I've never encountered salt up close until this South American trip. Visiting Maras / Salineras, a terraced Pre-Inca Salt mine is a huge contrast to the  flat 10,000 square kilometer salt desert of Salar del Uyuni in Bolivia. It was part of our taxi stop from Cuzco. Salineras is one of the cultural sites in the Sacred Valley of the Incas located 7 miles from Moray. It is made up of 3000 salt ponds, each with an average area of 5 square meters connected to a naturally flowing salty hot spring from the mountains.

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Nostalgic. That's the perfect word that sums up how my husband and I feel while browsing through pictures of Peru this afternoon. We could hardly believe that was 5 years ago. Our first 'real' nights on the freezing bus- in the middle of nowhere backpacking trip.  Those times when you want to get out of the bus for a p** at 3AM and you know the bus driver couldn't because it's in the middle of a deserted land with no rock nor bush to hide behind from. And the only decision you have to make is, if you can hold it in till morning or just do it.  An empty bottle with all the passengers sleeping.  You might be asking me now, is this experience for real? I'll leave it to your imagination what happened after that. :)

As a sequel to yesterday's travel recap post of Cuzco, I'd like to share with you a playlist I'd love to listen to on a long relaxing drive. Along with it are photos taken somewhere between the Sacred Valley (Urubamba) and Ollantaytambo. I asked the cab driver, we hired as a tour guide, to stop the vehicle when I saw this view with the majestic Andes mountains at the backdrop. 

Yanque
Colca Canyon
Arequipa
Nazca Lines
Miraflores
Exploring Lima

(1) One is by taking the Inca Trail, 4 days of trekking, hiking, crossing mountains and camping in the wilderness with a group of tourist and expert guides. Book in advance. When we checked the trail's availability 3 months before the expedition, it was already fully booked. Or second option, 

(2) Take the Peru Rail from Ollantaytambo, the last town at the border of the remote Andes Mountains. It takes 1 and a half hour train ride through the rich and majestic mountain range without spotting any house or any civilization there. I was amazed at how completely lost it really is.

olca Canyon, Mirador del Condor and short stops at scenic places before headinack to Arequipa.

Plaza de Yanque

The bus picked us up at 8:30 AM at our backpackers in Arequipa to go to Colca Canyon. Majority of the passengers in the bus spoke Spanish and there were only 4 passengers who doesn't. Dad and I were two of them. The tour guide then tried it in English afterwards, but I could barely understand his gibberish translation. Since Yohann speaks Spanish fluently, he translated it in English for me and French to Dad.

Thank goodness it's Thursday! How are you travel junkies?  I feel like one.  I'm in desperate need of a vacation.  Seriously.  Today, I'll vicariously re-live a foreign trip through these photos.  Allow me to take you to....Arequipa!  

17th September 2008
(Day 5)


"After a 10 hour bus ride from Nazca  to Arequipa via CIAL Bus Line, we arrived in Arequipa Bus Station around 10AM. We immediately booked tickets at the bus terminal heading for Puno.


I am blessed with the ability to sleep peacefully anywhere after 1 minute of closing my eyes, so yes, I was able to have a nice slumber in the bus. This kind of gift comes in handy on trips like these."

Honestly, prior to our trip to South America, the only thing I knew about Peru was Lima and Machu Picchu. Perhaps, I was absent the day Nazca was discussed in school. Seriously, I've always imagined Peru to be a green country since part of the Amazon Jungle was there and I've only seen photos of the Andes Mountains in books. So I was completely surprised that it was mostly dry coastal mountains stretching through flat desert land. 

Going back to the question: Lots of tourist invade this small town of Nazca because of the world famous Nazca Lines that are still considered an unsolved mystery up until today.  Here is an excerpt from my journal:

"We took the Flores Bus in Lima departing at 11:30AM for an 8 hour journey after a torturous walk along the city's impoverished streets with 20kg luggage on our backs for several kilometers. The pungent smell in the bus drove me crazy. The trip was horrific that it drove me to depression. The dead scenery before me was something out of a "Hills Have Eyes" movie. I asked myself why I was here and wished that the trip would be better.  During our bus stopover, I cried for no reason.  I just felt terribly sad."  

"Miraflores is right at the coastal edge of Lima resting peacefully overlooking Pacific Ocean. It's a romantic lookout surrounded by couples passionately kissing in public and paragliders in the sky. It's considered the wealthy community of Lima.

We took a local bus from Central Lima to get there. We walked a lot here! We strolled from one end to the other along the cliff past the lookouts and went down along the coast walking from that point to the other end , climbed up and went back to where we came from. I must have lost 2 kgs here. :-)  We didn't notice the distance as we were immersed by the extraordinary landscape."

Arriving in Peru that morning was surreal.  I'm glad I followed my own gut feeling of separating my clothes and my hubby's between our two backpacks so that if one goes missing, we''ll still be okay.  I'm quoting a passage I have written in my travel journal.

13th September 2008

"We arrived at Lima airport with Yohann and my father-in-law to find out that my luggage was missing. We took a cab to get to the town centre. It was an adventurous trip so note that we never pre-booked any of our accommodation. We checked in at Hotel Espana after walking with our backpacks for three blocks from the main square. That same morning, after a nice shower and a nice breakfast, we explored the cold streets of Peru's Capital and took in the breathtaking Spanish Colonial Architecture."