Start of South America trip - Peru

Calgary, Canada - LAX, USA - San Salvador, El Salvador - San Jose, Costa Rica - Lima, Peru - It took 24 hours and 4 flights to make it the Lima for the start of my South America tour. I grabbed a taxi to the hotel and immediately got a taste for Peruvian driving. I spent a couple of days in Lima and met up with my tour group before we headed south. An English lady and I were the only 2 that got on at Lima and the rest had been on since Quito.

Bukima Overland Tour - The tour with Bukima is on a big red MAN truck called Mo and we have a tour leader, Sas and her partner is the driver, Skank. The official tour goes from Quito, Ecuador to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and takes 15 weeks however travellers get on and off at different stops like I did at Lima. Mo has 20 seats in the back and the seating arrangement is varied with some seats facing in and others facing forwards and back. The days are mixed with 60% camping, 40% hotels and some days are specific travel days and we usually spend a couple of nights in each city. When we are in hotels we eat out because it is so cheap and we only prepare food when we are camping.



The Bukima crew - Skank and Sas (South Africa and NZ)
To Rio - UK: Anna, Stephanie; AUS: Janine; BELGIUM: Rodger and Yvette
To Santiago - NZ: Emily, Fiona; UK: Jayne, Mark and Rebecca
To La Paz - AUS: Mark and Katie, JP and Leanne; UK: Graham; RSA: Janice

Ballestas Islands & Huacachina, Peru - Our first day out of Lima was an early start and we headed down to the Ballestas Islands. They stunk bad of guano but they were full of animals. There were hundreds of South American sea lions, penguins, cormorants, pelicans and thousands of boobies and other native Peruvian birds. After fresh fish and chips and ceviche (Peru’s national dish of raw fish with lime and chilli) for lunch we headed to Huacachina where there are massive sand dunes in the desert. We went hooning around the dunes in sand buggies with V8 engines going up slopes more than 45º and then went sand boarding. It was absolutely awesome flying down the sand dunes at 60km/h on a board similar to a snowboard but thicker. I stacked it big a couple of times on the large dunes and came away with a few injuries however they were soon forgotten when we set up camp in the desert and started downing the Pisco Sour and coke around the campfire.



Nazca, Peru - After cleaning up and trying to wash all the sand off our bodies we made our way to Nazca to check out the ancient Nazca Lines. They are massive animals and geometric shapes that the Nazca Indians created in the desert. The flight over them in a Cessna took 30 minutes and was very bumpy, giving me motion sickness. I then went and chilled in the pool with a game of water polo. That night was my first experience of bad belly everybody gets when over here. It hit me suddenly and it wasn‘t much of a fun night.



Puerto Inka, Peru - I woke up and felt fine and we headed for the beach, stopping at an ancient Inca cemetery to see some mummies. We got to the beach and then chilled for the afternoon before having an open fire barbecue and sleeping on the beach. As per usual I quickly got the reputation of eating a lot and especially everyone’s leftovers. I have now been nicknamed “the garbage disposal“ or Hoover.



Arequipa, Peru - We left the coast and started gaining altitude by heading up the Andes and spent a couple of nights here. I ate a variety of different animals including fried guinea pig (like greasy chicken but not a lot of meat), llama and alpaca (a little like lamb) and ostrich steaks, both of which are very nice. I also sampled several of the local Pisco cocktails. Because Arequipa is at altitude, alcohol affects you a lot quicker which is good for a cheap night. The rest of the time we spent walking the streets meeting the really nice Peruvian people and dodging the 25,000 yellow taxis and the protesting pensioners burning effigies in the street.



Colca Canyon, Peru - After passing over a pass of 4,910 metres (about 16,200 feet) where breathing and whistling was pretty difficult we made it to the small Andean town of Chivay. On the way we managed to see many wild llamas, alpacas and vicuñas (like the other two but endangered) giving us a real Andean feel. The day after we made it to the Colca Canyon, second deepest canyon in the world and twice as large as the Grand Canyon, where we saw a few of the endangered Andean condors flying on thermals. Afterwards we travelled further inland, where the heaven’s opened up so we camped in an abandoned train station on the altiplano and drank mulled wine.



Cusco, Peru - First night in town we went to a flash restaurant where the tables are baths with goldfish in them and covered with a plate of glass, and then we hit the town ’til 4am. The next couple of days were spent sightseeing and shopping before we headed to the Sacred Valley to see ancient Inca ruins.