The changing of a life...

My life.
In a breathtaking few moments I felt what can only be described as the epitome of personal achievement and fulfillment in my life thus far.
Cusco...another breathtakingly beautiful city set high in the mountains, ozzing mystique and promise of Incan magic, and true to this promise, it delivers.
After 4 months travelling, Cusco was the culmination of years of dreaming and planning and, still, has me rendered speechless and overcome with emotion remembering the past few days.
How to describe the sensation of heaven reaching elation, humbling speechless amazement and accomplishment...it is nigh on impossible...
Snatched sleep and a 3 am wake up was the prelude to the greatest day of my life.
Clambering the hundreds of Incan steps, breathing in the crisp morning air shrouded in black with barely a twinkle of a star I was excited to the point of silence...the anticipation of reaching my ultimate goal just an hour away was numbing and had me silently contemplative and seething with excitement.
Coursing with sweat and shaking with exhaustion we reached the Machu Picchu gates at 5 am with dawn on our heels and her silvery glow illuminating the mountains...a soaring silouhetted backdrop.
Having been stamped for entry to Wayna Picchu we raced through the gates to Machu Picchu...and into the greatest day of my life.
As the ruins came into view, like running full course into a wall, I was halted mid tracks, the most intense surge of emotion I have experienced...and still now, words fail me.
To be in the midst of such beauty, the spiritual energy and history tangible...awestruck and humbled, uplifted and excited to the point of total joy...tears, no words...
In the two days since, I have been contemplative, in the aftermath of such an experience comes introspection...how to go home to normalcy, the fear of regressing and stagnatin, the bird once discovering flight having wings lopped and being returned to its cage, versus the excitment of life ahead having experienced something so amazing and the new realisation of self and passion and ambition to achieve more...
Travel can yield one of two responses:  the first being nothing but a picture postcard glimpse of surroundings, the second being the inate changing of perspective, the immeasurable transformation of soul and the reassessment of life value and goals.  For me, the second is true, I have been shaken to the bone, rocked to the core and flipped 180...from utter homesickness to a sense of total liberation, from nothingness existence to a fuelled sense of purpose and value...perhaps with personal achievement comes revelation, perhaps for the first time I truly did dive head first into the deep end to emerge a champion swimmer...all I know is that there is something reverberating so deep, a passion and excitement so consuming that I am itching to keep exploring and learning...for fear, that perhaps, after all this, like silver to tarnish, this will fade to memory.

Stripped

And I strip


A thin crease from dream to soul

Unzips me

And in naked realization I breathe

I am here

Not just toe in testing

Illuminated full

And in purpose now I dance

Scared to death

But coursing with excitement

Over my shoulder

A backward glimpse at the yardstick

Hell Yes

I cleared it flying

AND HERE I AM

In the moment of my destiny

From Lima to Arequipa

We sludged slowly into Lima, tired and still smarting from farewelling Montanita we were surprised to be greeted with sky rise buildings, heaving traffic and a fairly modern metropolis.  After 20 hours of bland scenery it was a sensory assault and did nothing for our already dismal frames of mind.
Having prepared ourselves for two days of nothing, we were all happy to find our hostel and settle in while we braced ourselves for the next leg to Arequipa.

Mira Flores is most definitely the nicest part of Lima...ritzy, upmarket and maintained, we spent two grey, cold days strolling through the Plaza, checking out the main shopping centre and relaxing.

On the 15th we were packed and champing at the bit to head to Arequipa...for me, it was the beginning of the most exciting leg of the trip, the famous Canyon country had me excited and it was with much leaping and wahooing that I boarded the bus ready to go.

The scenery South of Lima was amazing.  Miles of desert, yet where the north was dirt and sand, this was white and when bathed in twilight, was eerie and surreal.  An endless horizon of white on grey on blue.
We rolled into Arequipa at 6 am the following morning (just in time to see the All Whites score woopa!) and immediately booked a two day tour round Colca before hitting the city to explore.

Arequipa...words cant come close to describing how mind blowingly, mesmerisingly beautiful this city is.  Complete with ancient Spanish architecture, collosal churches and monestaries and an immaculate central Plaza, Arequipa is nestled amidst the Andes mountains...a backdrop that literally left us speechless.  To one side, snow capped mountains glistening behind the canyon, to the other, ragged, mars like hills and peaks.
We spent an excited day strolling the streets, sitting atop a rooftop cafe drinking coffee and basking in the sun and celebrating our new found paradise.

Colca Canyon...

The next morning we were up at 6.30 ready for our tour bus to pick us up.  Itching with excitement we ignored the sleep deprivation and hunger and set off.  There were 20 people on the bus and by the end of the two days, we had made life long friends.
We drove for four hours out of Arequipa, through the Andes in what I can only describe as the most amazing,  different and rugged terrain I have ever seen.  We reached 3900 metres and got out to óoooh ahhh woowwww´at the view...I  suffered a mild onset of altitude sickness (dizziness, throbbing headache and fuzzy vision) but was not deterred.  Standing amidst the mountains was amazing!
We then carried on to the town Chivaz, set deep in a valley amidst the mountains, where we had lunch before carrying on to Maca.  Maca, a pre Incan farming village, is set in a valley of ancient terraces, is as óutlandish as anything I had seen.  Dome thatched rooved mud and ash huts, rock walls and terraced farming made for sheer beauty and I was gripped  with butterflies at how amazing it all was.
From Maca we climbed up around the valley, scaling rocks and cliff to 4000 metres (exhilerating but exhausting) to visit ancient tombs (complete with mummies, skulls and skeletons) .  A truly spiritual experience, the sacred ness of the place was palpable and with the sun setting behind us in the valley, it was a moment of true reverence and personal reflection. 
We spent the evening soaking weary but elated and excited bodies, under the stars in natural thermal pools...which, in all accounts, was the perfect ending to the most incredible day.  Something words and photos will never do justice.
The following morning we set off at six, stamping in the freezing cold, to the canyon itself all expectant and anticipating to see the famed majestic Condors.  The drive up yielded the most amazing scenery I have ever seen making the previous days seem bland and secondary.  Rattling high into the moutains we had a perfect view over the whole valley, rivers, lagoons, terraces as far as the eye could see...it was like looking down onto a model of some far away ancient land.  My pen has been limply poised trying to find words to describe the view but words fail me.Upon reaching the canyon, we spent two heavenly hours perched atop the cliffs, 3200 metres above a raging river below, watching the Condors soar below and above us...again, like writers block, I am rendered incapable of describing the experience, all I can say is it was the greatest day of my life...not only did I climb new heights, but I reached new heights of emotion and elation.

Bienvenido a Peru

Rolling out of Guayaquil through the mountainous, lush terrian of Ecuador, we were sad to leave, yet excited to be heading to the epi centre of our trip.
Ecuadors landscape is reminiscent of driving through to Palmerston North...rolling hills, lush greenery and then wide open desert...
North Peru on the other hand, is like nothing I have ever seen!
Miles of sandy desert, sweeping around the coast we careened, clinging to the cliffs of sand, literally coasting cliff high on sand dunes all spiralling down to raging ocean...then inland, mountains of dirt and sand...everything blanketed in thick dust and mud.  Brown the only colour to be seen, even the buildings, all low slung slinking in the silt, are indistinguishable from a distance...just more lumps limping through the bleak terrain.
Like looking through a dirty camera lens, everything is a dreary hazy beige...like a scene from ´Mad Max´...it is surreal, horrible yet utterly captivating.
Cities and towns literally built on hills of dirt and rocks, no cleanliness, no white, no colour.  Half finished buildings everywhere, all poised ready to expand up, are the homes here.  Foundations of brick and cement with reinforcing steel poles jutting skyward...laundry blowing in the breeze like flags atop the poles of steel..everything half buried...
No beauty...more like the remnants of a monstrous sand storm...
And enter Lima...a sprawling, raging metropolis...

Farewell Montanita

Three weeks in paradise, not without its challenges.
How to explain the dichotomy that is tranquility and bedlam, in a town that, once sleepy, rustic and untouched, is now literally a building site for tourists.
Mid stretch through a yawn, woken abruptly, vegas esque, castles in sand.  Locals thrust into the spotlight, a tourism smorgasboard, spotlight on and not a trained performance ready.
Confused, overwhelmed, uneducated, misinformed, unprepared.  Nothing becoming a spectacular literally overnight.  Like a car racer with the speed wobbles, the wheels threatening to fall off as everyone learns to navigate whilst learning to drive.
Promises and expectations, a booming mecca, a competition to snare the visitors...genuine intent, true friendships blossoming, yet lost in the mirage and facade.
Romantic ideals mixed with urgent race to succeed...the potential for salty sandy disappointment is high.
We enjoyed the mixture...from anonymous gringos to welcomed family we experienced both ends of the spectrum.  The hustle, the surge of offers, the twinkle and glamour...and then the tranquill, trust, reciprocated friendships that blossomed.
It is hard to reconcile the two...knowing that we are just slightly more permanent than those that leave in a few days, yet feeling as if the connection is worth so much more, and will endure so much longer.
With sadness we left...yet happy to know that we have found a second home, a place that, despite the boom, we will be a part of the family that is the foundation.
Farewell Montanita
Hasta Luego!

Montanita es Bonita

HELLO!

Sorry for not being in touch! 

Montanita is like a blissful vaccuum where time disappears into a whole lot of heavenly sunny salty nothingness!, the sun is always shining, the people are laid back and the lifestyle is ten paces behind normal life...its amazing!

We had no plans to come here, let alone stay yet we have been here nearly two weeks and it is awesome! I am doing Spanish lessons for two hours a day , surfing lessons in the afternoon and enoying hangin out with a great bunch of local dudes...one of whom who happens to be the national Long Board surf champ and professional life guard so we have managed to get some cheap lessons and super cheap board hire!

I am still waiting on insurance after being robbed in Quito so thankfully, living here is super cheap! Neil is now chief photographer (as I am without camera) so I will send more pics as soon as we can upload!

We are living with a local girl who has let us stay for free as we are helping her set up her business (opening a new cafe) so its a perfect set up and has meant we are not spending much money.

The plan is to leave on Monday to head to Lima, which, given how attached to this place we are, will be very hard!

If anything, being here has taught me that that which is unplanned can sometimes yield the best results...we are all super relaxed and enjoying just living local life, speaking the language, eating the food and taking some time out from moving around.