From the mad…to the sublime
We survived our first piece of ‘real’ travelling having left our host’s side and ventured into central Lima all on our own!
Lima is a mad, bustling city, where everyone drives like Karen! (even nobby solano – alledgedly – was involved in a crash the day we were in town, alledgedly word amongst the taxi drivers is he had had a few too many beers, crashed and simply walked away from his car – things are a bit more wild west here!) We ventured into the central market, where you can buy absolutley anything, from the latest dvds (stuff not even in cinema yet) to a digital camera stolen only an hour before from an unsuspecting gringo. We ate lunch at a local hangout with genuine Limenos (the locals). During the day we saw practically no other tourists, Charlotte and her blonde hair certainly attracted lots of attention but thankfully we experienced no difficulties, only sharing smiles and greetings with passing Limenos.
We had a lovely final night dining out in Lima thanks to our fantastic hosts; Lorna, Laurent, and Sean, you guys really made our stay special with your overwhelming hospitality.
Today we arrived in Cusco and checked into our first hostel – casa del la gringa. It is really laid back and it is run by a South African Hippy chick. We have already enjoyed our first taste of coca tea. The altitude here (+3,500m) litterally takes your breath away, although the local architecture and general vibe don’t do bad either.
Plan now is to spend 2 days acclimatising, before we set out on the 4 day trek to the lost city of the incas – Machu Picchu.
It would be great to know how you are doing back home, you can let us know by posting comments back via this site!
Tags: Lima, Peru
Chris and Charl
Hi you two,
Who the heck is Nobby Solano?????
Glad you are enjoying yourselves…
Just seen your Great Aunty Annie, Charlotte (aged 94). Told her you are off travelling around the world, her reply was “What wrong with Cleethorpe”. No answer to that one is there…
Take care of yourselves, LOVE and miss you like mad.
Mum xx3
Finally you managed to master the site!
Chris is shaking his head that you do not know who Nobby Solano is – ask Mat!
Never been to Cleethorpes – maybe we will when we return..hope you gave my love to Aunty Annie.
Thinking of you all.
My Saint Christopher has not come off since I left
Charl
Just all sounds so brill! Like your Mum, I’m a bit slow on this technical malarkey, I can’t work out what date you are posting your blog so already losing track…!! Hope the Trail is fantastic, we’re so jealous – but vertigo prevails! P & Mxx
Whats wrong with my driving!!!!!
By the time you read this you will have accomplished the trail and survived the tents, we are looking forward to hearing if Chris survived the insects.
Mum was really pleased with the photo you both sent her, we had lunch out to celebrate her birthday, you missed out on some very nice chocolate cake but we all enjoyed it on your behalf.
Love to you both
Karen & Co.
hello from pissey Leeds…
Hope your both having a great time!!!!
take care
Lucas
Hi you two idiots!
We’re at Shell’s for tea, so had a look at your messages, and realised you’d arrived ok and are already having a ball. Bastards!
We’re jealous – we wish we had something interesting to tell you that we’d been doing.
We had Jerk Chicken for tea – and the weather is crap! One bonus – plenty of cheesecake to go round tonight!
Jon jogged from Morley to Kirkhamgate tonight – he weighed himself at the weekend, and as he’s 15 stone and counting, he’s now on jogging overdrive! No cheesecake for him.
You’re missing Soccer Aid and Big Brother (full of freaks), but hey, we’re sure you’re not stressing about that!!
Shell says (Charlotte) have you started reading the weird book yet (she didn’t actually say weird, but you and I know it is). Is it about cats?! I must say I am worried about my sanity now that I don’t have your moral support – I may be overtaken by feline tendancies – or sensibleness if I’m with Nicola too long?!?!
Enough waffling now (nothing changes).
Missing you already.
Glad you are smiling lots (the photos will look better!).
Take care.
Lots of Love and kisses.
Later Skater….
S & J/M & J xxxxxx
Hya you 2 ,
Tallie and Christof-vermicelli!!
Hope you are both ok and are having fun with the walkie talkies,…got the hang of them since our practice in the garden!!!
Leeds have not had much luck as they lost in the championship final! (oh well maybe next year!)
I am missing you very much but (charlotte) enjoying your jewellry!! It’s very glam! erm.. you are missing the freaky Big Brother and the fab Soccer Aid which is very funny! (I think you would enjoy it!)
Hope you are good and lvong the rainforest!
love you and miss you tonz and tonz
{x} Shorty {x}
Love you xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ha ha I can count on you Sarah to make me laugh!! Not sure you realised that this was being posted on the web what with telling me all about Jons Weight!! But maybe you did?
Yes Shell – about three or four chapters in to the weird book – just found the fourth insight (thats proof I am reading it)…think fellow travellers may think I m a freak when I try to swap it tho!!
Nic – Hope you had good holiday?
Shorty – glad you enjoying the jewellery – accesorising is fun! Hope you are able to make the football competion – are you on hol then? Be good!
Missing you all (and the cheesecake!) – although I did have some when we were in Lima!
Love you all lots (am trying to get some photos published but mainly scenery —no funny faces (well Not if you dont count Chris full on beard!))
P.S Shorty – Chris was wondering who lost in the play-offs …so thanx for keeping us posted – he is having sports news withdrawal symptoms!
Streety says,
Lucas, hola from sunny Peru!
Hope you and Beth are well, keep in touch dude and remember, he who wins in the bubble will forever be known as the chimpion!
Pisp.
Streety says;
Hola Pete and Margie! Point taken about the dates! Hopefully you will get to read this response, although I must admit I am also struggling to get to grips with the technical side of travelling, I bet it wasnt like this in your day!
Depending on the view you have of the site, the entries are date stamped (viewing through the home page seems to work best!) although from now on I will make sure we add a date at the start to help keep track of things.
Hope you both are well, today (27/5) we leave cusco and head south to Arequipa where we head to the second largest canyon in the world to go Condor spotting! Certainly beats hearing about Rooneys foot!
Take care and keep in touch!
Streety says;
Karen, sorry we missed out on the chocolate cake!
Hope you, Tom and the boys are well, we have put some photos onto the web of our first week, although not yet published the machu picchu photos, they will go on when the next memory card is full!
Take care and speak soon
Love Chris