March 2003

March 01, 2003 - 9:00 p.m.

Things are looking up. The baggage that was sent to Quito (aka kayaks) showed up today in the Lima airport. So now Mark and I have sun screen to cover our already burned faces (it is sunny everyday and very warm and nicely humid).

Today we went to check out if there were any vans that would be within our price range - luckily yesterday we met a very nice Peruvian and he helped us today with the translating. We have a couple of leads and now we have to determine what documentation we need.

Lima is generally a very nice city - after hearing all the horror stories I was pleasantly surprised. Sure there are the slums but they are avoidable and the tourist parts are very clean and nice.

Lunch Stop - Lima Beach

March 05, 2003 - 11:38 a.m.

Yesterday Mark and I bought a van, a diesel 97 Nissan Vanette - looks like it is going to be a sweet car. We dumped the guy who was showing us around and trying to help us find one for a fee (we did not quite trust him) but things seem to go better when you do it alone. The seller seems really honest and helped us go to the Notaria to complete the legal documents. Our only boooo is we must remain in Lima and wait for the next week to get the title transferred (3days) and then the license plate (2 more days after that) by next Monday we should be rollin!!!

Anyways the seller seems nice and today he is helping Mark us do an oil change, brake check, indicator light on dash fix, window tint, and maybe even find a mattress for the back (as I was feeling a bit shitty this morning and opted out - but I am feeling much better now). Our new hotel seems to be making him laugh a bit.

Seems like everything is going well and soon we will be writing from the road!!!

March 09, 2003 - 7:02 p.m.

Hey all...

Michelle and I are still in the depths of Lima. We moved from our Hostal Espana (bed bugs) to a super plush 4 star hotel in the middle of town for the same price of a bout 9 bucks a night.... sweet. Mostly we have been spending time with the Family of Cesar, the person who sold us the van. In fact one could say we’re good friends now.... he has been a huge help and it has been interesting merging into the life of a Peruano..... still the road beckons!! Should be outta here by Tuesday....

Cesar's Family at the Market

March 12, 2003 - 10:20 a.m.

Still in Lima unfortunately. There was a little trouble with our paper work and thus we don’t get our registration until Thursday at the earliest. It’s all due to people at this lawyer’s office not knowing what they are doing - I guess lawyers and their processes are the same everywhere.

Other than that our van is all ready to go. It has a sweet bed in the back and a rack on the roof for the boats. All we need is a license plate.

So we are going to do the tourist thing here in Lima for a few more days. Good thing it’s hot and we can work on our tans.

March 13, 2003 - 10:00 a.m.

SO what do you do when you’re stuck in Lima... Well at least it builds up your tolerance to things that I think we’ll be subjected to often down here in South America. The long gringo stares, the sketchy street food, hours of waiting to get the easiest thing asked for done and so forth. I think I have adjusted... I am not afraid to stare back and when you really lose it, it’s nice to know you can fly off the handle and say the dirtiest words in English and still get blank dumbfaced stares.... So here’s some facts just in case you actually did think Peru was just like home.... not. The average person down here works 6 days a week and just receives 410.00 soles = 120.00$ US a month.... so you can understand why nobody REALLY works at all. Yesterday I saw an ad on T.V. which rewards a person 500.00$ for the capturing of hooliganism on video tape..... if a person is caught and convicted, you are sent to prison (at any age) for 4 - 6 years... wow!! Just for some good ol Whyte Ave. fun back home. Anyways yesterday I caved and decided pollution or not, I would go surf my kayak down on the beach.... found a place that had no local surfers and then hit some big bounces.... kayaking at least, but I would recommend getting south or north of here anyday.....

Hanging out at the Beach

March 14, 2003 - 8:53 p.m.

So tomorrow morning at about 6 am Mark and I should be on our way out of the city and onto Lunahuana, which we should reach later that morning (4 hour drive). The papers have all been sorted out and just this afternoon we picked up our license plates. Lunahuana is supposed to have some good kayaking and it is supposed to be a very pretty town. We are just happy to be on the road after being in a big city for two weeks. On to the adventures...

March 20, 2003 - 11:53 p.m.

We've been here three weeks and have seen nothing but sun everyday... not a drop of rain.

Since I last updated Mark and I were about to leave Lima. We left early Saturday morning and got to Lunahuana in a few hours without any difficulties. Lunahuana is a very laid back town with wineries, Pisco (a Peruvian drink) and whitewater rafting. So Mark and I spent three days kayaking the river Canete, which is a very continuous class II+ to IV river (depending on what section you do). It was a blast and a great river to start out on (especially 'cuz my skills were rusty). It was high and so there were not many eddies and lots of big bouncy waves. We met lots of river guides and kayakers and got the scoop on where and when to paddle in Peru (plus a few contacts if Mark or I want to safety kayak for river rafts).

From our relaxing days at Lunahuana we moved on to the National reserve of Paracas, on the coast south of Lima. It was a really crazy place. Total desert right next to the ocean. Half of what we were driving on was pure salt that was deposited there from the moist ocean air. It was very sterile but the cliffs were full of cormorants, boobies, pelicans, condors, and all sorts of other birds. We saw seals and dolphins. A truly amazing place. Not what either of us expected a coastal park to be like though.

At the moment we are in Ica - catching up with emails, cleaning the salt from Norman (our van), and just doing various things before we get out on the road again. So far the van has been great - we sleep in it every night. Next we are going to head to Nazca and then probably to Arequipa.

Our van Norman in Lunahuana

Paracas

March 22, 2003 - 12:55 p.m.

Well, after a long haul down the Panamericana and a spectacular coastline, we have pulled up to a pleasant altitude in Arequipa, Peru’s second largest city (which is about the same size as Edmonton). The city is less hectic than Lima for sure, which means I should be able to drive the van without worry. Arequipa also has the Rio Chili and 2 of the most experienced Peruvian Boaters (brothers) so Michelle and I should be back on the water tomorrow... looks like we’ll be here before we head to the Colca Canyon.

March 28, 2003 - 7:49 a.m.

Today looks to be the last day for us in Peru for a while, we’re on Lake Titicaca and are heading to the Bolivian side of the lake this afternoon and sittin pretty at 3800m (that’s about 12,500 ft) Anyways getting here was pretty epic with some valuable lessons learned concerning diesel engines. As we left Arequipa and climbed up to the Colca valley we finally experienced the definition of a gutless stinky diesel engine. Topping out at 50 km/h we climbed the Pasa de Pompa at 15,500 ft (4800 m) and we set our new records in highest altitudes obtained for the both of us. The Colca Valley is an amazing place, with 20,000 ft (6000 m) peaks looming around, the Rio Colca drops into one of the craziest gorges I have ever seen... of course now that it is still the rainy season the river is just horrific looking too...... I’ll be back in August or so to paddle this one at safer levels. So after some bumpy roads, Alpaca steaks, Andean Condor sightings and one flat tire, what do some wintry Canucks decide to do? Why return to an altitude of 15,500 ft to spend the night of course! Ah yes... by far the stooopidist idea so far. Shivering away in our sleeping bags, huddled inside our combi van with pounding headaches, the last thing on our minds was the effects of this climate on our VAN! Ah but as the sun crept up to reveal stunning views, our crudest lesson was about to reveal itself.... DO NOT FREEZE THE OIL IN A DIESEL ENGINE!!! So here we are at the highest altitude of our lives drinking coca tea with a van that won’t start and one truck going by every 2 hours or so...... yup. Well writing you means that we pulled through as we will in all of our South American adventures.... next stop Bolivia and some similar altitudes.... anyone know where I can find a block heater?

Ferry ride across Lake Titicaca