Peru: sand boarding, ziplining, lama's, condors and Nasca graffiti

Hello Bloggers!

We had a very busy week this week :-) On Sunday, we left Lima by bus and drove for 8 hours southwards, all the way through the deserts of Peru. In the middle of the desert, there is a little oasis called Huacachina, where we stayed for 2 nights. The main activity here was to drive around in the desert with a special jeep (high speed) and to try sand boarding! The sand dunes were very steep, so - although I am an experienced snow boarder - I thought it was all a bit too scary. However, daredevil Frank knows no fear: with his belly on the board & legs in the air, he crunched the steepest sand hills and was unstoppable (watch the video). The sunset was also beautiful.

After this adrenaline boost, it was time for some culture & history again. We took another bus to Nasca ('only' a 3 hours drive), where we stayed for one night. This little town is known for the Nasca lines; lines and animal pictures carved in the ground and mountains by the Nasca's about 1500 years ago. The purpose of these lines is still unknown until today, but probably has something to do with the religion of the Nasca's. Best way to see the lines is from the air, so with a little Cessna and a private pilot, we spotted over 20 animal figures from the air. Although it was just 30 minutes, it was spectacular and definitely worth the effort (see the pics).

On Wednesday, we continued our journey further southwards to Arequipa, again by bus (a 10 hours ride this time, OMG, this was definitely the last bus ride, especially as there was no wifi on the bus, how did we survive?!). Arequipa is a nice colonial town between three snow-topped volcano's. We visited the monastery of the Santa Catalina, a very large complex for nuns. The monastery is still in use, is beautifully preserved and feels like a 'city in a city'. We stayed 2 nights in Arequipa in a hotel with the best breakfast so far (i.e. quinoa pancakes with mango). Mmmmjummie!

In Arequipa, we rented a four wheel drive pick-up truck to explore the Colca canyon. This canyon is north of Arequipa and is supposed to be twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the USA (but less steep). On Friday, we drove for about 7 hours over mostly unpaved roads towards our first stop: Cabanaconda. Here we met the first lama's and acalpa's, so sweet <3. On Saturday morning, we continued our 'expedition' at 7 am to spot condors! And: yes! There were 2 huge condors flying around in the canyon, so we were really lucky. The video was actually taken before we spotted them.

To add some more excitement to our sabbatical, we also decided to go 'zip-lining'. This is crossing the canyon, just hanging on a cable (remember, the canyon is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon!). Again, I thought this was quite scary and I only managed the horizontal 'beginners' zipline. However, daredevil Frank also managed to cross the canyon with the 'extreme' zipline, really crazy, including a parachute to reduce his speed! After this adrenaline shot, we had to relax in some natural hot springs (we look 10 years younger now!) and we finished the Saturday with a 3 hour hike around the Colca valley, together with the other guests from our hotel in Yanque.

Tomorrow, we will get up early again and we will go with our pick-up truck to Puno, which is a village close to lake Titicaca. So, with another busy week ahead of us, we are going to get ready for dinner now and we will go to bed early this Saturday night.

We will definitely catch up with you next week - with probably our last blog - after our Inca trail!

Warmest Regards, Henk & Frank