Peruvian Woodcock is not black pudding with a feather in it.....DAD!

Hola from South America!

After a rather bumpy flight from Cuba to Peru, we spent a few days in the very cold capital city of Lima. Temperatures were way below normal for this time of year and the governemnt had declared a state of emergency in some parts of the country, good job we still had our thermals!

Whilst in Lima we visited the museum of the Spanish inquisition. We saw models of the prisoners being tortured and having their bodies stretched on the rack, hung upside down, water torture, and burned with them having their feet roasted! It just goes to show that nobody expects a Spanish inquisition! But nothing like the Monty Python sketch with fluffy cushions and a comfy chair!

After a visit to the cathedral in the main square (visited by the pope about 10 years ago) we went back to the hostel balcony to watch the biggest festival ever put on by a Supermarket, called Wong. ( Urvy thought it was Wing but as Pete points out, you dont want to get your Wings Wong!!) It lasted for about 7 hours and they had floats for everything from Toy Story to a Spanish rap about the importance of cleaning your teeth. It finished with a big fireworks display in the park. There were literally thousands of people crammed onto the streets - it was more than a bun fight to get to the front!

The next day we headed down the coast to the town of Paracas, which was severely damaged by a massive earthquake two years ago and still suffereing from the effects. Although hotels and hostels are up and running and rebuilding, some of the locals are still living in shacks.

Here we went on a boat trip of the "Poor Mans Galapogos Islands" - the Isla´s de Ballestas. On the way out to the islands we saw the "Candelabra", a huge three pronged Geolith carved on the side of a hill, thought to be carried out by either a pre-inca civilisation, or aliens, nobody knows for sure. The islands are home to thousands of birds, hundreds of Sea Lions and tonnes of Guano (bird poop), which is quarried and exported. The guide told us the men work on the island for at least 30 days in solitude and have no company but tourists on the boats. The main inhabitants were Perviuan Boobie birds, its the most boobies Pete´s ever seen in one day (with permission from Urvy!) although there were also Pelicans and Humbolt Penguins. This was definitely a day for a hat and a nose peg, fortunately we didn´t receive any direct hits.

Next we took the bus to Nazca where we went on a flight over the famous Nazca lines (hold onto your breakfast!).

Love Pete & Urvy.

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