She has also eaten Alpacca. Not the one in the picture but I bet it was one of its babies
.When we started this trip we had little interest in the pre-Inca civalisations but we are begining to realise what fantatic cultures they were. We took a flight over the Nasca lines. They cover over 180 Square miles and include animals, geometric shapes and straight lines. They where created over a period of 700 years, starting 3000 years ago. They can only be seen from the air and although there are theories no-one really knows what they were for.
The Nasca people used to create mummies and bury them in shallow graves. Most of these have been robbed and you can see human bones and cloth scattered over a huge area. However. some have been saved and the indian in the picture is 1000 years old. There is virtually no rain on this planeBUSES
Having done over 120 hours on South American buses we feel we are now in a position to pontificate on the service
1. There are two types of bus service. Luxury express with names like Cruz del Sur and Ormeno Royal Class. These buses have reclining seats, drinks and food service, toilets and tread on the tyres - other buses dont
2. Luxury buses hardly ever leave at a time you want
3. Timetables for all buses are for decorative purposes only. Buses often leave an hour late and arrive two hours late. No-one explains why and no-one makes a fuss
4. By law all buses must show violent films. A minimum of 100 bloody, gruesome deaths is considered a minimum.
Non-luxury buses
5. Your bags are tagged and you are given a corresponding ticket. However, this is just to give the driver something to do. Anyone can take any bags they want. So every time the bus stops everyone gathers round the windows to make sure their bags are not getting nicked. If there is any suspision everyone dives off to protect their bags
6. Pickpockets and other toe-rags love buses. There are loads of scams includuing sending children under the seats to get into your rucksack on the floor by your feet
7. Buses only stop to let people on and off. If you are desparate for a wee you have to jump off and go by the side of the road. Marilyn´s record is 8 hours without a pee
8. The floors sometimes get wet but I am sure it is only condensation
9. You get the authentic smells of Peru by taking the bus
10. You can buy just anything from cola to full meals on the buses. Sellers ride on the bus for a few miles and then get off and wait for the next bus going in the opposite direction.
When we have a long trip in front of us we tend to get a bit nervous especially if travelling a night. However, (touch wood) we have had always arrived in one piece. The buses are fantastic value for money costing about 1$ an hour
SOME OTHER STUFF
1. Marilyn has asked me to point out that she went down every sand dune perfectly. On the other hand I wasnt positioned on mine properly and it started to buck eventually hitting me on the nose and sending me sprawling into the sand. By the way the sand dunes are massive., including the biggest in the world at 2078M, Ben Nevis by comparison is 1344m
2. Even engineers and other educated people in Peru cant get jobs so they become taxi drivers. In major towns 14 out of every 15 vehicles is a taxi
3. We love live music but every band in peru reminds us of Ipswich high street. We hear that bloody ´´Id rather be a sparrow than a snail´´ song at least 30 times a day. marilyns daughter, Lucy, has suggested that if we could kill the pan pipe leader all the rest might fade away
4. Peru only has squeek cheese that is impossible to eat because of the noise it makes in your mouth
We are now carrying on further down the Southern peruvian desart and then going back up into the Andes to Arequipa
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