Indiana Jones never had to put up with this crap!

Fresh (or not) from our high altitude trekking, we soaked our weary bones in the somewhat grimy hot spas of Huaraz. Not for the faint hearted, or those really looking to get clean. The lovely facilities sported classic rustic taps, as rusty as the water, and tiling to match. Hepburn Springs where are you now? Stu still did a ripping rendition of "Rubber ducky".
No 3 hour bus trips that turn into 5 along unmade, potholed riddled roads for old Indie in his quest for the holy grail but for the mere backpacker in Peru this is the norm. Good old Chavin de Huantar, more ruins this time a whole underground city over 3000 years old - groovy. We didn´t have to side step rolling boulders from the roof or random blowdarts but the uneven stair treds, slippery rock and low ceilings were perilous enough. Luckily we had the foresight to bring our head torches and were able to explore the unlit sections, whether they were offlimits or the budget for light bulbs had dried out we were unsure.

We toddled back to the bus stop bracing ourselves for the 5 hour roller coaster ride back to Huaraz. After finding out it was a 4 hour wait for the only bus back we entered into lengthy negotiations with various collectivos to get us back sooner. End result 2 hours later was another stuffed taxi, 2 in the front, 4 in the back and 1 in the boot with the luggage, seriously. By the time we´d completed this long and silly day Indiana would have defeated the Nazis, had the arc of the covenent shipped to the Brittish Museum, bedded the chick and hung up his hat.

Doo & Da (ask Zeza)

'prise of the week: Stu being a good boy scout picked up an old lady´s sack to help her off the bus, only to discover what was inside was very much alive!

crikey of the week: informed by a Californian couple of poor Steve Irwin´s death and caught up on his life in Lima where they were showing a day long special on the crocodile hunter.