Adios Chile, Ola Peru!
Since last writing on here a lot has happened, we left Iquique after a very drunken night at the hostel celebrating a girl called Jessie’s birthday (messy pictures to feature on Flickr when Ben gets around to it). We travelled to Arica after this to spend a few days exploring and letting Ben surf a wave called El Gringo which I have been told is very famous! We tried a local delicacy which like most in Chile involves hotdogs it was basically hotdog and cheese surrounded by waffle mixture on a stick (sound disgusting but was actually quite nice). On Sunday 5th April we planned to do the big trip into Peru this consisted of a taxi across the border, showing our passports about 20 times, getting to Tacna and buying coach tickets to a place called ariquipa (6hrs) getting there and buying tickets for Cusco (the place near machu picchu) of which there were only 2 left and they just happened to be in 1st class. My tip if ever coming to peru is spend the extra £5 to get first class because they are like massive armchairs and the food is nicer :) So after another 10 hours (about 24 in total) we arrived in Cusco to our hostel, the next mission was getting our tickets and transport on MP, thanks to an Irish man we met in Arica we had a map listing the cheapest way to do it, where each place was etc. We walked to the train station and bought our tickets, booked a hostel and then bought our tickets to get in, all in all it will cost about £80 each which we are really please with as the 1 day tours are about 200 dollars. We are now in Ollantytamba a small town built on the original foundations of an Inca settlement which is very beautiful, we are getting the 5.37am train to Machu Picchu tomorrow and its looking like everything is planned well :) We are flying out of Peru on the 14th of April heading for Panama to start the Central America part of the trip, from all the people we have spoken to we have a massive treat in store. I can’t believe we have been gone now for 6 weeks though its flying by fast and at the same time it feels like a lot more than 3 weeks since we left the caribbean. Anyway hope everyone is well, we will try and put lots of pictures up soon, maybe when we have a good internet connection in Lima. Love Charlie xxx
