…it was that or a Christmas tree…not many options at the super market!

But back to the Amazon! Because of the presidential elections in Ecuador, we had to skip the market which gave us an extra night in the Amazon and an extra night here in Banos…which I am quite pleased with. We stayed in a lodge with lots of typical bugs that one would expect in the jungle…yes, there were tarantulas near by, as well as large cockroaches and a million other creepy-crawly things. Thank goodness I´m not freaked out by that sort of thing!

The first day there we hiked for 4 hours. The last hour was through a river and the water went up to our waists at points…it was very slippery and I almost went all the way under a few times! But thank goodness for other people to grab on to…the best quote of the day goes to Diana who said: ‘if I go down, your shorts go with me.’

After the hike, we swam on a perfect beach (except for the sand flies), and then went to an indigenous museum and an animal rescue shelter…so we saw a lot of monkeys and noisy birds and toucans, to name a few. Then back at the lodge a Quechua family came and danced for us. It was sweet, but every song sounded the same and the little boy drumming looked like he hated the fact that his dad made him do it.

The next day I stayed back at the lodge and then saw a Shaman at night. It was a very interesting experience.

On our last day there we took one of the freaky motorised boats up the river, made a balsa wood raft, and then drifted down the river for four hours…it was fantastic! Apparently people will build these rafts and float down the river and end up on the other side in Argentina four months later!

Some of the other cool things we learned about was how to make this juice that when put on a blow dart is poison for animals, but is also anti-venom for snake bites. Did you know that if you rubbed termites on you (yes, termites) it is the best protection against bugs?

We learned a lot and got to see a lot too…and after the few days there I realized that it is definitely a place worth going back to.

We have to catch a bus back to the campsite now, but I hope that all is well with you guys!!

Take care,

Adrienne

Ps – another good quote was after seeing the pleasant looking statues of the tribe who are the head shrinkers: ‘but they looked like such a nice couple…’...maybe you had to be there?