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Published: October 23rd 2012
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When I initially suggested visiting Nazca to Nikki she said “But what’s there?” I showed her pictures of the Nazca lines and she said “Is that it?” IS THAT IT!!! I have been amazed by the Nazca lines for years and she says “Is that it?” as I wanted to see them so badly there was no way I was going to miss them out of my itinerary, I was going to show her how wrong she could be.
When most men are in their late teens/early twenties there are three words they dread hearing from that special someone in their life. “I love you” As you grow older and mature (alot) there are four different words that you dread hearing from your wife/husband/significant other.
Any ideas which four words I’m talking about? That’s right “I told you so!” I don’t know a man who hates hearing those words from his wife more than me.
When we arrived in Nazca it was late and we got woke up on the coach and had to find a cab to get to the hotel. When it comes to collecting your cases from the
coach you are given a ticket before boarding and need to hand it in when getting your bags. As you can imagine we had both just woke up and neither of us could remember where we had put the ticket so there was a bit of a mad rush to find the tickets.
After we got our cases we found a cab and eventually got to our hotel at around 1am, both still exhausted. Our hotel we literally only a couple of miles from the airport and we managed to book our flights over the Nazca lines whilst in Huacachina. We had to wake up at 7am as our flight was at 9am and you need to be at the airport 30 minutes before. We had been told not to eat anything before the flight as you may be sick and what great advice that was, I wish I had listened to it! lol.
Before the flight they weigh you so they can decide who sits where, I came in at a portly 95kg and Nikki was a mere 49kg, I am pretty much two of her! As the other people on our flight
were normal sizes Nikki and I had to sit on the same side of the plane to balance it out lol.
Inside the walls of our hotel Lamas, peacocks and other animals were allowed to roam free. There was one baby lama Nikki had grown particularly fond of and it had grown fond of her.....and me!
Whilst sunbathing I woke up to find it eating my shoes.
One afternoon whilst sunbathing Nikki and the baby lama were actually playing with each other and the baby lama even gave Nikki a kiss and cuddled her. It was quite amazing to watch, I started to call Nikki ‘The Lama Whisperer’ lol.
I had read that you could sand board in Nazca at the world’s tallest sand dune, Cerro Blanco, it was not easy to find a place to book to do this trip and we were in Nazca, I can only imagine how hard it might be to try to pre book on the internet.
Eventually we found someone to book with and got picked up at 6am the next morning, when we booked the guy said
“Remember to bring water, sun screen and a hat”. Oh no, I knew what was coming. Nikki had told me prior to the trip to take a hat as we may be in the sun for some of our trips and when Nikki tells me to do something I generally do the opposite. Once the guy had walked away she turned to me and said those four dreaded words “I told you so”. I decided to use a t-shirt to tie around my head and said “Look, this is better than a hat as it also covers my neck” stopping her short lived glory dead in its tracks.
We drove to km 23 where we would start our two and a half hour trek to the summit of Cerro Blanco. Km 23 was at 800 metres and the summit of Cerro Blanco is 2078 metres. The trek started on rocks which was ok, despite me carrying 5 litres of water on my back and my sand board. The views out across the mountains were amazing especially as the sun was just starting to peak over giving life to the shapes appearing before our eyes.
When we had to start trekking in sand was when it started to get really hard. With every step we took we sunk down two steps, as we were nearing the top there was no shade from the now relentless heat of the sun. The 5 litres of water on my back was now just 2 and we still weren’t at the top. After what felt like an eternity our guide said the words we had been waiting to hear “We’re officially at the top” Woohoo, we had made it. Although it was hard to celebrate as we were both exhausted and sweating.
After a drink of water we began waxing our boards, I went first as I have snow boarded in the past and the principles are the same. Let me tell you, it is a lot harder than snowboarding! Because of the wax you move like lightening instantly which results in falling on your arse in lightening speed too. After my first wipe out I stood back up to try again and after a short while, whilst still on a steep incline, I came to an abrupt stop. When the wax has come off the
bottom of the board you no longer move, so sand boarding has two speeds, lightening and stop. Sand boarding isn’t half as fun as I thought it would be and I don’t think the two and a half hour trek in the sun helped either. After a few more picture opportunities I decided to give up as I was too tired and too hot.
We were still pretty close to the top and only had 75cl of water left, now it was time to ration. We came to a steep edge, so steep that from 2 feet away from the edge you still couldn’t see the sand leading down. This was how we were getting to the bottom. My bum and hands were hurting from falling off the board and my entire body was covered in sand. I decided to walk down or should I say ski down on my shoes, I sort of felt like I was on a cross trainer at the gym. Nikki and our guide sat on the boards and took a nice ride down, wish I had done the same. By the time we reached the bottom we had a couple of
mouthfuls of water left each and still had to get to the hotel. This was more like torture than fun. Never have I looked forward to showering so much in all of my life.
Once back at the hotel we emptied our shoes, pockets and underwear of all sand and got washed before drinking and eating everything insight and waiting for our next coach, a midnight sleeper coach for 15 hours to Cusco, our next stop.
At the end of our time in Nazca I turned to Nikki and asked if she enjoyed herself, she told me the lines were an amazing sight and she loved the experience of the trek. Guess what I said next?
“Babe, remember when you said you didn’t want to go to Nazca because it was ‘just some lines’ and then I said I bet you would enjoy it? Well I hate to say it but.....I told you so!” lol
He who laughs last!
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
I got sick as a dog on the flight over the Nasca lines
I'm glad you were able to talk Nikki into it.