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Hello once again one and all. I write to you from a rather chilly Chile. Not funny at all but had to be tried. Its honestly freezing down here in the deepest south. But I am northbound from now on. This is my second effort at writing this mail – some muppet got his machine number wrong in Ushuaia and therefore I had my machine shut down. I wasn’t happy. Lets hope this version is the work of genius that the last undoubtedly was.
So then…Peru. Quite a lot happened to me and my chums there. My last mail saw myself with my charming companions arrive in Iquitos after the best part of a week on boats in the jungle (actually on rivers but you know what I mean). We were back in civilisation, and it was a delight. There were ATM’s, restaurants not serving turtle or liquidised rice, and other people about. So, we stocked up on the local currency (we were all skint) and were overjoyed to find an English bar/restaurant that served full English brekkies. Thanks very much. We spent some time there. The owner, and honorary consul to Iquitos (whatever that actually entails not even he was sure), was more than helpful, and with the added advice of a Texan down the road, resulted in us having all the best information on the city’s activities. The city itself was formed by the rubber boom in the late 19th century and then grew more from oil. Some folks had loads of cash and shipped all sorts of stuff into the city. The 'Iron House' is a good example of this. It was shipped up river in pieces and constructed near the plaza and is famous for being designed by Mr Eiffel (of the tower fame). Iquitos is still only reachable by river or air. No roads in or out exist. As a result most transport is three wheel motorbike taxis. Much like S E Asia. Lots of fun. Anyway, I could write loads about the minor things like the night club scene, being molested by prostitutes or channel 17 (you loved it Greg and Inon) but I think I will limit myself to one special day. We were told about a ‘zoo’ in Iquitos that had lots of the local wildlife from the jungles. We also heard that they had perezosos, or sloths. These amazing animals were very special to us as it also happens to be Greg’s nickname – because of his amazing sleep patterns. So, off we went. Back on the river up to zoo. We were welcomed by the owners and before we knew it, we had sloths sitting on our shoulders trying hard to fall asleep again. Heaven. We were also to meet all sorts of turtles (we didn’t eat these – they looked too scary), macaws, snakes (including the classic boa constrictor around the neck moment), alligators, leopards and monkeys. We have numerous photos of us all ‘wearing’ all sorts of differing animals. I have now seen (and have photographic evidence of) what I think is officially the strangest ‘manhood’ in the animal kingdom. And the zoo owner found it hilarious to shove it in the owners (a small and otherwise unremarkable monkey) own mouth. A bizarre day to be sure. But, its not over yet…..oh no. Our boat 'captain', who we had hired for the afternoon, took us a bit further up river to meet the local Indian population. It turned into a bit of a laugh really as they were more interested in flogging us their jewellery and other jazz. They did dance for us a bit though and managed to drag a few of our number up to join them. It wasn’t what was expected but also wasn’t too surprising either. Back at the docks later that day we also had the luck to see a pig half drowned, killed and butchered in front of us. What a day. All in all, Iquitos was enjoyed by all. A fishing trip and some interesting nights out made for a good stay. Like I said, Iquitos can be exited by one of two means – river or air. After a week on boats we weren’t overjoyed by the prospect of another week or two more to civilisation. So, we bought tickets to Lima and headed to the airport. Lima is a big, nice, nasty, classy, dirty city. The Miraflores region is full of nice places to eat, shop and relax. The city centre has nice colonial buildings and there are museums everywhere. But, you head just off the main streets and it can get dodgy. I’ve heard loads of stories of people being mugged there. We were having a good old explore around one day and a woman came out of a shop and suggested we go no further in the direction we were headed. Nah, we’ll be okay. We carry on for a while and then an armed and armoured store guard made the same suggestion. Okey dokey, back we go. With the exception of a decent curry and some interesting museums I didn’t do all that much in Lima. I wasn’t all that taken by it (sorry Giulli). The weather was always good though. Still, this is the place where our fabulous five split up. Inon and I headed north while Amy, Greg and Zak went south. The trip north wasn’t all that far though. We headed up to the town of Huaraz. A cute little place in the mountains which is good base for hiking the local paths. We were met at the bus station by the normal touts but one guy got us interested by a promise of “The best shower in south America”. Anyone who has travelled this part of the world will agree that that is the holy grail for travellers. A good, hot shower. So off we went. At worst it was a free trip to town. The guy showed us the room – which was fair enough – and then showed us the shower. It was “The best shower in south America”! He hadn’t lied. Powerful, hot, relentless. Joyous. He turned out to be a lot of fun, helpful, the owner of a bar in town and a good guy. The bar of his is the setting of a hilarious story involving a forgotten wallet, Inon, and a hammered local girl. I won’t tell it here as most of you don’t know my dear Israeli chum. But I may tell it on my return. It’s a good pub story. So, Inonski and I headed out into the hills and did some amazing hikes up to Lagunas Churup and 69. They were all day trips so they were not to challenging, although highly enjoyable. From Huaraz we also we also visited the fascinating archaeological site of Willkawain. There are a number of structures that have survived from the Huari Empire from approx 1000AD. We were given an explanation and tour from a local chappy who was very informed and very easy to understand (despite my still poor Spanish). After the tour we wandered down to the thermal baths at Monterrey. We were hoping for a nice relaxing time there to chill out. It was a shame to find some hyperactive kids there and pools that looked like they had been filled by elephants with bowel problems. Still, it was better than nothing. From Huaraz we headed down to Ayacucho. It involved a stop in Lima on the way and an attempted bag snatch outside the bus station. The old -I’ll distract and my mate nicks the bag – routine doesn’t come close to working any more. I really wanted to see the Inca ruins of Vilcashuamán which are located near the city. The trip there in the mini bus thing was tough but the area was nice. The ruins were okay and many amusing photos taken. After a few days there Inon and I went our separate ways. He headed straight to Cusco from there for Christmas. I instead headed back towards the coast and the Oasis town of Huacachina, near Ica. But that’s enough for now. I’ll tell all about my unusual Christmas in the next mail. I didn’t realise this mail would go on for so long. I’ve loads of Peru left. So, until next time. Take care and lots of love. Rob.Back to Rob's Diary
