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On our flight from Atlanta to Lima we met an authentic limeno, Boris, who invited us to the nicest beach in Lima the next day. He is a computer programmer and showed us the richer part of town which we did not think existed as we tend to stay in the poorer parts of town. Lima, with an eight million population, has a very interesting location being surrounded by desert. When you leave the city the road passes for miles through "new villages" which seem to be growing out of the sand. The further from the city you get the more basic the shacks become.... until the point where all that people have is mats made out of reeds held up like tents on the desert. It is very bizarre to see them covering the sand dunes. We really liked Lima and where we stayed, Hostal Espana. After having visited many other cities I think that our fondness for the city was because it was novel for us, despite this we are going back to see the Museum of Gold that we missed. We left Lima for Nasca at 10 at night after having missed the bus the previous night. The busses are quite comfortable in Peru when they are not overbooked. We have adopted a policy of taking night busses as most journeys are eight hours or more and we thus save on accommodation for the night. Also travelling in the midday sun in an overcrowded bus without air conditioning can be a very unpleasant experience.

For a modest sum of $25 we took a 26 minute flight to have a good look on the Nasca lines, which are large geometric drawings traced on a desert plateau. We were six, including the pilot, the aeroplane did not look the most stable.. but everything went very well. The view from above was fantastic. We saw quite a few of the lines although it was only later after we went to a conference that we understood their significance and meaning. There use to be lines all over Peru but due to ignorance they have been lost. In the plateau near Nasca because of a special condition the lines have managed to survive. As the area is very dry and hot everyday the soil heats up to a point that even when it rains the water does not touch the ground and evaporates straight away. The lines are made by removing sun darkened stones found the ground and rearranged them to form a line or a geometric form. When you walk close to them you do not notice the lines, as there are stones everywhere. It is only when you are at one end of a line looking along it that you can see how perfectly straight the line disappears into the horizon. The geometric shapes represent stylised figures corresponding to the astrological calendar of the ancient Nasca culture. The figures are of different sizes, a figure can reach 90 meters in length! The figures are placed in such a way that they face the sun or the passage of a constellation on certain days of the year... but a lot more has to be discovered.
In recent years the inhabitants of the Nasca wanted more water to increment their agriculture. An American engineer was employed to help out. He started studying the water system and found another meaning for the lines. Every line is strictly related to water flowing underground. There are some faults in the Earth’s crust that pass into the high Andes and the lines tell us where to look for water. There are also some trapezoids which correspond to the water underground and it is possible to know how much water there is in different seasons. Spiral shapes mean that the water changes direction. What is still to be discovered is the relation between the geometric figures and the lines. What does the water do below the astrological signs? It is an amazing full scale map all together.

A few km from Nasca there is an underground aqueduct that the Nasca civilisation built over 1500 years ago to harness the underground streams. Some parts of the aqueducts run about 5 meters from a muddy brown river, however the water is still crystal clear. Very much unlike the river where half of Nasca’s population washes. Studies have proven that there is no exchange of water between the two water ways. The clear water is in fact channelled from the faults of the Earth’s crust and comes directly from the mountains and has always been used for agricultural purposes. The aqueduct itself has a very interesting structure. The water follows on a zigzag route, which makes the underground aqueducts anti seismic and stops sediment being carried by the water. However you can walk down one of these spiralling openings and get to the water. It is also possible to walk on one’s knees through the aqueduct and get to the next opening. The passage is about 80 cm high and very, very narrow with half a meter of water... and there are bats inhabiting this pleasantly fresh and dark place..... and the people that sell the tickets don’t tell you about them... it would probably take away all the fun in their day. In the photo Domino’s head is at the very centre, just to have an idea of the scale.

Miles (with long hair) is in the area of the aqueducts.

From Nasca we took a very long bus ride... a real nightmare... but this is one of the nice images from that trip. The flat plane is used to cultivate rice and it is of an incredible light green that contrasts with the aridity of all the surrounding desert. The soil looks so deprived of live but as soon as there is some flowing water any plant grows twice the size than it would in Europe.

Going back to the terrible bus trip.... The driver fell asleep a few times in the middle of the night on a winding road above cliffs by the ocean. The bus was going so fast that rucksacks and bags were flying from the shelves..... until Jenny (who later became our friend) got up and started shouting at the driver.... the bus slowed down a bit but it was still quite impossible to sleep... until three in the morning when the bus stopped. Nobody noticed that we had stopped as we were all asleep at last. It was not until six in the morning when the sun came up that we realised that we were stuck...... The "Bolivian winter" had caused the road to be slightly flooded...... We had to wait until noon for the water to subside. Our driver, after having hardly slept at all, decided that we were to cross before the many other busses lined up in front of us and started overtaking them. The bus mechanic (all Peruvian busses have one) was locked in the baggage compartment holding the air intake to prevent water from getting inside the engine. The water must have been more than a meter deep. Everybody on both sides of the river were clapping while we were crossing, all the spectators were very excited, except us, inside the bus..... but finally we made it to the other side and, surprise, surprise, the bags in the bottom of the bus had got wet. A lady had a whole bag full of shirts in the luggage compartment, that she was going to sell in Arequipa, which got soaked in water.... but her misfortune was not to end here! After having been 20 consecutive hours without a toilet, she had to go for a PEE, and as the bus was refuelling she decided to pay a visit to the bathroom..... and that is where she got left, in the petrol station. All the passenger started stamping and screaming the bus driver stopped for five seconds and then decided that the lady would have taken too long to catch up with the bus and he decided to leave without her. She was the second passenger that had been left behind, the first being a Canadian tourist, Marco. Although, I don't think that he was too unhappy about being left behind, as he really did not like the way the bus was being driven. We didn't get that far though. The bus was not happy with its water experience and decided to brake down..... and then there comes the shirt lady who had managed to get a lift from some other bus. We took passing bus at that stage..... but it was a terrible one and the driver was dreadful.. but we finally manage to reach our destination, Arequipa.
Arequipa is a border city between the high plateau and the coastal desert. Although it has one of the most wonderful monasteries ever seen, it was not very interesting as a city in itself..... Which is most unfortunate as we spent a week there fighting against dysentery. We updated ourselves with many Hollywood productions. There were three films on staring Helen Hunt along side Tom Hanks, Mel Gibson and Kevin Spacy. I did not realised she was so popular, or is it just here in Peru?

The horse in the photo is walking down the path into the Colca Canyon, which is apparently the deepest canyon in the world. And one would believe it when one walks from the plateau down to the river. The change in altitude is about 2000 meters and the change in climate is noticeable too. It was raining at the top and sunny at the bottom the day we were there. As a result at the bottom is an oasis of palm trees and warmth where you can stay the night. This we did not realise and therefore made the hike down and up in the one morning. Our knees could feel it for days not to mention our sunburn. On the lower left side of the photo you can see the river at the base of the canyon thousands of meters below. The horse is being used to cargo goods to the nearby villages and the oasis. The bus ride back to Arequipa follows the canyon and had us a little nervous as the year before some Polish tourists had been killed when their bus went over the edge, but never the less the scenery was spectacular.

From Arequipa we went to Arica, the most northern town in Chile where the battle of the Pacific was fought because of mining rights. There was not much else there though, but we were delighted to have left dysentery (diarrhoe) in Arequipa. Somebody had the notion to develop Arica as a seaside resort, which was not a success and has left a series of towering apartment blocks on the beach. Needless to say the next day we were already on the road to Santiago...... for 31 HOURS of solid driving. Along the way there was just sand dunes which some people think they are "nice" but when you look at them for 31 hours they loose a bit their attractiveness!!!
Santiago is a great city... and most of all is a clean city. It is radically different from the rest we had seen up to then. It looks very European and they also have money to invest in enhancing the city by doing some landscape architecture improvements!!!! The market was great although it was mainly for tourists.... and not to be forgotten we had some delicious raspberry cakes. The hostel where we where staying was not the best and after two days we decided to leave to go South, to Pucon.

Pucon is in Patagonia. It is very touristic but sooo enjoyable. The hotel was clean and food was good. We had exquisite Bombe (similar to custard donuts but better) with raspberries!! There were also many adventure activities.. some fun, some not so fun. We hiked up a volcano. From the town itself it didn't look so hard but we never took in consideration the altitude factor!!! Volcano Villarrica is 2850 meters and every pace was an effort. The top of the volcano had snow although we didn't need crampons..... we just had to carry them all the way up, and then all the way down. The picture shows the lovely street where we were staying and the volcano in the background.

At the top of the active volcano...... there was no magma bubbling up.....but I think it is better not to have seen any. We did not stay long as the fumes from the crater where pure poison...... it was like inhaling sulphuric acid and one could also taste it in your mouth. The view from the top was very impressive. We could see mountains as far as Argentina, which was not that far but it was still four mountains away... and there we are in the photo below!!! Going down was real easy and incredibly good fun until we totally froze ourselves. We got down on our bums and slid down on the snow for most of the way... then we tried skiing with our boots.. but it was a bit dangerous.

We spent a few days recovering while it rained cats and dogs. We just relaxed and cooked as there was a wonderful kitchen. Most hostels in Chile have kitchens to offset it being more expensive.

And then it was the time for the water rafting experience. The river apparently was a number 4 but with all the rain of the previous days it became a number 5. To who does not know anything it does not seem so bad... but there are just 6 numbers to define a river. The photo says it all. We don’t look exactly like we are enjoying ourselves.... but the group was great and I (Domino) was so happy when it was all over. We happily took another few days to recover from that physical effort.

Near Pucon we visited Huerquehue National Park... very beautiful... but a pity it was a rainy day. There were lots and lots of monkey-puzzle trees, which made it very interesting.... and there is Domino in splendid form.

When we got back to Santiago and it was very dull, cloudy and depressing so we decided to head towards the cost. After an hour in the bus we entered a tunnel and by the time we came out of the mountain the sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky. The countryside was full of vineyards and very green. Our first stop was Isla Negra. We wanted to visit Pablo Neruda house but it was closed never mind... we went to the beach opposite the poet’s house and spent a few hours there. The photo shows Miles (after his wonderful haircut done with a swiss army knife) and Neruda’s sculpture.

On the same day we visited two other towns on the cost: Val Paraiso and Vina del Mar. The photo shows a monkey puzzle tree in the botanical garden of Vina del Mar.