Around Medellin

On Thursday the 23rd of December we got up early to make the most of the day as Manuel, one of the uncles, was taking us around Medellin to see some of the important sites of the city. We started at Medellin's largest cathedral.   It is primarily constructed from brick and from the exterior it was aesthetically modest. The interior was much more impressive with amazing brick columns, intricate brick domes and soaring ceilings. It also housed the largest organ in south America. We then moved onto a beautiful old government building we had only been able to admire from the metro. Its exterior has an amazing checkered stonework pattern and the building now houses a museum. We then checked out the famous fat statues in Botero Square before having a look at the oldest church in Medellin. Next we explored the Antioquian Museum which contains lots of local, national and international exhibits. After a cool smoothie we made our way to the botanical gardens via an amazing church we had only been able to admire from the metro. Unfortunately it was closed for restoration so we were unable to enter so we continued onto the gardens. The gardens were really beautiful and there was a very interesting honeycomb roof structure where lots of birds hung out. We then moved onto the lagoon where we found a bunch of turtles chilling out on the rocks. On the way to the butterfly nursery we came across a friendly squirrel who was climbing on people, we both had no idea there were squirrels here. After we had explored the gardens Manuel took us to some fancy restaurant before we went to another beautiful church with the most amazing skeleton spire. On the way back into town we were coming through an intersection in the taxi. As cliche as it sounds everything slowed right down as we could both see what was about to happen. The taxi driver slammed on the breaks as a motorbike ploughed into the passengers door of the taxi where Manuel was sitting. Fortunately the cyclist was fine apart for a few grazes but is bike was pretty messed up. We sat in the taxi in the middle of the intersection causing havoc as other cars had to fight to get past. The two drivers had to sort out insurance details so we hopped in another taxi. After checking out Manuel's new apartment we continued on to have a look at two more amazing historic churches. He then took us to a square which contained four more of the iconic fat statues. From a distance we noticed one of the had been ripped apart or something. Manuel explained that 15years ago guerrillas placed a bomb in the statue killing 20odd people. The destroyed statue now sits on a plaque with all the names of the victims, and next to it is an intact version of the original. It was a bit of a reminder of what has happened, and happens in this country. But after spending two weeks in this city we can see how much the government has taken control of the situation to maintain a very well run city. 

Arvi park

Today we took the metro to explore more of Medellin. We decided to take the second gondola up the East side of the city. At the top of the first gondola there is a new library. It was architecturally very interesting. It consists of three large black geometrical forms. We agreed it was very cool but we didn't really aesthetically like the design. We then took the second gondola up to Arvi park, which is a natural reserve above Medellin city. The gondola was much longer than we expected and had spectacular views of the city as it climbed the mountain before disappearing into the bush of the reserve. We didn't really know what to expect once we arrived. We found out that the park was still very much under construction. The plan is to have a total of six parks within the reserve each with different animals and attractions etc. There is currently only one finished so we hopped on a bus towards that one. There were lots of people riding horses and the scenery was beautiful as it looked through trees and across small lakes. We then took a small walk through the bush down to a lagoon. We walked down the little path, across beautiful little bridges and past a butterfly nursery with lots of exotic species before we reached the lagoon. The lagoon had a jetty out into it and a massive flying fox across it which we unfortunately could not go on. After enjoying the beautiful scenery we took another walk through the bush towards the hotel to get a drink and a snack. We then realised we better get back to take the gondola down to Medellin before it shut, when we were told there were no more buses. We ended up paying some guy 6000pesos ($4nz) to give us a ride in his truck. We jumped on the deck and held on tight as he drove like all south americans do. We arrived safely back at the top of the gondola after enjoying the crazy ride back. As we took the gondola back down we were lucky enough to have a beautiful sunset over Medellin as we descended back down to the city. We arrived back at the metro station after the two gondolas at peak rush hour time so we got to experience being on a ridiculously packed train as everyone is fighting for space and room to breathe. We eventually arrived home safety after an another amazing day.

More of Medellin

We continue to have a fantastic time in Medellin. In the last week the stand out things we have done are; attending Sebastian's graduation party, pueblito pieser, the lights along Medellin river, a massive rock, a traditional antiokian restaurant and a farm park. 
On thursday 16th it was Sebastian's graduation, one of Necane's cousins. We did not go to the ceremony but we hear it was very nice and went well. We did however go the graduation party at a nice venue nearby where we are staying. Filled with all Sebastian's family and friends, we knew it was going to be a big night. The party was amazing and such a nice way to celebrate with lots of eating, drinking and dancing. We both got asked to dance a lot and Necane spent most of her night dancing with uncles and cousins. We are still trying to learn how to dance but think by the end of our stay here we hopefully may get it! The party stopped at the venue at 2:00am but carried on at the house we are staying with some finishing up at 7:00am. Frano was very hungover that day. 
That evening we went to check out Pueblito Pieser. The re-model of a typical antiokian village is situated on top of a hill in the centre of the city and has an extensive view over the city below. The beautiful small village included a fountain, church, and various houses and buildings all built in a traditional antioquian style of architecture and of coarse looked stunning decorated with excessive Christmas lighting. It was awesome to see a traditional village but was absolutely packed with hoards of people so it was quite hard to fully appreciate the significance of the re-model. After we explored the village we went to the lookout above pueblito pieser to observe the huge city by night. There was a massive nativity scene up on the lookout and the panoramic view of the city was amazing, as we went at night time, we could see all the christmas lighting displays along the Medellin river below.  After we got some sweet snaps with the city as the back drop we went down to the river to explore the famous light display. Crowded with thousands of people there really was a Christmas atmosphere about. The river is covered with thousands of water powered spinning lights that go further than you can see along with lots of displays along the river bank. Unfortunately the lights were switched off before we got to explore the full exhibition but we will return to see the rest. We then went to check out uncle Javier's club called ay-karamba which was so cool! It had different levels, laser lights, smoke machine and a nice big tv. There was a range of music playing salsa, meringue, regeton, cumbia, electronic and there were also some surprise songs that had actions that everyone knew. We cracked up laughing as everyone was all of a sudden acting like a gorilla, shimmying, and going low right to the ground. We had lots of fun and got the chance to see some really good dancers. 
On saturday the 18th we went to el penol with Sebastian and uncle Ivan (the youngest uncle). It is pretty much a gigantic rock, absolutely colossal in size. The rock has the dodgiest looking stairway up to the summit which we have no idea how they managed to build. While in awe at the rock itself we didn't realise the amazing surroundings around us until we were halfway up. The summit has the most beautiful 360degree view of the hundreds of islands created by the intentional flooding of the land. Our attention on the rock turned to the amazing green scenery as we took some stunning photos from the top of el penol. After a cool beverage we descended back down to the bottom of the rock and went to check out the city nearby. It was a replacement town as the original is submerged due to the damn. We enjoyed a staple Colombian meal of chocolo arepa and a massive chunk of feta before heading back to Medellin. 
We got back after the two hour drive and got ready to see what the clubs in medallion have to offer. We went to an area similar to Courtney place in that the whole area is dedicated to the night life. The bars and streets were over flowing with people so we found a wicked rooftop bar and enjoyed a couple of quiet drinks. We then went to explore the other bars and clubs in the area. Lleras Parque Was really nice and decorated with lots of christmas light. There was such a range of places from casual bars, discotechs, electonica, reggaton and pop clubs and also the more traditional salsa, cumbia and merengue clubs. A really cool night. 
On Sunday we caught the metro out to a traditional antioquian restaurant with Sebastian, juan Pablo and their mother blanca lilia. The place was a bit like a ranch as it had lots of horses and numerous other animals including a llama, donkeys, goats, sheep, rabbits and different kinds of birds. It also had an awesome straw like roof which really gave a traditional feel about it. We ordered our meal and a starter dish that we didn't know about came out first. It was a dish called chunchurria, a favourite of juan pablo's who had talked about it a lot over our stay here and was very excited about us trying it. We were quite hesitant to try chunchurria as it is pigs intestines, but we gave it a go and to juan pablo's disappointment we did not like it. However our meals came and to our surprise they were massive! We washed the taste of intestine out with our delicious meals before checking out the animals. Our favourite had to be the zebra donkey. The following day we headed over to a small town an hour out of
Medellin called San Pedro with Sebastian, auntie Amparo and her 3 year old son Miguel. We went to a commercialised farm. After a guided tour Frano and Sebastian took to the tracks on quad bikes before we enjoyed a meal in the restaurant. After we went to check out the town. Like all south american town plazas it had a beautiful church as the centre piece. It had a grand but modest exterior but the most beautiful interior. Large white columns lined the isle but the main feature was the amazing paintings on the ceiling. 
Today we had a good day exploring more of Medellin city. Medellin has the most effective public transport system. All for one ticket costing $1.50 NZ, you can catch a bus to a metro station, ride the various lines of the metro and included in the system are two separate gondolas taking commuters up to the suburbs in the hills. A really efficient and extensive system that corresponds to the city, landscape and the peoples needs. We took one of the gondolas up from the west end of the city and enjoyed the fly over tour with great views of the city. One part of the gondola travels over a very poor area. It was quite sad to see how some people are living, but they did appear to be better than some of the slums in Peru. After our small adventure we headed to a new mall called Santa Fe. It was a amazing multi-storey mall with various opening roofs, glass floor bridges and an ice skating rink in the middle. We had a look around the shops and got a feed before heading home. On the way we drove through parts of town beautifully lit up and decorated with Xmas lights, and we got a preview of more of the city we are yet to explore.

Medellin es una chimba

We arrived into Medellin, Colombia on Wednesday evening. Sebastian, Necane's cousin, was there waiting to pick us up. It wasn't until we arrived in Medellin we heard about the weather they had been having and the chronic slips around the district, the biggest burying a village and trapping 150 people. We were very shocked to hear this and see slips everywhere as we drove from the airport into Medellin city. Luckily we have not experienced any of the weather apart from the occasional shower, hopefully we continue to get the weather while we are here.
We arrived back to the house where we would be staying for the next five weeks. The family really welcomed us in and did everything they could to make us feel comfortable and at home. AND to both our excitement they had a 40day old golden retriever puppy. He is the cutest thing ever. He looks like the perfect little puppy off the klenex add, but he constantly bites anything and everything he can. Luckily his teeth are too small to do anything yet, but in a week or two there will be trouble.
The house is really cool, it is in a closed off neighbourhood with security guards (with big guns) at the gate. It is a thin three and a half storey town house decorated beautifully with classical ceiling details and light shades etc. The only problem is that the ceiling is extremely low and Frano hits his head on the light shade every time he stands up.
We were welcomed on the first night by a Gallego family reception of about half of the 14 brothers and sisters. Everyone is extremely nice, the only issue was remembering everybody's names but we are getting there. Dancing is a huge part of the life here so after a couple shots of Aguardiente the music was turned up. Mario, who we think is extremely similar to Guillermo in terms of mannerisms and being the life of the party, forced Necane up for dance lessons along with one of the woman to dance with Frano.  It was a nice welcoming and we could tell we were going to be spoilt during our stay here in Medellin.
The following day we planned out our Colombian itinerary, stuff to do in and around Medellin, our trip to the coast and to the Amazon. We then had a bit of a driving tour around Medellin on our way to one of their many massive malls. The traffic here is quite bad and can slow things down a lot. We have never seen so many motorbikes. There are as many motorbikes as cars here. The mall was really cool, much bigger than anything we have in NZ and includes a small theme-park. It had an awesome view of the city. It gets dark here very early, by 6 the sun has gone. Driving back through town we got a bit of a preview of the amazing lights display Medellin puts on every christmas but that will be for another night. The next day we got ready for our weekend trip to Santa Fe, the region 45minutes out of Medellin where people often have recreational houses/farms. Before we set off we went to Bello, a suburb of Medellin where Guillermo was brought up, and where the family owns four clothing stores. We had a good look around the stores and the main square where there is a beautiful old cathedral. The memorial service for the people lost in the big slip was taking place so we didn't hang around. We then set off to Santa Fe for the weekend. We arrived at the place and we could not believe our eyes. The place was incredible, it was pretty much a personal resort. It had multiple houses, an outdoor living room with a pool table and flat screen tvs, an outdoor kitchen and dinning room by the swimming pool, all the farm toys with multiple quad-bikes each worth more than most cars and full time cleaners, workers and cooks. We joined the party of 200 odd people under the massive marque and enjoyed being served free alcohol and the most amazing food over the night. Different live acts of singers, bands and dancers performed on the stage and once again we were forced into dancing to the multiple genres of music. It was an amazing night and we met lots of people, all who were extremely welcoming and were so pleased we were visiting their country. I think it is something in their culture but all the people we have met are so friendly, welcoming and hospitable.
After partying to the early hours, we woke the next morning in the peak of the day to 35degrees and enjoyed an amazing lunch in the shade by the pool before having a swim. We then hit the steam room to complete the three-step hangover cure.
Once we were refreshed and revitalised after a day of relaxing we head to the town for ice-cream. The main square was really beautiful with a big white colonial church, an amazing fountain, cobblestone streets and all lit and decorated with Christmas lighting. We then went back to the farm to indulge in another amazing dinner and a movie before an early night. The following day we woke early to explore the farm. On our way to the ranch we came across a big parrot like bird so we got some good shots of him. The stables were full of horses but we were more interested in the big weird bulls and cows. Unlike the breeds we have in new Zealand these were much bigger and had huge humps of muscle and fat on their neck. We got close to some but others would have enjoyed to stomping on us so we stayed clear of them. We also saw other weird animals and insects at the farm like massive wasps, dragonflies and moths, lizards, and a snake. Once again we were feed more amazing food and cooled off from the extremely humid environment in the pool. We then packed up our gear and convoyed to the second largest river in Colombia. We admired the dodgy looking 110 year-old awesome wooden bridge that spanned across it, before heading back to Medellin after an amazing weekend.

A Bit of Cusco

The day after the inca trail and the big night we slept in and took it easy indulging at our favorite restaurant, "Jacks" (the most amazing food at massive portions all for about $9NZ) before heading for the massage salon. The main profession in Cusco must be a masseuse as you are hassled everywhere you go for a massage. This makes for a very competitive market. You can hustle them down for the best bargain saying the other lady just offered it for half the price.  We both received a massage for over an hour for under $10NZ which fueled our new addiction. Revitalised after our amazing massage we head for the markets picking up some wicked goodies to bring home. We had an easy night as everyone was still recovering and we had a big day planed for tomorrow.
The next day we were picked up to go white-water rafting 2hours out of cusco. We piled into three rafts and hit the rapids. We had an awesome day on the water before heading back to cusco for our last night with the gap tour. We started at the hostel with our 1.1litre bottles of beer and a bottle of Peru's favorite, pisco to go around, before heading to our favorite ruckus club for one last night with the group. With similar antics from two nights before, it proved to be an awesome finally to an amazing 2weeks. The next day the group began to split their separate ways to continue their trips around south America. It was quite sad to say goodbye as we had become so close, but really good to know we now have contacts around the world we can keep in touch and meet up in years to come. 
Half the group left on Saturday and the other half had another day or two in cusco like us. We were pretty sore after the previous day of rafting  and the big night so it seemed like a good excuse to get another massage. 
The next day we decided to head up to have a look at the saxsaywoman ruins above the city. Like most of Cusco, any inca buddings were ravaged by the Spanish. Some striped down and used as the base of the main building around cusco, the walls of saxsaywoman were ripped down and the stones were taken else where for the Spanish buildings. At a fraction of the original height, the ruins are still extremely impressive. Unlike all the inca walls we had seen, these stones were much larger in scale and the colossal stones dwarfed us. Each stone fitted perfectly into the next and locked each stone in. A perfect example of the amazing Incan masonry work. We explored the ruins and admired the view of cusco city before we headed back for our next experience. We had managed to get tickets for the local football match. The cusco team faced relegation so the tickets were in high demand and people were lining up for hours to get them. We decided to pay the 300% mark up ($12nz per ticket). We arrived to the stadium and realised what we were about to experience. Policemen were on horses and thousands of football crazed fans flocked the streets. We noticed people were trying to climb the barbed wire fences to get in while we searched for the right gate to enter as we had tickets. We found our gate and joint the line of 2000thousand people trying to get in the same gate. The line was very civilized until charges were made at the gates by 100odd fans without tickets. These charges would happen at 5minute intervals and each time 10people would sneak through. We had tickets so we thought we would be sweet, what we didn't realize is that once the stadium is full, it's full, regardless of who has tickets. We were on the homestretch to get in when the guards yelled something in Spanish which outraged the crowd as they tried to close the gates. The crowd including us made a run for the gate but were denied entry by the massive steal doors and cops with batons. We eventually worked out that the stadium was full as outraged fans waved their tickets about yelling and some crying. The crowd did everything they could get gain entry but they wouldn't budge. One lady got up in an officers face smacking the door behind him yelling derogatory terms in Spanish. After that didn't work she retreated back to arm herself with stones which she threw at them. The police remained calm and were not too phased by the woman's behavior to our surprise. An officer approached her telling her to calm down and she responded by stealing the officers hat and running away. She was tackled then helped out by a few of her supporters but eventually taken away in the paddy-wagon. Along with the crowd we learnt this gate wasn't opening after an attempt was made by the angry crowd to break it open. It looked like it was about to burst before reinforcements came to break the attack. We realised out tickets were now useless to went to explore the other gates. Around the corner we found another few thousand outraged fans causing even more havoc that required the police on horses to maintain the crowd. After anger and force didn't succeed, people reverted to cunningness as a bunch of boys created a small hole in the fence behind one of the stands. A few slid through right behind three officers backs while they were distracted by another attack on a nearby gate. Everyone was persistent but like most of the supporters we had no luck. Frano tried his luck bribing one of the guards not to her amusement. While we didn't get in, we sure had an experience not getting in. Experiencing that was something in itself. It wasn't until the last 15minutes where another attack on the gates were made we had our chance to get in. We made a ran for the gate and were finally successful. We could see why they weren't letting anymore people in, the 40,000 capacity stadium was at at least 50,000. We admired the atmosphere of the stadium and watched people letting off firework bombs in one of the stands as the cusco team saved themselves from relegation with the 2-1 win. After the game we walked back to town takin in the experience. We met the others for one last dinner as the remaining group members were off on a night bus and an early flight in the morning. 
We had a bus from Cusco to Lima at 8pm so we enjoyed our last day of Cusco seeing a few more sites and finishing off our market shopping. 
We booked our 22hour bus ride with a random company to save a bit of money. We didn't realise how 'random' it was until we got to the bus station. The whole thing seemed quite unprofessional compared to the other two mainstream companies we had been with. We finally boarded the bus a bit nervous about the whole situation but we booked first class so  had extremely big nice seats that almost recline flat. As we were leaving cusco the bus slowed down to jogging pace and we heard a few men outside the bus. Frano had a look to see what was going on and saw a few men running alongside the bus with the bag compartment open throwing in some large suspicious looking sacks. That hopped back on board and left us wondering what the hell was going on. A little of edge we managed to get to sleep and have the best bus sleep to date due to the nice seats. Halfway through the night we stopped and we saw the same men get out and take their sacks out of the luggage compartment. We slept a lot easier after that. We are almost in Lima after 20hours of driving, despite the weird bus ride and discovering we were driving south for quite a long time to our north destination, it has been the best bus ride so far. So lets hope we get our bags when we hop out at
Lima!

The Inca trail, Machu Picchu

We stayed in a small town in the sacred valley the day before we started the Inca trail. We got ourselves some inca style wooden walking sticks and missioned it up to some ruins on the hill face in the rain. The ruins were pretty amazing and and got us very excited about what we were about to see on our four day trek along the famous inca trail.

We got up early the next day ready to set off on our adventure following the steps of the incas. We were kitted out with alpaca knitwear, walking staffs and dyke walking boots as we set off the first day along the trail. We encountered some ruins on the way along with Andean locals along the track.
 

We discovered the rumors about the porters were true. The Necane-sized men hooned past us carrying our bags, along with our tents and food for the next three days, wearing minimalistic tyre tread sandals as we were left struggling with our day packs and full on hiking boots up the steady incline. We reached camp by lunch time where we would spend the night before tomorrows early 5am start. Ironically, the porters clapped us in on our arrival to camp as we noticed all our tents had been set up for us and had a three coarse lunch waiting for us. We chilled out at camp before we were served another three coarse meal for dinner. The team looking after us we absolutely amazing and we were treated like royalty to the extent we felt embarrassed. We were woken in the morning by the roosters followed by a cup of tea delivered right to our tent door along with warm water to wash our face, hands and feet. With a great 5am start to the day we ate our breakfast and set off on the second and most challenging leg of our journey. Inclining over 1000metres and a couple of hours, we victoriously reached the top of dead womans pass 4200metres above sea.

 

We all dealt with the altitude quite well but it did make it that much harder to breathe and get our selves up the hill. We all went at our own pace and met at the peak for a triumphant photo. The drizzle began to settle in so everyone whipped out their rain ponchos for the first time and hooned it down the other side towards our second campsite. The steep original inca stone path mixed with a bit of rain made for a lethal track. The porters were not phased by this as they ran past us with our big bags. With a few minor slips among the group we all made it safely to camp where once again we found our tents set up and lunch waiting. We spent the afternoon and evening chilling out playing cards etc. Frano was forced to perform the SPC haka on his lonesome after losing a game, much to the confusion of the non-English speaking audience. We were fed with another amazing dinner and gifted an even more amazing cake for dessert.

Unfortunately the sleep at this campsite wasn't too great as our tent was situated on top of a rocky sand-bed but we were woken with more royal treatment. We set off day three after the most amazing breakfast consisting of pancakes topped with chocolate sauce. After a short walk we explored some more inca ruins and another small city along the way. Unfortunately Necane was feeling quite ill from a range off things so we kept it easy at the back of the pack until lunch. After 5 hours of hiking we indulged in another 5star meal courtesy of our porters before taking on the "gringo killer", thousands of slippery, declining, inca stone steps, some verging on the classification of a ladder.



The scenery was just amazing as we entered the jungle as we were now much lower in altitude. The third day definitely the most impressive in both ruins and scenery. We came across more ruins shortly before the third and final campsite. These ruins were the most impressive and extensive yet as well as maintaining much of the originality. A lot of the more popular  ruins have been restored, well maintained and taken apart and had the mortar between the stones replaced. Although this is done immaculately, and is better for the long run, they currently lose a certain quality about them. These final ruins have been left un touched with overgrown grass and moss covered stones. They had a really amazing quality about them.
Just before camp we stopped and some of the group took on the porters in a game of football. Just before dinner some of the group came to explore some more ruins close to the camp site.


These ruins were even more impressive with extensive water channels throughout the old city feeding the agricultural terraces. 600years later they are still doing their job. The stonework was immaculate with each stone fitting together like a giant vertical jigsaw puzzle. We explored the sun temple, various houses and terraces getting some wicked shots of the ruins before heading back for dinner. We tucked into our final supper and went to bed early as we had a 3am start in the morning.
We were woken before the crack of dawn. We packed our bags up and were first in line for the machu picchu control gate. The line built up as ever other group lined up behind us before the gate opened just before 5.30am. The gate opened and we were first off the blocks as on of our porters set the pace. We were so keen to be the first at machu picchu we ran the 6km along the inca path to the sungate. Reaching it before 6am, the view was obstructed by thick fog.



By the time we finished the final decline into machu picchu the fog had lifted to present the perfect photographic postcard conditions for the mystical city. The boys were the first people to arrive from the inca trail and were only beaten by a few tourists who stayed close by. Frano achieved his goal of getting there before the lazy tourists arrived on the train and polluted his photos with their presence.

The Machu picchu city proved to be more amazing than its reputation not just  due to it's shear scale and immaculate stone work, but the whole mystical scenery surround the ruins.
We were the first to be issued passes to the mountain wanapicchu which overlooks the city. We then began our exploration of the city. Our guide from the inca trail took us on a tour around the ruins explaining the purpose of each area, building techniques, astronomic theories, the history and the discovery of the ancient site.


We are still amazed at the size of some of the stones used to construct the walls and how they managed to get them into place, along with the perfectly fitting stones that lock into each other without mortar. Unfortunately machu picchu is so commercialised it loses some of it's mysteriousness. It is so well maintained with well groomed grass and the stones are kept moss free. The whole site has been restored, meaning it has been disassembled and reassembled with new mortar between the rocks. I would have liked to see it in more of an original state but i guess this way it won't fall into a stste of disrepair and the restoration will allow for the ruins to be experienced by future generations.

 After our exploration of the ruins, we head for Wanapicchu. Wanapicchu is the mountain peak that features in most shots towering over machu picchu. We soon learnt this wasn't for someone scared of heights and why the climb is restricted to 400 people per day. The thin path winds up to the top and became quite awkward whenever you encountered anyone coming down as it was only wide enough for one and someone faced a plummeting fall if they lost balance. Steeper than any of the paths on the inca trail, some parts required getting on all fours to climb the stone steps/ladder. Luckily Peru doesn't have OSH, so the original inca path was not ruined by safety rails as it would be in New Zealand. We reached the top of wanapicchu and found more ruins to explore after performing a few line-outs in front of the picturesque ruins of machu picchu well below us.

After looking around the ruins, enjoying the scenery and snapping some sweet shots we head back down the deadly trail back to machu picchu. On our way back down the drizzle began to settle in which is typical weather of the area. Considering we did the inca trail in the beginning of the rainy season we were very lucky with the weather we received. We could have not have had a better morning at machu picchu and considering we had been their since 6am we had already had a good look around and were all pretty stuffed by 1pm. We got back to machu picchu and Frano finished exploring the ruins in the drizzle, grabbing a few last shots before we met up with the group. We hopped on a bus down to the small town at the foot of the mountains where we grabbed lunch before our train ride back to cusco. The most amazing day to date, machu picchu truly is one of the worlds ancient wonders.
We got back to cusco in time for dinner and 24hour challenge had been set, 3-3. After the massive day, the four days of hiking and the early start everyone was pretty stuffed until we found a club serving free "Cuba Libre's". They cranked a bit of salsa and we pulled out a few of the moves we had learnt a few days before. We thought we were picking it up until we saw a few of the locals show off, they were pretty amazing. The night went on and the atmosphere started to heat up as the cuba Libre's and cervezas went down. Our attention was grabbed as the barmen jumped up on the bar, each armed with a bottle of bourbon. While one of our mates from the tour had been pulled up on the bar by a local Peruvian girl, there were free shots from the bottle all-round before the barmen took to the bar itself with the spirit, priming it with bourbon. Next thing we knew the bar was on fire and was being feed by bourbon. South Americans are crazy and know how to party. An epic night to finish off an epic four days.

GAP TOUR - Huacachina, Nasca, Arequipa, Colca Canyon & Cusco

We met up with our GAP tour group in Lima to begin our trip down the coast of Peru towards Cusco and the inca trail. Our group is awesome, everyone is early 20's with 6 Aussies, 2brits and 8kiwis including ourselves. Wicked bunch of people and everyone gets along really well. We left Lima for Nasca on a bus where the group decided to stray from the intinerary and visit an Oasis called Huacachina. Best decision yet. The oasis was amazing with a small little village around a little lake surrounded by the biggest sand dunes we had ever seen. We spent the night at the bar getting to know the group over a cerveza and pisco sour. The next morning we had the biggest pancake in the world filled with beautiful fruit and covered in chocolate sauce before we set for the dunes in our souped-up dune buggy.

We hit the slopes with the craziest Peruvian driver who enjoyed making all 10 passengers scream with both excitement and fear. We thought the highlight of the dunes would we sandboarding down the huge drops which was wicked but the buggies took the cake and left every one of us buzzing for the rest of the day. The highlight of the trip so far. 

We spent the afternoon chilling in the pool before we set off for Nasca in 3 huge American muscle cars, we picked the Dodge charger. We reached Nasca and stopped at a look out to see the famous and mysterious Nasca lines. While the lookout didn't do the lines full justice we got a pretty good look. GAP does not advise the flights over as there have been a few deaths so we decided against the flight over them.

In Nasca we went to a traditional Peruvian meal that is cooked in the ground on hot rocks AKA hungi bro. We then set off on a night bus to Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru. The night bus really nice with reclining seats but the ride was horrible with a man snoring the whole 10hours. We got no sleep. We arrived into Arequipa which is very beautiful, quite different to the rest of the Peru we had seen.  The people in Arequipa were quite different to everywhere else. A lot less intrusive. It appeared to be a bit wealthier than other areas. The main plaza had some beautiful colonial architecture, with a wicked church as the centre piece.

We went to an exhibition to see a frozen girl from the Inca empire 600 years ago. The 12 year old girl was a sacrifice to the Inca gods and was preserved in ice at the top of a volcano. She was a pretty cool thing to see, we were surprised how well the ice had preserved her and how much she had shrunk. That evening we went to a lookout for a beautiful view of the city and the huge volcano next to it before going out dinner. This was round two for tradition food where we tried guinea pig. We had been warned, but the others were not aware it came out more or less whole, head intact with buck teeth and all. Put off by it's appearance, it didn't taste too bad, most people compare it to chicken but it's more like pork.

We had a 3am start the next morning as we were setting off to Colca Canyon, the second deepest canyon in the world. Reluctant to get up, we set off on our morning bus out of Arequipa towards Colca reaching altitudes of almost 5000metres above sea level. We started our epic 7hour walk into the canyon with our awesome Peruvian tour guide Marcus.

 

We walked down the canyon for 3hours straight down a dusty rock zigzag track. While we were struggling with our minimal day packs local villagers would pass us carrying 8 metre water pipes and bags of concrete in home-made sandals. Insane. We reached the bottom of the canyon in the scorching heat and head up for a village on the other face of the canon for lunch. We indulged in some more local cuisine, stir fried alpaca. Much like lamb but more tough. After our feed we set off for another 3 hours towards our amazing oasis lodge at the foot of the canyon.

  

Enjoying the surreal views above us we leant a bit about the agriculture and the awesome water channels that feed the terraces with water. We reached our oasis huts late afternoon where we would spend the night. We cooled off in the pool after our long day trekking before dinner and chilling out. The cabins we're legit traditional huts with straw roofs and dirt floors. They were awesome, we had proper beds though so we got a good sleep. We got up at 5am the next day to set off back up the canyon, it was already light. We started trekking up hill when Necane hopped on a mule to take her up the track while the rest of us hiked up on foot. We reached the top by 8am in time for breakfast before going to the hot springs. On our way we saw a couple of condors, massive birds with wing spans if 3metres and got photos with an eagle on our head. We got back to Arequipa in the evening before setting off on our 10hour night bus to Cusco. We arrived early morning and once again didn't get much sleep on the bus so checked into our hotel and caught up on some sleep until lunch. We got up and went to explore the famous city. Cusco is amazing and lives up to it's name. Once the capital of the inca empire, the city was destroyed by the colonizing spanish. Like all cities in Peru, cusco is centered around a colossal church in the main plaza. What sets cusco apart is the incorporation of the old inca ruins into the colonial architecture of the Spanish. While it is a shame the spanish knocked down the inca buildings, many of the beautiful inca stone walls remain and are used at the base of the colonial buildings. it is a really cool mix of styles. We are loving Cusco so far, especially the markets. We bought all our alpaca gloves, scarves, hats jerseys and socks for our treck up the inca trail to machu  picchu. That night the group went out for dinner, searched around for our free pisco sours before we hit the clubs for a bit of salsa dancing. Luckily we were able to get some free lessons. We all got into the groove, so we thought  and had an awesome night a few cervezas later. We are currently on a bus to the sacred valley where we will visit some ruins and spend the night before we set off on our four day hike tomorrow. The inca trail and machu picchu is sure to be one of the highlights of our trip if not thee highlight so we are pretty excited to finally experience it. We look forward to telling you all about it on our return to cusco in 5days.

Missing you all but loving every minute of our amazing trip.
Love Frano & Necane.