The first 10 days (Paulie´s version)

Dave wanted to upload his post first, so you can read his take of the holiday in the previous post, below is my recollection of our holiday thus far...

We have now overlanded into Chile and after 10 days we finally got to sleep in and not wake up in a mad rush to make our next connecting flight or bus ride. Ahhh bliss to enjoy a coco leaf tea that Dave went to brew this morning, time in front of a proper PC to finally respond to emails and write in this blog, and some time to reflect on our incredible trip so far.

The first few days of our holiday were spent in airports and on planes but it was all worthwhile when we finally arrived at the desert oasis of Huacachina and finally took to the sand dunes in a wild and bumpy buggy ride. The driver purposely drove over stomach-dropping hills and troughs and laughed when we all screamed in fear. We finally arrived at some sand dunes where we could sandboard down at terrific speed, controlling the direction of the board with our feet, trying not to eat too much sand on the descent. We purposely chose the afternoon sandboarding so we could enjoy our first sunset in the desert.

The next day we took a ferry ride around Isla Ballastos, touted as a mini-Gallapagos with sea lions, pelicans and beautiful coastline. I was able to enjoy about half the ride before seasickness struck. The combination of sea lion stench and choppy waters made me feel sick. As everyone else was admiring the view, I hung my head over the boat and puked. With my head in my hands, I thought the tour couldn´t get any worse until I felt a plop on my head. The seagulls overhead decided to bless me with some good luck...dave tried to make me feel better by saying it was lucky I was wearing my hat...I say it was his good luck he didnt have to clean out the poop from my hair.

The best part of that day for me was getting back to the oasis and finding a shady spot on the grass. We lay on our backs looking up at the palm trees and laughed at the absurdity of the day whilst taking silly photos with a little mascot we picked up at Sydney airport dubbed ´Rosie the Dinosaur´. I did have a reason for picking Rosie up, which I will reveal when we head into the Chilean desert in a few days time.

We took an overnight bus into Arequipa after this desert oasis, a stark contrast to the sleepy little town we spent 2 days in. We did the traditional sightseeing around this colonial city with beautiful architecture influenced by the Spanish, built with white stone from the nearly volcanoes. We wandered about the streets, spent a few hours in the famous Santa Catalina monastery that was so big it had its own winding streets and buildings. The view from the top of the monastery was beautiful, as were the bright blue and red painted stone walls that lined the citadel.

The next 2 days were spent heading into Colca Canyon, reaching altitudes of 4910m. Surprisingly Dave did not suffer from any altitude sickness, a fact he kept exclaiming throughout the trip. He even enjoyed a pisco sour that evening while everyone else nursed their headaches! To all those disbelievers out there (including me!), I dont think Machu Picchu (at 4400m) will be too painful for him. We spent the evening in a natural thermal pool relaxing in waters of 40 degrees...a nice way to cap off a long day.

The next morning we set off for the canyon to hopefully see the flying condors native to that region of Peru. There is no guarantee of seeing the condors in their natural setting and in the first half hour of waiting in the freezing cold and seeing a couple gliding in the distance, we thought that was the best we would see. To our surprise, we were treated to an amazing aerial show that was the highlight of our trip so far. It took our breaths away to see these huge birds dipping and diving so close to us.

So where to from here? We still have a packed adventure ahead of us, including a trip into the San Pedro de Atacama desert to see some stunning geysers, lagoons and the constellation unfettered by city lights. We are overlanding in a jeep through the desert from Chile into Bolivia for 3 days through freezing temperatures and altitudes of 5000m, it´s going to be physically difficult but as I keep reading, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.