Peru Overland

Hi to all our friends around the world as we continue our life on the road.

We now update our news by country rather than monthly and having spent the last 5 months in Peru, it seems like a long time since we last wrote from Bolivia.

In fact we asked for a 183 day visa at the Bolivian- Peruvian border, and we got it and as we are in no hurry we will always try and use up our maximum visa allowance so hence the long stay.

Peru is the third largest country in South America with a population of around 30 million. Lima alone has 10 million and is a massive city more often than not shrouded in a misty foggy cloud due to the very unusual weather pattern on the very dry desert like topography on the western side of the Andes. The Pan American highway goes along this side which is nearly 2200kms from north to south. The Eastern side of the Andes is lush and mostly Amazonian but the roads are terrible and so are the insects and humidity.

We left Lake Titicaca which straddles both Bolivia and Peru and travelled through two cities on the lake. One of them, Juliaca must be one of the most horrible cities we have ever seen. Large wide streets, all dusty and sandy with low rise brick buildings all in a state of lookng like they have not been completed but we since learnt that this is intentional because there is less tax to pay until they are completed. I would have thought there should be less tax to pay for a few years after they are completed, not before, in order to encourage the owners to complete them. (Juliaco is also renowned apparently, for being the place where most of the cocaine is trafficked). So of course Peru is full of unfinished properties, a bit like Turkey which has a similar law I believe. Of course the centre of most cities look very pretty as you see with the photos below. Outside of the centre's it is a very different story.

Arequipa was a city we did like and was full of lovely old Spanish architecture. We stayed there for about five weeks at the Wayra River Hostel which had a kitchen we could use so that is always a plus to avoid eating out. Everyday was sunny and warm but the nights were chilly. Finally we were at a much lower altitude so breathing was normal again. We kept busy with movies and internet at night and some lovely walks during the days.

We then took off up north, missing out on Cusco and Machu Picchu because the costs of all of that was out of the question for us and besides we were so sick of everyone talking about the place. We are generally disappointed with the so called seven wonders of the world as they have become so touristy and the last thing we like is being amongst all those camera fanatics paying silly money for so little in return. There is the customary photo of it below however.

We were heading for the northern seaside town of Mancora which we heard was a good place, well apart from the constant south westerly wind it was OK. We visited the mega city of Lima on the way and it was very nice around the centre as usual but the outskirts looked like a shambles and the drivers were a nightmare. Because of the cloudy weather we did not stay long, oh yes and it was a bit cool as well, but then anything under 30 degrees is below our desired temperature.

So we arrived in Mancora and spent over three months there because we found a nice apartment which was luxury by our standards and well within our budget at £15 per night. It was nice to have somewhere we could call home for awhile as constant travelling does wear you down a bit.

We leave here on the 28th of December and head for Ecuador for maybe three months then Colombia for a further 3 months before heading up to central America for about a year.

That was a very brief newsletter because you are all so busy with Xmas and so on.

The photos tell the story really, so scroll down to view.

Our web site morrisonlife.com is updated with all things Morrison.

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The Video Slideshows of Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Peru at 7mins (in Full HD) are here: Morrisonlifedotcom

Description of the Photos are below.....