Graeme and Lewis do the Andes

Following 3 days of camping we were quite looking forward to a few nights in a hostel. As it turned out we roped ourselves into more camping....at an altitude of 5400m!

The city of Arequipa is overlooked by the El Misti volcano aswell as another group of volcanoes, the tallest of which is Chachani - which turned out to be a temptation we couldn´t refuse...
On our first night after arriving in Arequipa we booked ourselves on a hike of Chachani, which at 6089 m is higher than Kilamanjaro and three quarters the size of Everest - a pretty rash decision!!

The next morning we geared up - tents, jackets, gloves, walking poles, crampons and ice axes - and set off in 4WDs as a group of 9 (4 from our S.America tour). The 4WDs took us to around 5100 m and a 1.5 hr hike with all the equipment (including the tents!) took us to the base camp at 5400m. With almost no acclimatisation having driven from sea level the previous day, altitude sickness kicked in for both of us ........ big time. Struggling to get the tent up and keep down dinner we went to bed early preparing for a 3.00 am start on the main ascent.

In the morning our lack of preparation caught up and Graeme, despite managing the previous night´s hike to base camp and being in better shape than me the night before, was forced to stay put. After spewing the night before, the sleep had cleared my head a bit and fuelled by coca tea and altitude tablets, I set off on the 8 hour hike to the top.

Despite the climb being relatively untechnical for a 6km-plus mountain, the crampons and ice axes were needed to cover a few sections. The real killers were the altitude and the steepness of the climb which prevent you from putting more than 20 steps together without stopping for air. Of the orginal 9, 4 of us eventually made it to the summet.... Amazing views of nearby mountains, Arequipa and El Misti.... and a feeling of ´How the f### did I manage that!!´

The 4 hour hike down was tough and one lapse of concentration almost cost me my ankles.... The afternoon sun had turned a lot of the earlier powder to ice and crossing along a 45 degree incline one of my crampons skidded off the ice instead of digging in. Luckily I caught a rock with 1 foot and managed to swing the ice axe into the side of the hill, ending up lying flat against the slope. One of our 2 sherpas was only a minute away ánd his experience got me back standing and across the incline.... bit of a hairy moment!!!

Arriving back at base camp we found Graeme not not in the best shape - he looked like he´d just had 8 pints too many!! (just the altitude apparently) . With the help of the sherpas, we got him and his (bloody heavy) bag down to the pick-up point and back in Arequipa he more or less recovered instantly!

Our mountain hiking idea left us with little time to see Arequipa - probably quite a nice town.

The next day we got our first experience of the overlanding lifestyle.

Our method of transport is a lorry where the container has been converted into a living area with 24 inward facing seats each with luggage storage underneath. Communication with the driver and the tour leader, Nick and Tracy, in the cab, is done via a buzzer system:

1 buzz - toilet
2 buzzes - photo stop
Continuous buzz - required when dodgy Cerveza or food has been consumed on the previous night!

Tents and cooking equipment are also stored underneath the main container.

After a long drive, we arrived at our first camping spot, a completely deserted beach - pretty spectacular and a good start to the tour.

Back on the road early doors, we had a massive day ahead. That morning we took a boat trip around the Ballestas Islands... rocky islands with huge caves and teaming with wild-life including sea-lions and penguins.

On the road again, we stopped briefly at a Pisco vinyard, where the shots of this white-grape brandy were free-flowing.

As a result, at barely 1pm, everyone on the bus was on good form as we headed for some of the highest sand dunes in the world for our next activity... dune buggying and sand-boarding. Leaving the oasis town of Huacachina, we strapped ourselves into the buggies, 7 in each. The driver then let rip across the dunes..... amazing!! Stopping at the top of some of the highest dunes, we then attempted sand-boarding.... exactly as it sounds - snowboarding on sand. Great laugh!

The dune buggies then took us to our camp for the night which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, but not before passing some of the most amazing scenery we had seen on the trip so far - huge Pacific waves lashing off the vast vast desert. A BBQ and plenty of Pisco and coke followed.

The next day the buggies returned us to some form of civilisation and we headed on to our next stop, Nazca, where we intended to see the infamous Nazca lines from the air. A 12-seater aircraft took us up to view the lines, which depict various figures such as animals and have been dated to 500 BC. However, I personally didn´t see much of the lines ...... after 5 minutes in the air I was spewing my guts out along with 3 others - the landing couldn´t come quick enough! Graeme did manage to get some decent shots though..

Later that night we had our final bush camp before arriving in Arequipa. Despite patrols from the Peruvian police, an indication we weren´t in the safest spot, the night was uneventful and brought an end to an amazing few days.

We spent 4 nights in the Peruvian capital Lima...

A hell-raising taxi ride took us from the airport to our hostel in downtown Lima. As it turned out this kind of driving is absolutely normal in Lima and in the rest of Peru!

Following the success of arriving at the right hostel without being robbed or ripped off (even with our lack of Spanish), we headed out to see the sights and a beer or 2. The Plaza de Armas (basically Lima´s central square) is pretty cool and is surrounded by the Presedential palace, as well as churches and museums.

Waking up at 5am the next day, which happened for the next few days due to the jet lag, we checked out a few more of the sights in central Lima, including the catacombs at the San Francisco monestary....loads of underground tunnels and bones - different. That afternoon we also had our first taste of Pisco Sour, a cocktail containing the Peruvian national drink, a white grape brandy... absolutely lethal!

After meeting some of the other guys who we´d be travelling with for the following 6 weeks, we headed out for a meal at a football bar, El Estadio Futbol Club, where the waiters go mental when their team scores on the TV´s around the bar - the food service a second priority! We then headed out for a few "cervezas" - one spanish word we had quickly learned.

The next couple of days were mainly spent in another part of Lima, Miraflores. From here we took a bike tour to the nearby Barranco and Chorrilos, along the coast of the Pacific Ocean. In Miraflores we also tried Cerviche, a traditional dish of raw fish... which believe it or not, is not bad.

After our 3 days in Lima we were now ready to hit the road, where the real travelling would begin....

Hiking boots, backpack, sleeping bag, anti-malaria tablets and few other things acquired at the last minute! And some spanish downloaded onto the Ipod....!!