TravelStream™ news feed for member dospollos on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/dospollos en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 07 Oct 2005 22:04:14 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1125960840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1125960840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1125960840/tpod.html Fri, 07 Oct 2005 22:04:14 -0400 The Chicken Bus Diaries: Two untravelled Brits bumble their way from Mexico to Chile and beyond

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Uyuni, Bolivia

After a gorgeous train journey THROUGH bird infested lago Poopo and the desolate plains of south Bolivia it was time for us to understand the REAL meaning of COLD!!!. At 3675m the freezing cold Middle-of-nowhere town of Uyuni is the jump off point for tours to the Salares (salt plains)and its all up from here.We booked a 4 day jeep tour along 4 others taking us through the salt plains, south to the lakes and guesers and then east across the mountains to Tupisa (the heart of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid country).The first day we drove across the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world. It is truly spectactular - this perfectly flat brilliant white expanse bordered by outlines of mountains, an incedible sight. The tour took us to a tiny community in the salare where they process the salt for eating and sell novalty salt souvenires "dos heart shaped candle holders porvabor" :)We then visited a hotel in the middle if the plain that is built entirely out of salt bricks. All the furiture apart from the loo is too (we had to check).WARNING beware of cute children if you dont understand Spanish : Two japenese tourists were posing for photos with what looked like to the untrained ear very cute Bolivian children. As they were smiling and cuddling the children and giving them lollies the children were calling them fat ugly pigs with silly eyes. OOOPSThe last sight for that day was Isla de Pescado (Fish Island) a cactus studded island formed by a volcanoe in the middle of the salt flats. Apparently it looks like a fish, not sure at what angle you`d have to be standing at? Quite lovely though. The cactus are one of the tallest growing types, one of them is nearly 15m.Again the pictures will speak louder and better than i could explain. The scenery and landscapes make you question whether you are still on earth.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1124592180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1124592180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1124592180/tpod.html Mon, 05 Sep 2005 18:48:53 -0400 The Chicken Bus Diaries: Two untravelled Brits bumble their way from Mexico to Chile and beyond

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La Paz, Bolivia

We really enjoyed La Paz. Apart from the lung stinging polution and shortage of oxygen the worlds highest capital City is fantastic. Its full of the lively street stalls and colourful chaos which we have missed since Central America.The highlight of La Paz has to be the Witches market, where you can buy anything from garden herbs to lama feotuses (Just in case you have run out). They believe that a lama feotus layed in the foundations of a new home or business brings good luck. In fact 98% of La Pazs original buildings have a Lama feotus under them.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1125688680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1125688680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1125688680/tpod.html Mon, 05 Sep 2005 18:19:02 -0400 The Chicken Bus Diaries: Two untravelled Brits bumble their way from Mexico to Chile and beyond

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Rurrenbaque, Bolivia

After spending a week in the jungle and we are fully Tarzaned up although without the loin cloth!!! We went on a 3 day/ 2 night tour with a fab group of people (2 Ozzies, 3 Kiwis, 1 English, 1 Dutch, and 3 French) to the Pampas (marsh and river lowlands) and then spent 2 days 1 night with the gorgeous Ozzies (Holly and Simon) in the jungle. ADRENALINE FUELED TARZANTASTIC ADVENTURES!!!!!* We saw and swam with PINK River Dolphins, and yes i mean PINK!!!!! I was so excited i couldnt believe what i was seeing. People have said that thay arent really very pink but we were really lucky and the in pod that we saw there was one which was bright pink, like Barbie pink! I have been wanting to see them for so long but to see them in the flesh and at such a close range was an overwelmingly beautiful experience!!!! On our fist day they swam with the boat down the river for about 20 minutes and then vanished but on our last day they appeared again and we were able to swim with them. Most people only get to see distant fins rising out the water so we were really lucky as one pushed itself almost all the way out of the water. * We swam in the Piranha infested river and played water volley ball with a surrounding audience of Alligators. A very surreal experience but our guides assured us that they dont attack humans. Although when an English girl in our group got bitten on her leg, even though our guides assured us it was only a sardine, we all got out pretty soon after that :)* We saw Capybarras which are huge pig-sized tailess South American amphibious rodents with partly webbed feet. They are the largest living rodent and a magical creature. We spotted a few couples with babies and one adult swimming. Gorgeous!* We spotted countless amounts of exotic birds including a pair of Toucans. One of the birds of Paradise has a call that sounds like someone having an asthma attack. Very eerie at night.* At nightime we went for boat ride spotting wild life with torches. Watching the shining red dots of Alligtor eyes staring back at you as you float silently past certainly gets the adrenaline flowing! * One morning was spent wading through the marshes of the Pampas in search of Anacondas. These snakes can grow up to 30 meters and wont batter an eyelid at swallowing a wilder beast whole. So there we were wading up to the knees in marsh probing with sticks hoping to disturb one! I wasnt exactly sure what i supposed to do if I found one but its not everday you get to do these things : ) Unfortunately it was in vain but very exciting. A group before us had seen 3!!! Gutted, but from talking to them we got the better deal with the Dolphins so we are happy.* In the jungle we tracked a herd of wild boars. We spent over an hour sneaking stealth like through the jungle. Well we did our best, our guide Eriburto was incredible, he seemed to float over the forest floor without a sound. When we got close we made a heart thumping dash through the trees towards them. It was incredible! There must have been at least 30 huge hairy pigs with babies all running in different directions passed us. Checkout the video. David Attenborough eat your heart out:)* During walks through the jungle Eriburto taught us about the different plants and there medicinal qualities. He had a facinating amount of knowlege all of which he had gained from his life growing up in the jungle and was taught to him by his late father. He showed us a vine which he cut and we drank fresh water from. Delicious but not to be confused with one very similar which is highly poisonous! Jungle tip : Make sure the vine has spines and the flesh under the bark is red. Cut a wedge out from the top first then the bottom or else all the water rushes up the vine leaving nothing. Very good for Rhumitism. * On the way back from the jungle before getting back in the boat we went for a gentle swim in the river and ended up body surfing the rapids for nearly 2km down river. Excellent fun although Keith is still nursing an unfortunate injury from when he came to a very abrupt stop on a rock right on his Coccyx. Youcheeeees!Other highlights were:* The Sunset Bar amazonial stlye riverside pub. Sitting in a hammock with an ice cold beer, the perfect way to end a hard days Anaconda hunting.* Seeing a sloth in the wild and up a tree this time :)* Piranha fishing: Tasha 1 Keith 0 :)* Hearing the distant roars of Howler monkeys again.* Sitting in a boat in the middle of the night with Carla, a lovely dutch lady, spotting "flying fish" (or bats) in fits of rum fueled giggles.The whole experience magical! It was like being inside a National Geographic magazine. A thousand dreams come true!Our first flight back to La Paz was cancelled due to plane trouble and then a tropical storm set in turning the grass runway to a swamp, leaving us stranded in the tiny jungle town of Rurrenabaque for a few days. There is a bus service but it takes 19 hours in the dry and its on the rougest roads. It traverses the most dangerous road in the world nicknamed "The Death Road" because of its scarily high death toll. So waiting around for a flight was far more appealing. With nothing much to do we thourght we'd use our time productivley and polish up on our neglected drinking and pool skills. Time well spent :)So its from one extreme to the other and we are heading south to the Salar de Uyuni or Salt Flats of Uyuni at a freezing 4500m altitude. OH JOY!!! Well, who needs oxygen anyway!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1124554260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1124554260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1124554260/tpod.html Sat, 20 Aug 2005 18:14:48 -0400 The Chicken Bus Diaries: Two untravelled Brits bumble their way from Mexico to Chile and beyond

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Puno, Peru

"May the Sun remain a young man and the Moon a young woman,may the world not turn over -let there be Peace"-- An Inca Prayer --Well we've made it into Bolivia after visiting the stunning Lake Titicaca and the Uros (floating reed islands). Lake Titicaca is actually two lakes joined together by some straits which i didnt know and At 3810m it is breath taking, literally! We first went to Puno on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca and took a boat out to visit the Uros (floating reed islands) named after the indians who inhabitted them. Legend has it the Uro Indians had black blood that helped them survive the frigid nights on the water and safeguarded them from drowning.The last full-blooded Uro was a woman who died in 1959. Other Uros had left the group of islands in earlier years owing to a drought that worsened their poverty - and intermarried with Aymará and Quechua-speaking Indians. But the Indians who now inhabit this island - a mix of Uro, Aymara and Inca descendants - follow the Uro ways.We were expecting a tourist circus but we timed it perfectly and missed all the tour groups, fantastic! The Islands are incredible. They are a made up entirely of layers of reeds which they renew every year. There are 42 seperate islands in total, it was like a floating reed city. Only a meter thick in parts it makes it really springy underfoot, it was like walking on a water bed, really wierd. The main thing that struck us was how peaceful it was. As there is no other noise from traffic etc the people talk to each other in extremely quiet voices. It was hard to work out who they were talking too as the other person would be so far away. Amazing to watch. Tourism is their main income today and they dont seem to be doing to badly! They live in reed huts but all are fitted with state of the art solar panel powered electricity and one even had satelite TV :)We did the touristy bit and had a short ride on a traditional Balsa (reed boat) from one Island to the other, well its not everyday you get to to go on a reed boat is it?That afternoon we got a bus to Copacobana a few hours north up the lake into Bolivia where we watched to sun set into the lake. The following morning we rented a traditional sail boat for the day and sailed to a little white sandy beach for a picnic, gorgeous. Pretty cool to have sailed on the highest navigatable lake in the world. We tried fishing but no joy which I was secretly quite glad about after the whole Mexican fish killing saga :)The next day we moved further south across the straits by ferry to the small town of Huatajata on the smaller lake to visit an island where they still make the reed boats. The island of Siraque is where the Balsa boat for the Ra Expedition was built.We stayed at a hostal in Hautajata whose owner, Maximillon, is famous in the world of reed boats as he and his brother sailed a reed ship from the Andes to The Atlantic down the Amazon! We had planned to sail to the island but after a very dodgey practice run in strong winds and a very near capsize we decided not to push our luck. Apparently if someone falls into the lake, like a fisherman, it is traditional not to rescue them but to let them drown as an offering to the Earth Goddess Pachamama. So we opted for a ride with Maximillons brother in his motor boat. Unfortunately weren't able to see a boat been made but saw the finished thing. Maximillons brother collected a small reed canoe to take to a festival and we got to have a paddle on it. Well we couldnt really get the paddling thing down and went around in circles alot but it was good fun. The meaning of the name Titicaca is uncertain, but it has been variously translated as Rock of the Puma. Indian legend says the sun god had his children, Manco Capac and his sister Mama OcIlo, spring from the waters of the lake to found Cuzco and the beginning of the Inca dynasty. Later, during the Spanish Conquest, the lake allegedly became a secret depository for the empire's gold. Among the items supposedly buried on the lake's bottom is Inca Huascar's gold chain weighing 2,000 kilos (4,400 lbs.) and stored in Koricancha - the Temple of the Sun in Cuzco - until loyal Indians threw it into the lake to prevent it from falling into Spanish hands.Oceanographer Jacques Yves Cousteau spent eight weeks using mini submarines to explore the depths of the lake but found no gold. (What he did discover, to the amazement of the scientific world, was a 60-centimeter (24-in) long, tri-colored frog that apparently never surfaces!)Titicaca Facts* About half the lake resides in Peru and half in Bolivia * It is the highest navigable body of water at 3,821 (11,463 feet) meters * It covers 8,300 square km, sunning 190 km NW to SE & is 80 km across * It lies in a 60,000 square km basin between the coastal & eastern Andes * The average depth is over 100 m with deepest point at 281 m * 25 rivers, mostly from Peru, flow into the lake and a small outlet leaves the lake at Desaguadero on the Bolivia-Peru border, which is only 5% of the inflow with the rest lost in evaporation. * The lake is the remnant of a vast area of water formed in the Ice Age known as Lake Bolivian * The traditional totora-reed boats take 3 days to build and last 7-8 months while wooden boats take longer to build but last 7-8 years
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1123149600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1123149600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1123149600/tpod.html Sat, 20 Aug 2005 13:42:17 -0400 The Chicken Bus Diaries: Two untravelled Brits bumble their way from Mexico to Chile and beyond

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Cusco, Peru

Finally we got the better of altitude and set off to fulfill a life long dream to watch the sunrise over the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu.Determined not to pay the $40 dollar bill for the tourist train to Aguas Caliente (the town at the foot of the site) we disovered a back way, so we went rural.For 15 soles ($4.50) the 5 hour bus journey to the village of Santa Maria took us through the amazing Sacred Valley and over high passes with snowcapped mountains. From Santa Maria we squashed into a mini van (Guatemalan stylee) with at least 20 other people for 2 hour ride through the jungle to Santa Teresa. Another jaw droppingly beautiful journey!Santa Teresa is a tiny village on the Rio Urumbamba at the far end of the train track from Cusco. The original village was built right on the rivers edge but a few years ago it was completely destroyed and washed away by El Niño. Unable to afford a complete rebuild the village is constructed out of wooden boarding, tin sheeting and whatever else they could salvage from the original village. The hostal was comfortable and truly rustic. You know you are in the country when you have to walk through the family bedroom to use the only toilet.We planned to stay the night there and in the morning hike to Aguas Caliente. Fate had different ideas..... That night Keith developed a spiking fever/shivers, delerium and aches. Luckily there was a pharmacist in the village so we were able to buy Ibruprofen and Paracetomol to control the fever but not much sleep was had that night.The hike to Aguas was out of the question now, Keith was suffering and hadn't any energy but we needed to get into a decent hotel. Luckily only a short walk away and a shopping basket pulley across the river (see pics) there was a truck to take us to the train track where we could get a train for 5 soles ($1.50). Bargain!We found a cheap and good hotel in Aguas and brought some antibiotics. Keiths fevers persisted that night and day but luckily he started feeling better in the evening. We had wanted to hike up to the site before sunrise, but we decided it was best to save Keiths low energy supplies for walking around the site.So we got the first bus up to watch the sunrise over the surrounding mountains. Watching the vibrant golden light slowly illuminating the site was magical.Machu Picchu (Lost City of the Incas) is one of the most famous examples of Inca architecture, and is located 112 km from the city of Cusco in the District of Machu Picchu, 2,350 meters above sea level. The ruins are located in a lush jungle and are believed to have been built in the mid-15th century by Inca Pachacutec.Even though locals knew of the ruins it was not properly discovered until 1911 by the American explorer Hiram Bingham.Im sure you are all familiar with the picture postcard view of Macchu Picchu that you see on telly or in magazines, with that huge peak in the background towering over the site. Well we decided to climb it! The name of the the towering granite peak is Huaynapicchu, meaning young peak in Quechua. The climb to the top was just over an hour of solid climbing up vertical stone staircases, which are original Inca. The view from the top of Machu Picchu, the surrounding valley and the distant snowy peaks was worth every painful minute! Not completely satisfied with our meger Inca achievement we then climbed down the other side for 2 hours to the Temple of the Moon which is a fairly recent discovery. With no safety rails and with dry crumbling soil some of the narrow passes made us think twice but we went for it, well you only live once! Located halfway down Huayna Picchu in an underground chamber on the north side the temple was really impressive, with some of the finest stone work of all Inca sites.At this point though I think we both realised we had bitten of a bit more than we could chew so to speak. We had hoped that the path would continue down to Machu Picchu but of cause this wasn't the case :) With only a few dregs of water left and in the strengthening sun the only wy was UP! OH JOY!!!Two and a half hours, several ladders, thousands of steps, two lizards, one wild orchid, lots of cursing and sweat later we eventually met the orignal path Huayna Picchu back down to Machu Picchu. We have never been so happy to pay 11 soles (normally 2) for a bottle of water!It has been a life long dream to visit Machu Piccu and it certainly lived up to our expectations. Climbing Huayna Picchu was definately worth the effort as we got away from the hoards of tour groups, saw the lesser visited parts and were able to experience the breath taking views and soak up the atmosphere by ourselves. I'll let pictures speak for themselves.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1121707320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1121707320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1121707320/tpod.html Sun, 07 Aug 2005 20:24:28 -0400 The Chicken Bus Diaries: Two untravelled Brits bumble their way from Mexico to Chile and beyond

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Huaraz, Peru

This is what the book says about Huaraz:"The Valley of Callejon de Huaylas is one of the best places in South America to enjoy superb mountain scenery and plenty of outdoor activities. The main destination for visitors to the Callejon de Huaylas is the city of Huaraz, about 8 hours by bus from Lima. The setting of the city, at the foot of the Cordillera Blanca, is spectacular. You can see over 20 snow-capped peaks over 5000 meters, of which the most notable is Huascaran (6,768m), the highest mountain in Peru."And its true :)We spent a few days in Huaraz just chilling (yes we do seem to do rather alot of that)but it was hard to do anything else. All plans and schedules have to go out of the window when altitude come into play, life at 3100m is hard work. We did manage a trip up to a mirador which is a big cross on a mountain over looking the city. Also an excellent night out with Vicky and Stacey to a jazz bar complete with Giant Jenga and rude introduction to the Peruvian brew Pisco. Lets just say we hadn't been out for a while so we didnt hold back. You know you really should go home when you are doing MC Hammer dancing and thinking you look cool:)Eventually feeling almost human and able to breath we hired some mountain bikes for the day. Yep our favourite type of mountain biking ..... Downhill Mountain Biking!!!!We took an early morning bus for 3 hours and 4890m up a mountain track and then rode/sped/skidded all the way back down. It was excellent fun speeding down the mountain track although a little unnerving when we passed the twisted remains of a bus that had gone over the edge this April. Halfway down are the beautiful turquoise glacier fed Llanganuco Lakes, the colours were so vibrant and intense. The scenery was some of the most dramatic and spectacular panoramas weve seen in the Andeas. I know we say this every time but the immense beauty of these countries never ceases to suprise us. The huge snowcapped mountains towering above and sunny grassy meadows and vibrant blue lakes, apart from the fact they are at ridiculous altitude it was truly breathtaking. It took us 6 hours to get down to the bottom! Bottom being the operative word! I even got a blister, Ouch :)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1122517860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1122517860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1122517860/tpod.html Sun, 07 Aug 2005 20:21:17 -0400 The Chicken Bus Diaries: Two untravelled Brits bumble their way from Mexico to Chile and beyond

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Nazca, Peru

Stretching across the Nazca plains in Southern Peru - like a giant map or blueprint left by ancient astronauts, lie the famous Nazca Lines.The Nazca Lines are an engima. No one knows who built them or indeed why. Since their discovery, the Nazca Lines have inspired fantastic explanations from ancient gods, a landing strip for returning aliens, a celestial calendar, used for rituals probably related to astronomy, to confirm the ayllus or clans who made up the population and to determine through ritual their economic functions held up by reciprocity and redistribution or, a map of underground water supplies.We took a flight over them from the town of Nasca. The flights are all in small aircraft, we were lucky to get a slightly larger than normal 12 seater. Its a half hour flight with about 12 tight turns to see all the main pictures.Lets just say we were glad we took travel sickness pills before we took off, the people at the back of the plane hardly looked out as they felt so ill!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1122344880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1122344880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1122344880/tpod.html Sun, 07 Aug 2005 20:18:09 -0400 The Chicken Bus Diaries: Two untravelled Brits bumble their way from Mexico to Chile and beyond

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Pisco, Peru

Getting up at 6am being our daily routine now, we had signed up for a trip to "Poor Mans Galapagos" which was the nickname for the "Islas Ballestas", some islands east of Pisco. The perfect spot to watch sea lions, birds and flamingos and if we were lucky dolphins.Well guess what? As our tour boat made its way out of the bay, we were LUCKY!!!!Nothing spectacular but we've never seen dolphins before and it has been a dream of Tashas for a long time. So to see the grey leathery fins breaking the waters surface was a dream come true!The boat took us for a trip around the islands. There we saw countless sealion colonies, it was an amazing sight and the noise was incredible, like hundreds of dogs barking. Also we saw hundreds of birds including pelicans, boobies, cormorants, turkey vultures, terns... and even some Humboldt Penguins, which are very rare and only breed on these islands. The sea was quite choppy and waves kept crashing on the rocks, everytime a strong wave hit it would nearly wash a load of penguins into the sea! Watching them precariously hopping down the rocks and timing the waves for entry was very funny to watch, just like something you´d see on a wildlife program on tv! In the afternoon we were taken to see the Flamingoes in the Paracas National Reserve which is one of the driest deserts in the world at less than 2 mm of rain a year. We climbed the look out tower to watch the famous flamingos 400 meters away! All we could see was hundreds of tiny small pink dots and we couldn't tell if it was flamingoes or not. Not quite the close up photo opurtunity they showed us in the tour agency.Later on we walked along the cliff tops to some spectacular formations called the Cathedral Cave. The day was finished of with stop off at a tiny fishing community and a gorgeous meal of fresh Ceviche the national dish of Peru. Its a salad made with raw fish which is marinated in lemon or other citrus juice together with salt, chilies, onions, and garlic DELICIOUS!!! On the way back were also extremely lucky to spot a desert fox, never been seen by our guide during the day and he has been doing guiding there for 17 years!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1122603000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1122603000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1122603000/tpod.html Sun, 07 Aug 2005 20:14:08 -0400 The Chicken Bus Diaries: Two untravelled Brits bumble their way from Mexico to Chile and beyond

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Arequipa and the Colca Canyon, Peru

After a few days chilling out in the gorgeous town of Arequipa we decided to get on with the show and go to the Colca Canyon. The Colca Canyon is the second deepest in the world, thought to be twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the USA and the home of the Andean Condor. There was a famous BBC TV series filmed here in the 80s, by <i>David Attenborough, Flight of the CondorThere are a load of organised magical tours on offer in Arequipa, but we decided we could do it much cheaper and easier by ourselves. Plus hiking up and down the canyon at 3AM in the morning along with hundreds of other gringos in a race to get to the top to get on a bus that WOULD leave without you didn't sound that magical.So we did our own hike, through the incredible inca terraced landscape of the Canyon from Chivay to a tiny village of Yanque. I don't think many people do this, the farmers were really suprised to see us, as we walked there were cries of "DOS GRINGOS" echoing around the valley. We stayed the night in a family house / hostal and then made our own way at first light to the Cruz del Condor.We got there to see the first flight of the condors before ther hoards of tour buses arrived. It was freezing cold but definately worth the early start!These birds have a wing span of up to 3 meters and when one flies directly over your head its a humbling experience. The sound of the wind in their feathers was magical, a memory we will hold onto for ever!!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1121605200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1121605200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/dospollos/dospollos/1121605200/tpod.html Sun, 07 Aug 2005 20:13:27 -0400 The Chicken Bus Diaries: Two untravelled Brits bumble their way from Mexico to Chile and beyond

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Trujillo, Peru

You'll be shocked that we only spent one day in Trujillo to visit Chan Chan and the sun and Moon Pyramids. Apart from the monotonous drone of our Brummy/Ozzy/South African/Papua Newguinean guide it was a really interesting day. The ruins of Chan Chan were facinating.Chan-Chan: the remains of what was probably the largest adobe city in the world... ever!Chan Chan, 5 km (3 mi) west of Trujillo,was the largest pre-Colombian city in South America as the capital of the Chimu kingdom around 1300 AD. Some archaeologists believe it was the largest adobe city ever. There were also nine sub-cities each ruled by a different ruler. Around 100,000 residents inhabited 10,000 buildings in the main city. The city was used to store large quantities of gold, silver and ceramics, which, within two decades of the Spanish arrival, were completely looted. Sadly, not much remains of the original city due to heavy downpours and tomb robbers, huaqueros. The best-preserved section of the city today is the Tschudi Complex. The complex still features friezes and courtyards as well as some original walls; the other walls have been restored.On the north coast of Peru near Trujillo, the Huacas del Sol y de la Luna (Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon) are estimated to be almost 3,000 years old. The Pyramid of the Sun is the largest pre-Colombian structure in Peru despite the fact that about a third of it has been washed away. Built from 1200 AD - 600 AD with an estimated 140 million adobe bricks, today the structures look like indistinct piles partially covered with earth. Views from the top are excellent. Archaeologists are peeling away layers to discover more about these ancient ruins and are constantly discovering and displaying new friezes of stylized figures.
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