Peru part 1.

Peru was definitely the country of extremes, in climate, landscape and experiences. Our first hour in Peru resulted in a broken window and two stolen packs (containing all of our clothing and electronics). We also saw the most spectacular landscapes of our lives, hiked to incredible altitudes and met a lot of great people. The wealth of experience has necessitated splitting the blog into two parts; before and after Cusco.  Sounds foreboding, but Cusco was fine, don't worry... except that our credit card got hacked at a cafe.

How the banditos got in, now they're rocking some new, albiet much too large,  threads.

Camping at Zorritos. Met a weird American family who had lived acampsite for 18 months selling beer, brownies and weed to other campers. The beer was great, and we watched the 2 year old daughter down a pint...

Birds chilling at Lobitos, probably the best wave I've ever seen, only going the wrong way (left).

Here at Lobitos we met Marcos Mafia (you read that correctly). A kitesurfing champ who has a line of recycled-sail made bags etc. and is sponsored by Reef. We took some pics for him, then he blew us away by giving us a bag and a whole swag of clothing, replacing a lot of our stolen gear. Amazing guy.

We rented a little house on the beach in Vichayito for a week where we remembered what its like to live normally for a little while, like a normal 7 day weekend,  mmm pancakes.

Believe it or not, this place is recommended in the lonely Planet guide. Weirdest joint ever. All domes, pyramids and junk that seemed to be from an ill fated theme park. They couldn't  understand where the business had gone. Luckily we camped for free. After this we spent 3 days buying replacement gear in Lima. It was so smoggy we didn't even take a single picture,.

Chacama, the longest wave in the world. We arrived to double-overhead waves, apparently really rare here, and the swell lasted our whole stay. Its crazy to take off, kook a turn, recover, laugh at yourself, do another 20 turns, read a book, get a haircut etc. all on one wave!

Canyon del pato (pato=duck), some crazy wilderness camping on our way to more crazy wilderness. The all dirt route has 50 hand cut tunnels, ranging from short to "I am hoping a truck isn't coming for the 13th time" long.

We camped in the valley here and climbed up to the Glacier in the background. This is the Cordillera Blanca of Peru. Incredible scenery. We found ourselves staring at the glaciers all day. Honestly, I think that even locals still get taken aback by the vista every time.

This is Laguna 69 at the top of the hike. It really looks like this, no tricks. Tough going getting up there though, the air is really thin and the track is really steep, we ate a lot of coca which helped a little. This spot would be one of our must sees for anyone coming to south America. 

The nearby town of Yungay was decimated by an avalanche in 1970. The slide killed 22, 000 people and was thought to be traveling at 3-400km/h when it hit. There's nothing left now. The memorial here marks the path of the slide. You can see the path in the picture if you use your imagination. 

The coast around Paracas. There is a myriad of wildlife here contrasting starkly to the surrounding desert.

Huacachina. Used to be a playground for the Peruvian elite. Now its a playgroung for gringos built around a tiny oasis in the desert. 

The dunes around the town are home to dakar, dune buggies and sand boarding. At least 80 percent of the vehicles in town are dune buggies,  with roaring big block v8's. We took a ride in one and were glad to return in one piece. The dunes are impressive enough at a standstill... but hurtling through them and over and around them at close to a gazillion km/h gave us a whole new perspective. 

For the uninitiated,  the town of Nazca is surrounded by thousands of lines and giant pictures drawn in the desert.  They were only rediscovered by commercial airlines in the 20th century and are still mostly a total mystery. They are huge and there are literally thousands in every direction, stretching to the horizon.

These beautiful guys are called Vicunya. The high sierra is dotted with herds of these and other llamas, alpacas. They are native, wild, and protected in these areas. 

Next up, Peru part 2.