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D&G's 2023 Adventure
  • Gabrielle Sheehan
  • Daniel Mezger

D&G's 2023 Adventure

Amazing trip to South America and Europe! Read more
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  • Trip start
    March 18, 2023
  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    1

    Leaving Sydney Airport!!

    March 18, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Oh the places we will go!
    Thank you to our Mums for driving us to the airport and saying goodbye 👋

    Syd -> San Fran
    San Fran -> Houston
    Houston -> Quito, Ecuador 🇪🇨 Stop 1️⃣ 🛩🛬

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    11

    Quito

    March 19, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Hola!! After a failed attempt at breaking some USD (note for future - don’t take anything bigger than a $20 note!), we boarded the hop on/hop off bus to see the sites of Quito. It definitely doesn't feel like the narrow streets and low wires in Quito were made for double decker buses! We explored some different neighbourhoods at an elevation of 2850m, passing some colourful colonial houses and the cathedral (with gargoyles that represent the animals of the Amazon such as crocodiles and turtles) on our way to the Panecillo (statue of the Virgin Mary with wings crushing a snake). We took in the magnificent views of the Quito landscape and learnt about the construction of the statue (made completely of aluminium) before having some awesome bbq chicken for lunch on a skewer with veggies and rice and traditional hot alcoholic drink called canelazo.

    We then took an extension on the regular tour to visit Mitad del Mondo - the centre of the earth (this included driving through rioting soccer fans of rival clubs who were playing today!). Quito is one of the few cities through which the equator passes so it was very cool to be standing with one foot on either side of the equator (so we were in both the Southern and Eastern hemisphere at the same time!) Our tour guide taught us about Ecuadorian history such as the customs of the three main different regions (highlands, Amazon and lowlands), including one which involved beheading and wearing the shrunken heads of their enemies; another was the medicinal powers of Guinea pigs ‘Cuy’. There was a musesum there which also contained a lot of information about Ecuador and we explored and took some photos around and Daniel bought his souvenir shot glass for Ecuador here.

    We made our way back to where we were staying for a quick dinner at a cool rooftop bar/restaurant (where Daniel had a tiny bottle of Corona) and Gab had a huge glass of wine for a couple of USD. We then met our group of 17 people for the tour with G Adventures which starts tomorrow! Surprisingly, we are the only Aussies on the tour. The tour group members are mostly from the UK and there is also one American guy and 2 Dutch guys. Our tour group leader for this part of the journey is Guido and he will help us translate things from Spanish as well as lead our group. Looking forward to starting tomorrow!!    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure

    Travel to Tena/Amazon Jungle

    March 20, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    We had a quick breakfast at the hostel with the group before getting on board to our next destination, Tena. We were dropped at a location (which looked like the middle of nowhere) where we changed buses and boarded a ‘public’ bus (better than some Australian coaches!) on our way to the Amazon!
    We arrived at the small town of Tena before switching to a 4WD and heading to the Amazon.
    We had a delicious lunch and checked into our homestay lodge before heading out on a walk to learn about the uses of various plants and then the ‘spa’ where we got very unique clay face masks! We then washed off our masks in the river - our skin was very smooth after that!
    We headed back to our lodge to one of the huts and the local shaman, Delfino, taught us about traditions local to that area of the Amazon including the process of becoming a shaman, local rituals (which include the use of ayahuasca for healing) and marriage (which is arranged for young people to take place at 15 years old). We even saw an example of a shaman's ritual and then participated in a wedding ceremony (where we got married again!) which involved us dressing up and dancing with our "bridesmaids" and "groomsmen". We danced to drums and guitar after trying some local chicha (alcohol made my fermenting yuca- a root vegetable which is local to the area). We had some dinner which included cooked fish which was super delicious (but quite bony!) We enjoyed some drinks and played cards with some of our new friends on our tour group to end our first night in the Amazon :)    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure

    Amazon Jungle

    March 21, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ 🌧 23 °C

    Our first full day in the Amazon! The roosters at the lodge woke us up nice and early at 5am and then it started pouring and thundering!

    We had breakfast of plantain (vegetable with is very common to the area), eggs, strawberry juice and tea. Following this, Delfino gave us an explanation of some more customs of the area and tribal face painting. Each person was given a different face painting with various symbols for different meanings/roles. Gab's face painting representing the free and balanced woman (which referred to the fact that previously in the Amazon the women had a lower standing to men and carried the babies and all food on their backs but this has changed). Daniel's face painting represented a tiger in the Amazon sharpening its claws.

    We then went for a walk through the pouring rain and Miguel, one of the locals, explained information about different types of plants in the jungle. There were plants for period pain (which actually has a red sap on its leaves), antiseptic plants, plants to help when women experience difficulties with lactating, poisonous plants used for hunting animals and we even ate termites from a nest on a tree (they didn't taste great)!

    Miguel showed us a gold panning demonstration. There is gold in the rivers around but the locals only pan small amounts when they need some money for a particular reason. Miguel showed us how he made shelters to hide from predators (or if you get lost in the jungle and need a place to stay!) He also showed us various different types of traps hunters used to catch animals (such as anacondas and rodents). On our way back for lunch, we tried some cinnamon and lemongrass leaves.

    After lunch, the rain had stopped and we went canyoning/abseiling through the jungle in our helmets! We made our way upstream through a few different waterfalls and then abseiled back down to our starting point - a fantastic and fun afternoon with our group.

    We then made our way back to camp for dinner (which included hot soup and then a large cooked meal of veggies and chicken). We then enjoyed some drinks and cards with the group before bed.    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    2

    Amazon Jungle

    March 22, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

    After breakfast, some of the tour group went white water rafting whilst a group of us went on a walk to the blue lagoon. It was a sort of water park where we could swim in natural creeks and jump off rocks into the water - lots of fun! It was a "short" walk of about 1.5 hours there (we are learning that the local people's definition of short may be different to our definition sometimes!! But we love it!)

    On the way back, we caught a ride in the back of a ute back to camp where we said goodbye to our hosts and made our way on bike to the next village for the evening. The bike ride was quite enjoyable and it was mostly flat with some gravel roads.

    On the way, we played a game of soccer at a local school which got quite competitive (imagine a lot of English guys in particular who love their football!). Gab made friends with some local kids and started playing tag with one boy which ended in a lot of running around the school grounds! That was all very exhausting and it was quite humid and hot.

    We finished our bike ride at our new accommodation for the night which is another lodge and we had a much needed shower!

    We then had an awesome chocolate making demonstration where we experienced all the steps of chocolate making starting from picking the cocoa beans which are ready after around 2 years being on the tree. We then worked together to roast the beans over the fire, peel the beans, process the seeds, add sugar and then add powdered milk to make melted chocolate that was around 70%. We then enjoyed our amazing chocolate dipped in strawberries, biscuits and bananas - yum!!

    We then had a fantastic dinner which started with a soup made from unripe papaya, very interesting and yummy! We were very full from all of the food and stayed up for a few hours drinking local beer (Pilsener) and playing drinking games with some of our group!    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    2

    Amazon Jungle/Travel to Baños

    March 23, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    We had breakfast this morning and left our lodge in Shandia on a private bus headed for Banos.

    We stopped at Devil's Waterfall on the way where we walked down an amazing rock face to see an incredible waterfall from the bottom - including some cool rainbows. We walked across a few cool suspension bridges as well to see the waterfall from different angles.

    We had a delicious (and huge!) lunch just outside the waterfall. Gab had trout (which has been introduced to the area from Canada but is very popular) and Daniel had steak. We then had a short drive in fhe bus to a cable car that went across the valley. The cable car was powered by a car engine! We experienced an amazing view of the canyon and waterfall suspended in the air.

    We then had a short drive to La Casa del Arbol (a famous treehouse which is home to the swing at the end of the world) and had heaps fun swinging off the edge and going on the flying fox! It is such a beautiful area! It was at a 2600m altitude so a bit of a difference from the lower areas we have come from in the Amazon.

    We then drove to Banos and checked into our hotel which is really lovely! Banos is quite a touristy town and is the central point for lots of different activities. It is definitely more built up than where we have been staying in The Amazon. We went to a local tourism office to talk about activities we can book for tomorrow and then we went to a restaurant for dinner with the group. We enjoyed yuca with guacamole and beef tacos. Then back to our hotel to sleep before more adventures tomorrow!    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    Amazing view at the top of our hike!
    Our group for canonying! Lots of fun!Waterfall kisses!On the way up to the top!1The hot springsSome shots at the barMusic at dinnerGetting ready to have some shots which were on fire!1The lovely caps they made us wear at the hot springs!

    Baños

    March 24, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    After a good buffet breakfast in our hotel, we headed out for a morning of canyoning! We drove to a waterfall where we climbed up beside the waterfall and then descended down two separate waterfalls (one 15m and one 20m) before heading across to another two waterfalls. We were lowered down sliding down the first one together by the guide and enjoyed a few refreshing moments in the water before then being propelled down a 45m waterfall where the guide was able to lower us as slow or as fast as he liked - he opted for the latter! Such an amazing experience and way to start the day!

    We then headed off for a short "easy" hike up to La Cruz de Bellavista which was a stunning viewpoint where you can see all of Baños and how the city sits completely within mountains. We made a slight detour on the way up but overall ascended approx 300m from the city level of 1800m to the viewpoint of 2100m - incredible! It was classified as an easy hike on the town map but we would not consider it to be so! Worth it though!

    We then had a short walk around the town before heading to the hot springs/spa with some of the group. The water comes directly from the natural waterfalls and then heated to various different temperatures in different pools throughout the complex. We started in a 38 degree pool and then progressed to a 42 degree which was quite hot but nice! We then went to the hottest pool (which not many people were in!) and apparently was 60 degrees! Daniel managed to submerge from his shoulders down for about a minute (he came out very red!) whereas everyone else only last a few seconds! Thankfully there was a cold water pool right next to it to cool down in!

    We then went back to the hotel before heading out to dinner at a pub where we enjoyed burgers and then went dancing and clubbing with the group :) There was lots of spanish music but they did play the macerna quite a few times (I think for us tourists) and Gab started a congo line! It was quite a late night dancing but we have a lot of time to sleep on the bus tomorrow!    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure

    Travel from Baños to Cuenca

    March 25, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    After only a few hours sleep from the night before we jumped on a private bus to take us to Cuenca at around 8am.

    Our journey was extended because we had to turn around as members of the local community were protesting on one of the roads which meant we had to take an alternate route through the mountains. It was pouring rain and we were passing trucks on the edges of cliffs that we couldn’t see the bottom of - definitely got the adrenaline running! It took us an extra 3 hours to get to lunch (at around 3.30pm). We had planned to see an archaeological site in the afternoon but because of the delay we did not do that. After our stop, the clutch on the car needed to be fixed so we made another stop (it kept getting better!)

    We thankfully arrived safely in Cuenca by 9pm (we were originally supposed to arrive around 4pm). We had a much needed shower and night's sleep.    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    We may have swapped jackets for this photo!The chocolate cafe

    Cuenca

    March 26, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

    We enjoyed a day exploring Cuenca which is Ecuador's 3rd largest city. Daniel woke up and had a buffet breakfast at the hotel but Gab stayed in the room and did some yoga (after feeling a bit sore after over 14 hrs on the bus yesterday!)

    We then walked with the group to the main square where we saw some school children marching. Our guide, Guido, explained that because of the strong military culture in Ecuador, parades of this type very common thing and usually occur every Sunday.

    We then visited the local markets and tried some different local fruits (some which are quite different to fruits we have at home!) . We then went and saw the meat stalls at the markets - they sell and eat all parts of the animal. We had some pulled pork for a snack at the markets then went back to the hotel to check out our bags.

    We then went back to the main square and went to the top of the main cathedral which is considered the largest in Latin America. We walked around town for a bit. There were a lot of markets around and all of the churches were very busy with Sunday masses and parades.

    Some of our group, organised a bus to the National Park. The national park was incredible, the landscape was so picturesque and one of the lookout points was over 4100m! The last stop at the National Park included a chocolate shop/Cafe where Gab enjoyed a hot chocolate with baileys and churros.

    We then walked around the shops before heading for a quick dinner at a sports bar before boarding the night bus to Mancora, Peru at 8pm. Goodbye Ecuador - it has been amazing!!    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure

    Mancora

    March 27, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    We arrived at 6am on the night bus after crossing the border into Peru and then had a quick nap before breakfast.
    We met the group in the lobby and went for a walk along the beach and swim in the other side of the Pacific Ocean - the sand is a lot darker and water a lot warmer than Sydney beaches!
    We then went back to the hotel to meet our new tour guide, Andre, who would be taking us all the way through to La Paz, Bolivia. We tried out the local Asian fusion restaurant with some yummy tuna poke bowls and local beers :)
    We had a lesson on making the Peruvian national drink - Pisco Sour (pisco, sugar cane liquor, egg whites and lime) - at the bar at our hotel before heading out to watch the sunset over the ocean (and enjoying another Pisco Sour of course!)
    We went to a pizza place recommended by our guide for some awesome wood-fire oven pizza and played some pool/table tennis before turning in for the night.    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure

    Mancora

    March 28, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    We started the day with a run along the beach (a little bit cooler today!) and then breakfast at the hotel. We then went back down to the beach to watch some of the others who had chosen to do surf lessons and had some fun swimming and watching them (Daniel also scored a body board and went for a board!).
    We then went for a yummy lunch right on the beach before heading back to the hotel for salsa lessons - we still need a few more!
    We were very sweaty and hot after the salsa lesson so we hung by the pool at the hotel and then walked with the group to see the sunset from the beach before getting a tuk tuk ride to a soccer pitch to play against some locals/friends of our tour guide - Daniel had a lot of fun and was very sweaty! Gab cheered him on!
    We then went out for a late dinner before joining the group on the rooftop bar of the hotel for drinks :)    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    The pool at the hotel
    Morning beach walk!View from the hotelBeef soup - delicious!Fresh cerviche!Fish, rice and banana!Gab's friend when we were hanging by the poolThe overnight bus

    Mancora

    March 29, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    After a busy day yesterday, we had a later breakfast at the hotel and went for a long walk together along the beach before it was too hot. It is pretty quiet around Mancora - we suspect that people have cancelled/changed their trips to Peru because of the political unrest and natural disasters.

    After our walk, we returned to the hotel to check out of our room before our next overnight bus tonight and then went on a short walk to the local markets with our guide, André. This is where all the locals buy their food (including fruit, vegetables, meat and fish - plenty of fish!!) It is much cheaper than the tourist spots of Mancora - we ordered a two course meal each (awesome soup/fresh fish ceviche and fresh grilled fish with rice and grilled banana) and a pineapple drink for the equivalent of $4AUD!

    We went back to the hotel to chill out by the pool for the rest of the day. We played card games and read our books before boarding our night bus to Trujillo at 10pm (around a 10 hour bus trip).    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure

    Trujillo

    March 30, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    We took a much more comfortable overnight bus from Mancora to Trujillo and arrived in Trujillo around 9.30am. Trujillo is the third largest city in Peru. The bus’ aircon was much better and so we able to sleep a lot better than the previous overnight bus.

    We had an early checkin to the hostel and breakfast out with the group. We explored the main square and saw one of the more famous cathedrals in South America because it was built in 1666 (devils number). It has had some bad luck being reconstructed 3 times (due to earthquakes and other disasters).

    We caught a local bus to Huanchaco beach in afternoon which is a well known surfing spot, although the water is quite dark with lots of rocks and sulfur from volcanic ash in the area. Quite different to Aussie beaches!

    We tried a local snack which is fried sweet potato donuts in a fig sauce - very yummy!

    We had another $4 two course meal (so good!) and then beers on the beach with our group for a few hours and watched the sunset. We went with most of our group to a night club along the beach for some cocktails and plenty of dancing!    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure

    Trujillo

    March 31, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    After breakfast we checked out of our rooms before tonight’s night bus.

    We then went on a full day tour of Trujillo starting with some traditional (and very interesting!) ceramic statues of the traditional ‘Moche’ people. The Moche people lived from around 50AD to around 850AD.

    We then proceeded to the pyramid of the moon where we saw the traditional mud brick construction of the pyramids and city. We learnt how the pyramid was inverted as they essentially filled in the bottom floor with mud bricks and constructed a larger floor on top when they needed more space. The mud bricks were given by different families as part of their taxes and, as such, you can see different markings on the bricks representing different families. Archaeological preservation and discovery of the rest of the city has ceased since the pandemic due to lack of funding.

    We went into the historic town of Moche for lunch and tried the traditional meals of baby goat and duck with beans and rice - goat was delicious but duck wasn’t the greatest!

    After this, we went to a horse dancing show and had a short ride the horses. The horses walk/gallop in a very different way, it’s the way they are born (not trained) and as such they are very expensive horses.

    We then made our way to the Chan Chan ruins which is a 14km2 historic city situated just outside the city of Trujillo. It once had 10 palaces and we were able to explore one of these to see the different rooms/uses of the spaces within the palace. The Moche people moved here and developed this new town near the sea which had about 14,000 inhabitants.

    We then went back to the hotel to freshen up/chill out before boarding the night bus to Lima. This night bus is the best we have been on - lots of leg space!!    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    1

    Lima

    April 1, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    We caught another overnight bus from Trujillo and arrived to our hotel in Lima around 10am. We had a quick breakfast before unpacking our bags and chilling out before meeting up with the group in the afternoon to explore the city.

    We walked down to the ocean through one of the districts, Barranco, to see some of the beaches. This district has some really cool street graffiti and artwork with lots of cafes. The beach has a lot of pebbles and have a very fishy smell to them!

    We walked back up through Barranco and across the bridge of sighs where you hold your breath as you walk across and make a wish. A bit hard to do in the hot weather!

    We then continued walking through the Barranco district and walked across town to the Miraflores district which is the expensive part of town. It is home to apparently one of the best restaurants in the world - unfortunately we couldn’t get into it! 🤣

    We went to San Roman markets for a late lunch. It used to be a local market but now it is a two floor food court with lots of options for food (Mexican, Japanese and more!) It has a lot of cool artworks on the ceiling and walls. We went to a local park where our guide, André, bought us many different traditional Peruvian desserts for us to try including purple corn pudding and other types of cakes. We also tried a purple corn drink - chicha morada. Gab really likes this one! We walked around the park and watched couples salsa dancing in the park.

    We then caught the metro bus to the national stadium and went into a park full of fountains which included a water show that had a short video of Peruvian history projected onto it - very cool! Lots of amazing colourful foundations and cool sculptures.

    We got a taxi back to the hotel, had a quick call home and got ready to go out. This was the last day of the first leg of our tour so 4 of the people from our tour are leaving so we had a big night to farewell them. We started at a hostel which had a happy hour deal for cocktails - including chilcano (which is a cocktail of pisco sour, lime and ginger ale). After many drinks there, we headed to a club for dancing!    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure

    Lima

    April 2, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    After finishing up at almost 4am at the club, we had a very chilled day today! As this is the crossover day for the end of one tour and the start of the next tour, we didn't have any activities planned.

    We had breakfast at the hotel before heading back to the room to relax for a bit and get some extra sleep. We went for a quick lunch of wraps near our hotel then went for a walk to explore the Sunday markets and got ice cream :)

    We had dinner with some of the group before meeting new members of the group to start the next leg of the South America tour - Lima to La Paz! The new group members include a guy from Australia, two girls from the UK, one girl from Germany and a girl from Switzerland.    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure

    Lima/Travel to Huacachina

    April 3, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    We said goodbye to Peru’s capital and boarded a bus on route to the desert city of Huacachina.

    We arrived in the town of Ica before boarding a short bus to the desert oasis of Huacachina - simply incredible!

    Huacachina is surrounded by massive sand dunes with just one road in and out. We checked into our hotel which was right next to the edge of the oasis with a huge sand dune right next to the pool.

    We then jumped onto dune buggies which took us on what felt like a roller coaster ride (see GoPro footage once uploaded!) to explore the vastness of the desert. It was truly incredible and we stopped to do some sand boarding down the dunes. Gab went down on her stomach and sitting and Daniel had a go "surfing"! Lots of fun.

    We sat on top of the buggies and watched the sunset over the desert which was so stunning!

    We then came back to the hotel for a much needed dinner (after not having lunch!) We went in the pool and hung out with our group before going to bed.    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure

    Huacachina/Travel to Nazca

    April 4, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We had a slightly earlier wake up call today to take a bus to the seaside town of Paracas (about an hour and a half way from Huacachina). We went on a boat tour of the ballestas islands and saw heaps of sea lions, dolphins, penguins, pelicans and lots of other different birds! The dolphins were swimming in large groups alongside the boat! We saw one beach which was covered in sea lions who were making a lot of loud noises and swimming around. The babies were very cute!

    After the amazing morning, we then jumped on a bus back to Huacachina to checkout of our hotel and continue on to our next location, Nazca.

    We stopped at a winery on the way to learn about how they make the national liquor, Pisco. We tried a lot of different piscos - before each shot, we chanted in Spanish about the pisco! We had a lovely traditional lunch of fresh avocado and chicken and pork with beans.

    We made our way to Nazca and arrived by 9pm. We checked into our hotel and played some pool/had some drinks at a bar before going to bed.    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure

    Nazca

    April 5, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Today was 10 years since we started dating and we had an amazing day celebrating!

    We started the day with a quick trip to Nazca airport where we boarded a small Cessna plane to view the Nazca lines. The Nazca lines are 350km2 of geoglyphs which are a series of images, lines and geometric images created by removing stone from the ground and exposing a layer of white clay below. They were created around 2000 years ago! Although we don't know exactly how and why they were made, there are many different theories. The 5th most popular theory is that the lines were made by aliens! The view from the plane was incredible and we got to see so many of the different images, including the whale, monkey, spiral, flower, hummingbird, astronaut, hands and trees. It definitely took a strong head and stomach as the pilot was throwing the plane around a lot from side to side to make sure we got an awesome view!

    After finding our earth legs again, we made our way to our lunch spot which was a buffet lunch cooked by traditional methods. It was cooked in pachamama (Mother Earth - in the ground) and consisted of beef, chicken, pork, baked cheese, potatoes and various other things! It takes at least 4 hours of preparation (2 hours to create the 'oven' in the ground and 2 hours to cook underground). This is a traditional meal made for special occasions such as birthdays.

    We then went to an archaeological site to see the traditional mummification process - it was effectively viewing a 1000 year old open grave, definitely not what any of us were expecting! There is not a much of information available about these mummies so we walked around with André and learnt about the theories and information.

    We then went to the top of a viewing tower for a different perspective of a few of the Nazca lines and watched the sunset over the desert. It was amazing!

    We went back to the hotel to check out and have a quick light dinner of waffles and went to a pool bar to watch a soccer match. The people in the bar were cheering and getting so animated!

    We then had a wait for our night bus to Arequipa. We knew it was delayed so we played some crossword games with our group (which have become one of our favourite bus activities) and sat in the park until our bus which finally arrived at 1am (it was supposed to arrive at 10:30pm!)    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure

    Arequipa

    April 6, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    After a few hours delay, we boarded the night bus to Arequipa around 1am and arrived in Arequipa around midday.

    Arequipa is known as Peru’s white city and has a population of around 1million.
    We had a quick brunch of an acai bowl and omelette before walking around the city and exploring the streets. We walked past the cathedral and a beautiful main square, as well as exploring the local markets - we even had a performance from a Michael Jackson impersonator! The cathedral in the main square is stunning - it is made of beautiful white stone.

    We then went back for drinks at the hotel before heading to a soccer match. It was a South American cup match between the local Peruvian team against a Uruguayan team - the atmosphere was fantastic and ended in a 1-1 draw. Quite a lot of people in the crowd were cheering and singing the whole game!

    We then went out for a late dinner (KFC, as nothing else was open) before heading to a club for some dancing and drinks. There was a great atmosphere there!    Read more

  • D&G's 2023 Adventure
    Lookout spot in ChivayVicuanas on the side of the roadSquashed in the hut

    Arequipa/Travel to Chivay

    April 7, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    We woke up early after only a few hours sleep for breakfast and boarded the bus on our way to Chivay, located in the Colca Canyon region. We made a quick pit stop to buy water/snacks as well as the coca leaves which are said to help with the affects of being at high altitude.

    Along the way our guide told us about alpacas, llamas and vicuñas whose wool is used by locals for fur. Llamas are essentially larger alpacas and are able to carry up to 40kg when fully grown. Vicuñas are a smaller llama-type animal which are nearing extinction and as such are protected by the government. Their wool sells for over US $900 per kg which has contributed to their near extinction - it is considered one of the best wool fibres in the world along side baby alpaca wool (baby alpaca wool is the first wool off an alpaca only).

    We stopped at a restaurant in the mountains to try the Andean tea that contains the coca leaves as well as local herbs (which taste like mint and oregano) which is also another means of helping with altitude sickness.

    We then stopped for photos with llamas and alpacas on the side of the road - very cool and they were surprisingly very calm!

    Following this, we made our way to the highest point on our bus trip which was just under 5000m. We could definitely feel the thinner air walking around at the lookout. There were a number of stores at the lookout and Gab bought a very cute llama scarf :)

    We then got to the town of Chivay where we had a very delicious buffet lunch and even got to try alpaca! Safe to say we didn’t need dinner!

    We then checked into our hotel and went for a walk around the town (approx 3600m elevation) to a few different viewpoints which were spectacular! There are quite a number of active volcanoes around the area and we learnt that it was because of the lava on the ground which helps the fertility of land which is why agriculture is such a big industry in Peru. The main agriculture in this area is potatoes, broad beans and quinoa.

    The lookouts also had the ruins of a few Inca structures which were built for protection at the top of the main lookout. Most of these were destroyed by the Spanish but parts of some still remain. 13 of us from the group actually managed to squeeze in one. Gab was the only one who could stand up in there!

    We then went for a short stroll around the main square and got some yummy hot chocolates before having a much needed quiet night in!    Read more

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