Back home.

We are back in the Hunter Valley.  Easy trip home if you can call sitting on an airplane for 16 hours 'easy'. It is now June 11th. We crossed the timeline and lost a day, so June 10th didn't exist for us.

I will now sign off this blog until our next trip, whenever that may be.

Taste buds are weird.

Something very strange has happened to my taste buds. I don't seem to have any.  I can distinguish temperature and texture of the food, but not taste. Toast, eggs, and coffee all taste the same...awful.  I am hoping it is because of the Medecine the local pharmacy gave me for this terrible cough and cold I have.  And now Peter has the start of a cold.

We took the bus back to Lima today. 

Ataca Desert

We are in the Ataca Desert, the driest place on earth with 0% humidity. The scenery is like a lunar landscape. The town gets their water from the Andes Mountains via an underground aquaduct, over 100 kms long, built by the ancient Nazca people over 2,000 years ago and still in use! Today, we saw a sand dune that was 6,000 feet high. And deep in the desert, we visited a Necropolis where the ancient Nazca buried their dead, perfectly preserved mummies due to the dry atmosphere. But this remarkable site is in very poor condition with human bones scattered everywhere and looting still going on. 

Nazca Lines

We are on another bus trip down to Nazca. Eight hour trip, but seats reclined, they showed two movies, and the bus had wifi. 
Upon reaching Nazca, we were taken straight to the airport and flew over the Nazca Lines for an hour. The hieroglyphs, some miles long going over hill and dale, are remarkable. How and why they did it is still a mystery, although one theory for the 'why' is that they were an ancient calendar. Again, ancient civilisations and what they accomplished still amaze us. 

Another airplane.

We left our jungle lodge via trek, boat ride, bus ride, then taxi to the airport. We had 3 hours to kill before our flight left so we went into Puerto Modanaldo and found a 'Chifa', which is a Chinese Restaurant. All four of us (we are traveling with David and Roberta Levin) ate beautiful, fresh Chinese food for $5 each. Got to Lima and we are staying at the most beautiful guest house called Antigua Miraflores. 

Jungle Treks

Day started at 4:30 am with a trek to a 'Canopy tower' in the jungle, followed by breakfast and then a 2 1/2 hour trek through the jungle. Saw different species of birds, monkeys, insects, and learned about plants in the rain forest. Ground was muddy, decaying matter everywhere, and leaves and tree trunks were wet. So were we by the time we finished but is was a really interesting expedition.  In the afternoon, we visited a farmer from the local tribe.  He wore blue jeans and a tee shirt, had a wife and four children, and had a farm for papayas and bananas.  His local garden for his family contained corn and other grains.  

Busy every day...

Unfortunately, I have developed a bad cough, a virus or bacteria which is sapping my energy. It started on our Galapagos Cruise and has slowly gotten worse. Today, I did the dawn trek, but then went back to our room and slept most of the day. We did a late afternoon trek to visit a Shaman, the local village doctor, which was very interesting.  We tried his remedies for arthritis, ulcers, and a love potion. Didn't work too well as we both fell asleep as soon as our head hit the pillow. 

Flew from Cusco to the Rainforest.

We are now in the Peruvian jungle, camped beside a tributary of the Amazon.  I am sitting under mosquito netting.  Our 'room' has 3 Bamboo sides, the 4th side is open to the jungle.  But we have electricity and a very slow wifi between 6:00 and 9:00 each evening!  They have warned us not to have any food in our room at any time as it will attract animals during the night.

Our day tomorrow starts at 4:00 a.m. when we have breakfast and then go on a jungle trek.  We come back at 9:00 and do some bird watching from a 'blind' erected in the jungle.  They said it is too hot and steamy to do anything much between 10:00 and 4:00.  We can watch the monkeys playing in the trees while we sit on our bed. 

Walking Tours are good!

Did a Walking Tour of Cusco. Saw streets we otherwise would never have walked down. Had lunch at a local café.... lots of pig and potatoes. It was very tasty, but I still can't eat very much. Also, the miriad of steps did me in.