Thursday, February 15, 2007
Ok I know a lot of people have been asking me to put photos on the blog. Unfortunately there are few computers in South America that are fast enough to facilitate this. I actually found a net cafe here in Huacachina that is fast enough but of course, the PCs don´t support USB. Great. Still I´ll be in Lima on Saturday with a few hours to kill before our flight to Sao Paolo (I´m going to Brazil!!!) so hopefully I´ll find somewhere there where I can upload some piccys. Hang tight!
Well we arrived in Iquique and it was everything we expected. A big seaside resort full of high rise hotels and casinos. On the upside the weather was great but on the downside the beach was a bit of a disappointment. Too much seaweed and rocks. On top of that we wasted one of our two days there trying to book a bus out of there the next day and some malarone for our forthcoming jungle trip. Still we enjoyed the evening on the beach and afterwards some Chinese food which we had been hankering after for a while but doesn´t seem to be too common in Peru or Bolivia! We had found a bus that went direct to Arequipa in Peru (our next destination) at 10.30 the next morning but the Ireland V France game was starting at 12 that day (or so we thought) and we didn´t want to miss it. So we opted for a bus to Arica, taxi over the border to Tacna and a further bus to Arequipa. Much more messy but worth it to see the match. We found out the next day to our dismay that I had messed up and the match was actually on Sunday and not Saturday.
So we had made the trip harder for ourselves and for nothing but not to worry. The trip was without incident and we got to enjoy a nice Italian meal in Tacna too while waiting for the bus. We arrived in Arequipa around 7am and once again I failed to get much sleep on the overnight bus. I had pretty much given up hope of seeing the French match and so went to bed for some kip. I woke up a little before kick off and decided to hit the internet in the hostel and let sky sports keep me up to date on the boys in green. Just before kick off an Irish girl went legging it round the hostel screaming “The match is on tv, the match is on tv!” Sure enough she wasn´t lying. Because it was a French game TV5 were showing it. Mon Dieu! About 10 paddys crammed into the tv room in the hostel to watch the game. There was an incredible feeling of excitement and nervousness in the room so I can only imagine what it would be like at Croker. We all know what happened next. ´nuff said.
That day we went out to walk around Arequipa and try and get rid of the post match depression but we had still not learned our lesson and yet again found ourselves wandering round a city on a Sunday when everything is closed! We gave up and went back to the hostel for some pool, table tennis, dinner and an early night. The next day we went to see Juanita the frozen ice woman. She was found in 2005 frozen on the top of a nearby mountain and was an Inca girl who had been sacrificed to the Gods. Her body was perfectly preserved and you can still see the crack in her skull where the inca hammer hit her. “It´s ok though”, our guide assured us. “She would have been drunk when it happened!” Afterwards we wandered round Arequipa a bit more and grabbed some food before heading back to the hostel for more pool, table tennis and table football before our bus to Ica.
We arrived in Ica the next morning and immediately got a taxi to Huacachina. Huacachina is basically an oasis in the middle of a desert and a few hotels around it. Surrounding the oasis entirely (except for the road to Ica) are massive sand dunes. The place exists solely on its tourism but is admittedly beautiful. Sandboarding, swimming in the hotel pools and boozing are about the only three activities to do there. We checked into our hotel and after a few hours kip, booked sandboarding for that afternoon. We went for lunch in a nearby restaurant that had a monkey tied to a tree in the middle of the garden. He was the cutest thing I´ve ever seen and in the last couple of days I´ve developed quite a friendship with the little guy. I drop by to see him every day and he enjoys looking at the photos on my camera with me (he holds the camera while I press the buttons) and yesterday he unscrewed my bottle of water and drank from it! It´s going to be tough to say goodbye to him. After a few hours of chilling by the pool we went sandboarding. AWESOME! Loved it completely. First they drive you around in the dune buggy a bit and try to scare you by zooming up steep dunes and flying down the other side. It´s pretty much like a roller coaster. When we finally got to do some sandboarding we were all slightly nervous at the steep dunes. Little did we know they would get progressively steeper as we went on! I tried a couple standing on the boards but fell instantly and kind of stumbled down the rest of the dune. I soon figured this was a waste of time and did the rest going down on my tummy which is faster anyway.
I was disappointed when it finally came to an end but vowed I´d be back again the next day. That night we had an all you can eat and drink BBQ at the hotel. The burgers were ming, the chicken was ok but the salads were great. As much avocado as I could eat – Clare you would have been jealous! When the free drink ran out we cracked into the beers and some whiskey that the English lads had bought. We sat by the pool for hours making merry until someone got the clever idea to climb the nearby sand dune. Myself and the two English ran at it. We lost one of the English guys early on but Nick and I kept at it. At first Nick ran ahead and made a lot of ground but I kept going slow and steady and when Nick had ran out of breath I passed him and was soon miles above him. It was tough going though as it was very steep, very tall and sand means for every step you take you take 2 back! At one point the peak looked miles away and I thought I´d never make it. Then all of a sudden I was there. I couldn´t believe it! I looked down and saw that Nick had a fair bit to go. I shouted words of encouragement and finally he made it to the top. We paused for a good while to take in the awesome view.
Then came the fun bit. The hotel we´re staying in backs onto the dune we had climbed so we legged it down the dune as fast as we could and burst through the palm trees to the poolside, threw off our clothes and jumped in the pool. The people still left at the bar didn´t know what was going on but I can categorically say that was the best swim I´d ever had! I was so sweaty, sandy and knackered from the climb. After a shower I went back to the bar for another beer but lasted about 3 seconds before my aching muscles forced me to go to bed. The next morning I slept and slept till Fiona woke me up informing me they were going to eat in the restaurant with the monkey. Monkey! I jumped out of bed and was ready to go. We spent the day chilling by the pool again (not much else to do!) and I eagerly signed up for another round of sandboarding. It was even better than the previous day as the guy brought us to an extremely high and steep slope that we hadn´t gone to the day before. The only thing was it was at the top of a dune where the sand was so soft the dune buggy couldn’t drive up there. So we had to climb it first with our boards and all. Coming down was great but I was so tired from the climb. This combined with everything else from the past few days meant I was up for an early night. I had barely enough energy for dinner – not much of a valentines day!
Well we arrived in Iquique and it was everything we expected. A big seaside resort full of high rise hotels and casinos. On the upside the weather was great but on the downside the beach was a bit of a disappointment. Too much seaweed and rocks. On top of that we wasted one of our two days there trying to book a bus out of there the next day and some malarone for our forthcoming jungle trip. Still we enjoyed the evening on the beach and afterwards some Chinese food which we had been hankering after for a while but doesn´t seem to be too common in Peru or Bolivia! We had found a bus that went direct to Arequipa in Peru (our next destination) at 10.30 the next morning but the Ireland V France game was starting at 12 that day (or so we thought) and we didn´t want to miss it. So we opted for a bus to Arica, taxi over the border to Tacna and a further bus to Arequipa. Much more messy but worth it to see the match. We found out the next day to our dismay that I had messed up and the match was actually on Sunday and not Saturday.
So we had made the trip harder for ourselves and for nothing but not to worry. The trip was without incident and we got to enjoy a nice Italian meal in Tacna too while waiting for the bus. We arrived in Arequipa around 7am and once again I failed to get much sleep on the overnight bus. I had pretty much given up hope of seeing the French match and so went to bed for some kip. I woke up a little before kick off and decided to hit the internet in the hostel and let sky sports keep me up to date on the boys in green. Just before kick off an Irish girl went legging it round the hostel screaming “The match is on tv, the match is on tv!” Sure enough she wasn´t lying. Because it was a French game TV5 were showing it. Mon Dieu! About 10 paddys crammed into the tv room in the hostel to watch the game. There was an incredible feeling of excitement and nervousness in the room so I can only imagine what it would be like at Croker. We all know what happened next. ´nuff said.
That day we went out to walk around Arequipa and try and get rid of the post match depression but we had still not learned our lesson and yet again found ourselves wandering round a city on a Sunday when everything is closed! We gave up and went back to the hostel for some pool, table tennis, dinner and an early night. The next day we went to see Juanita the frozen ice woman. She was found in 2005 frozen on the top of a nearby mountain and was an Inca girl who had been sacrificed to the Gods. Her body was perfectly preserved and you can still see the crack in her skull where the inca hammer hit her. “It´s ok though”, our guide assured us. “She would have been drunk when it happened!” Afterwards we wandered round Arequipa a bit more and grabbed some food before heading back to the hostel for more pool, table tennis and table football before our bus to Ica.
We arrived in Ica the next morning and immediately got a taxi to Huacachina. Huacachina is basically an oasis in the middle of a desert and a few hotels around it. Surrounding the oasis entirely (except for the road to Ica) are massive sand dunes. The place exists solely on its tourism but is admittedly beautiful. Sandboarding, swimming in the hotel pools and boozing are about the only three activities to do there. We checked into our hotel and after a few hours kip, booked sandboarding for that afternoon. We went for lunch in a nearby restaurant that had a monkey tied to a tree in the middle of the garden. He was the cutest thing I´ve ever seen and in the last couple of days I´ve developed quite a friendship with the little guy. I drop by to see him every day and he enjoys looking at the photos on my camera with me (he holds the camera while I press the buttons) and yesterday he unscrewed my bottle of water and drank from it! It´s going to be tough to say goodbye to him. After a few hours of chilling by the pool we went sandboarding. AWESOME! Loved it completely. First they drive you around in the dune buggy a bit and try to scare you by zooming up steep dunes and flying down the other side. It´s pretty much like a roller coaster. When we finally got to do some sandboarding we were all slightly nervous at the steep dunes. Little did we know they would get progressively steeper as we went on! I tried a couple standing on the boards but fell instantly and kind of stumbled down the rest of the dune. I soon figured this was a waste of time and did the rest going down on my tummy which is faster anyway.
I was disappointed when it finally came to an end but vowed I´d be back again the next day. That night we had an all you can eat and drink BBQ at the hotel. The burgers were ming, the chicken was ok but the salads were great. As much avocado as I could eat – Clare you would have been jealous! When the free drink ran out we cracked into the beers and some whiskey that the English lads had bought. We sat by the pool for hours making merry until someone got the clever idea to climb the nearby sand dune. Myself and the two English ran at it. We lost one of the English guys early on but Nick and I kept at it. At first Nick ran ahead and made a lot of ground but I kept going slow and steady and when Nick had ran out of breath I passed him and was soon miles above him. It was tough going though as it was very steep, very tall and sand means for every step you take you take 2 back! At one point the peak looked miles away and I thought I´d never make it. Then all of a sudden I was there. I couldn´t believe it! I looked down and saw that Nick had a fair bit to go. I shouted words of encouragement and finally he made it to the top. We paused for a good while to take in the awesome view.
Then came the fun bit. The hotel we´re staying in backs onto the dune we had climbed so we legged it down the dune as fast as we could and burst through the palm trees to the poolside, threw off our clothes and jumped in the pool. The people still left at the bar didn´t know what was going on but I can categorically say that was the best swim I´d ever had! I was so sweaty, sandy and knackered from the climb. After a shower I went back to the bar for another beer but lasted about 3 seconds before my aching muscles forced me to go to bed. The next morning I slept and slept till Fiona woke me up informing me they were going to eat in the restaurant with the monkey. Monkey! I jumped out of bed and was ready to go. We spent the day chilling by the pool again (not much else to do!) and I eagerly signed up for another round of sandboarding. It was even better than the previous day as the guy brought us to an extremely high and steep slope that we hadn´t gone to the day before. The only thing was it was at the top of a dune where the sand was so soft the dune buggy couldn’t drive up there. So we had to climb it first with our boards and all. Coming down was great but I was so tired from the climb. This combined with everything else from the past few days meant I was up for an early night. I had barely enough energy for dinner – not much of a valentines day!
# posted by Grum @ 6:04 AM 
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