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Sunday 9th March
So frustrating that can´t get the photos up for this yet, as had the best day, and got some great photos! A really early start (6am, although my alarm clock didn´t go off, so 6.30am... I did wonder why Anna, my room-mate for tonight, was getting up 2.30am!). Quick breakfast, with a nice rendition of ´Happy Birthday - nice juice, otherwise not the greatest (and we´re back to white bread/jam/egg!), before heading back to Paracas for our trip to the Ballestas Islands. An optional trip, but otherwise you sit in the hotel. Lonely Planet describes them as the ´Poor man´s Galapagos Islands´ - I´ve not been there so this will do. First sign is someone feeding pelicans - but he wants money for this, as we soon learn does everyone. Have left my hat at the hotel, so buy another for 8 Soles (about GBP1.30), and we wait for ages to sign-up for our boat. Getting pretty hot, but then we´re heading for the marina. Can´t believe how many in the boat but we´re soon in, and heading out to sea. Strong smell of gasoline, and certainly no lack of tourists heading out here. We stop to look at the Candelabra in the sand... apparently not maintained?! Next stop the Ballestas Islands, where we sail around, looking at the sealions, humbolt penguins, and millions of birds. Quite an amazing sight and I´ll try not to put too many pics up! After 50 minutes or so we´re heading back into shore, where dolphins are spotted. Back on shore all the hawkers/kids, etc. are around. Adriana takes a monkey, which then poos on her (nice!), then of course money is wanted for the photo, etc. Running the gauntlet, we head back to the bus, before heading to Ica, which will be our lunch stop.

Before Ica, we stop at a Pisco vinery for a demonstration of the process of making Pisco, and a chance to trample grapes. Apparently the ´birthday girl´had no choice! There´s a tasting session, where we certainly get plenty to taste, and I think I may have got more than others because it´s my birthday´. Quite a few of us buy - I´ve gone for the Peruvian Baileys as it tastes like liquid toffee. At Ica, I go back to the old favourite of rice & beans, before we all sign up for the sand buggi/boarding on the sand dunes. Looks like lots of fun, and no need to climb the hills after sand-boarding, as they come and collect you - how good is that!! The dune buggi is a bit like being on a rollercoaster - great fun, and the boarding is pretty good too, especially the final one. Get some great pics of people - at some point we´ll probably all be Facebook linked, so they´ll be on there too! Manage not to lose anything, and the final race back is a bit of a hair-raiser. We´re then back on the coach, and back on the road - 2 hours or so to Nazca. We head along flat roads for ages, go through a tunnel and suddenly we´re looking down into a valley, so we must have gone up at some point. Great views, although the winding road ahead doesn´t look so great, and plenty of grave-sites on the side, but we make it safely to Nazca. A short amount of time to unpack, and we head into town for dinner. It´s another tourist restaurant - we´re hoping to try some more local stuff soon, but Rod says this is safer. Brief wander around town - go in a gang to the ATM, etc. before dinner, then sit down to another good meal. Have some kind of chilli-chicken, which is delicious. We share Sangria, but it tastes too much of Pisco. Am full after having a pancake for lunch, when there´s another ´happy birthday´, and Rod has brought me a cake and a candle, which is cool, so of course it would be rude not to eat it! Back to the hotel, where the big black bugs are rife outside (Fortunately not inside), including in the pool so we decide no night-time dip, instead sit outside and chat, swatting away moths and bugs, and drinking our purchases, which for some reason don´t taste as good! To bed in time for another early-ish start... Also managed to get online for a few minutes, so thanks for all the messages/texts!

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