Thursday
Jul062006
Last Day in Cuzco (June 30, 2006)
Thursday, July 6, 2006 at 9:53PM It was sad to say goodbye to our friends Phil and Kathleen, and also Maria and our “home” in Cuzco for the past 20 days.
PERU
Map of Peru
The largest percentage of our trip will be spent in Peru. Deb lived in Lima for three years as a child, so she is very excited to be returning to this country of her youth for the first time in 25 years. We will enter Peru at Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca. We are doing the four-day Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu. We meet up with our friends Phillip, Kathleen and Jessica at Machu Picchu, and after absorbing these breathtaking ruins, we'll all return to Cuzco (via Ollantaytambo) for the Inti Raymi festival. Next we plan to do a four-day Amazon jungle trip out of Cuzco, then it's off to Nazca, Huacachina, and Lima. After Lima, we will head into the mountians near Huaraz where we will do another trek or two. Then it's back to the coast to visit ruins at Trujillo & Chiclayo. We'll cross the border into Ecuador near Piura, after forty glorious days in Peru.
Thursday, July 6, 2006 at 9:53PM Tuesday
Jul112006
Nazca (July 1, 2006 - Canada Day!)
Tuesday, July 11, 2006 at 2:00AM We arrived in Nazca around 8:00am (15 hours after leaving Cuzco), and were promptly attacked by some of the pushiest touts we have encountered yet.
Monday
Jul172006
Nazca to Huacachina (July 2, 2006)
Monday, July 17, 2006 at 8:23PM The cemetery contains the remains of the Nazca people from over 1000 years ago. The cemetery was badly looted centuries ago and all of the graves that contained valuable artifacts were stolen, but archaeologists have done a good job of recreating what the graves would have looked like originally, and there are around 12 open graves that are on display, complete with rotting mummies, skulls, bones, and offerings.
Monday
Jul172006
Huacachina (July 3-4, 2006)
Monday, July 17, 2006 at 8:26PM The dune buggy ride was awesome! It lasted a little over two hours, and was like a roller coaster ride. We stopped a few times to try sand boarding – at first we just went zooming down lying on the board on our stomach (much like tobogganing), and then we tried doing it standing up.
Monday
Jul172006
Travel to Lima (July 5, 2006)
Monday, July 17, 2006 at 8:29PM Lima has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site because of its colonial architecture, and the Plaza de Armas certainly didn’t disappoint. It is surrounded by the Cathedral, the Bishop’s House, the Governmental Palace and the City Hall, all of which are gorgeous buildings.