After spending a day or two becoming acclimated to the altitude, We set off to visit and stay on the small islands within Lake Titicaca, the largest and highest freshwater lake in the world

As if the name Titicaca wasnt funny enough, it ultimately flows out to Bolivia’s Lake Poopo (pronounced poo-poo)

Andysensei almost missed the boat

Our first stop was the small Island of Taquile, where we hiked a few miles along a stone path to find the village of male weavers (my own name,  I dont know what they call themselves)

I find some of my best vacations are just spent walking around doing nothing in particular

A hearty quinoa corn soup

And some Coca Tea

Followed by a little dancing. All in all, a great lunch. Then it was on to Amanti Island, where we each would bunk up with a local host family for a cultural exchange and to help do their farmwork

But first, more dancing!

The Three Amigos

Some more amigos

The remaining amigo

And the whole tour group

Our host family, who I amazed with sleight of hand and finger tricks from my childhood. I would highly recommend this if you get the chance!

After a fun filled weekend of wine, flight, and sandboarding, we began our tour proper, meeting the remaining 2 members of our group as well as the rest of the tour and set off for our first destination, Puno

At 3800m above sea level, it was an introduction to high altitude living and our first real glimpse of peruvian culture

The hats the women are wearing are actually modifications on the english bowler hat.  Bowler hats have been worn by Quechua and Aymara women in Peru and Bolivia since the 1920s when a shipment of bowler hats was reportedly sent from Europe to Bolivia via Peru for use by Europeans working on the construction of the railroads. The hats were found to be too small and were distributed to locals who have since put their own spin on them

Admittedly, the style is not for everyone

The local supermarket

We wandered about the city, taking in a multitude of sights along the way, but mostly becoming adjusted to the altitude

After getting a feel for the surrounding culture, we started really exploring

The Incas, much like the egyptians and the celts also practiced mummification, although due to a lack of written records we dont know how or why. However, all the mummies whether noble, common, or sacrifices, have been found with knees drawn up in the fetal position.

Then we decided to sample some local delicacies, like this quinoa mousse cake.

Next up was some alpaca steak covered in fried quinoa and alpaca skin and sauca berries

A side order of yucca, or what we took to calling “jenga fries”

And finally the piece de resistance, Cuy!

Or as its better known in english, guinea pig.

Quite the mouthful!

Ending the night by watching some traditional peruvian dances from around the country

We also saw a band with a humongous pan flute

But as they say, size isnt everything, it’s how you use it =P

After a long day of flight and sandboarding, we opted to spend the evening on a tour of several wineries, starting with Tacama

We began to sample a number of wines

A rather large number

Our Guide on this winery tour went by the name of big willie

Quite the rascal that one

A couple of bottles later, we were ready to head on to the next winery. But not before we got our hands dirty learning about how wine is made

Or, more accurately, our feet

We stomped the daylights out of those grapes, while being given copious amounts of pisco, and even samples of juice from the grapes we had just crushed. Yes, we drank our own dirty foot wine

We may have gotten a little tipsy

But in the end, we took it all down, like a sir.

A short distance from Ica where we were staying lies the small desert town of Huacachina. I am not exaggerating when I say small, that is quite literally the entire town you see laid out below you. As resort towns go, it is mostly aimed at backpackers and mostly for one type of activity

Sandboarding. Like snowboarding, but hotter.

We all piled into the dunebuggy, Aytch offering to drive and kindly being declined and set off for the surrounding hills

Then we grabbed our boards, waxed up the underside and set off on an awesome few hours of sandboarding

Wheeeeeee!

A very good day indeed

What has two thumbs and is back from sabbatical? THIS GUY!

Yes, in one of the wiser decisions of my life (and I dont mean that facetiously), I took some time from the job search to make the yearly trip abroad with friends, this time to South America, where we were off to Peru. The next handful of posts will be about that trip, and by the time I am done, hopefully the last post will be about a job. But I digress. We landed in Lima, where we stayed just long enough to have lunch and then set out for a 5 hour bus ride to Ica, near the desert. It would be our staging base for the next two days of adventure before beginning the big tour.

New additions to the travel group this year are two of my oldest friends, aytch and andysensei. I have known these guys since I was in elementary school, and my first trip abroad with a friend was to Japan with andy nigh on a decade ago. So this ought to be interesting.

First order of business was to down a pitcher of Pisco sours, which were….well, okay, not great, but still fun. Then we set about planning our activities on the ground. But before that…

foreign playplace!

My enabler in mischief.

Our first decision was to head out and flyover the Nazca lines

The Nazca lines are a series of ancient geoglyphs located in the desert of southern Peru. Visible only from the air or atop the surrounding foothills, they were constructed with mathematical exactitude by sweeping aside the pebbles to reveal white gray ground underneath

The whale can be seen in the lower right corner

The astronaut

The monkey

Although discovered in 1927, the purpose of the lines remains unclear to this day. SOme scholars have proposed that they were meant to represent astrological data, constellations and planets as an early observatory

The hummingbird

others have theorized that they had religious significance and were meant to bring rain or other blessings to the harsh surroundings

The condor

hands

Still others have theorized that they were landing strips and welcome signs to extraterrestrials.

Above the hands and the tree you can see the highway running by and get an idea of the relative size of the lines. Though smaller than we had initially thought they were still quite impressive. We also got to listen to the pilot talk to us with unique peruvian slang…every other sentence started with “my friends”. 

Though no one knows their purpose, the lines remain quite prevalent around Nazca

Best. flyover. ever.