I want my mummy
Trip Start
Aug 03, 2006
1
23
75
Trip End
Dec 13, 2006
Arequipa,
Peru
Friday, September 8, 2006
The day was spent ambling around the town and going to the exhibit of the mummy Juanita which was very interesting. We also got to watch a very interesting documentary made by the Discovery Channel which is definitely worth a watch for those of you with cable / satellite.
Lunchtime yesterday was interesting. We took some empanadas to the Plaza de Armas for a nice sit down and relax when some randmon bloke started talking to us. All the usual stuff, you know, where are you from, that sort of thing. Then there was a silence and he asked if we believed in Jesus
At the start of the downhill bike ride
. Uh oh. Alarm bells started to ring. Steve managed to fend the question off with a bit of banter but he kept on at it. He started saying stuff like, "God is in your heart waiting to be discovered" so Steve hit him back with the classic, "Look pal, there´s two things I don´t talk about with people I´ve just met - religion and politics." An awkward silence and then, like the good South American that he was he ventured, "What about football then?". Sorted. The solution to any argument in South America - start talking about football!Today was action packed. We went on a Volcano bike ride up the Misti Volcano. Talk about cossetted Westerners, for us two there was a support team of 2! One guy to ride in front of us to guide the way and another to drive the support vehicle behind carrying all our stuff! We´re hard-core adventurers, we are.
The idea of the trip was to drive us up the side of the volcano so we could whizz down, and then cycle on up a challenging hill to a little village for our packed lunch at the end of 15km. We were using the cycling at altitude as training for the Inca Trail. Good job we did have the support vehicle as Tara had a very nasty fall on the way down the volcano. She hit a rock and went straight over the handlebars, bruising all the right-hand side of her body
Our support crew!
. Not ideal a mere 4 days before we start the Inca Trail. She´s a tough nut to crack is our Tara, so she bravely soldiered on and completed the ride.DAILY FACTS
- Stayed at: Casa del Sillar (formerly known as Colonial House II), Arequipa. Great room and shower and free internet access at reasonable speeds. Also lovely troof terrace for breakfast. They´ll also phone a taxi to get you to the airport. Highly reccommended.
- Trip organised by: Naturaleza Activa. Excellent company whose motto is "You may pay a bit more, but you get a lot more" which we found to be true. Reccommended.
