Lima, sandboarding, and some ancient lines...

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Lima was indeed hectic, and I wouldn´t recommend spending more than a day or two there. We have only explored the centre, where the old colonial buildings stand. My favourite sight was plaza de San Martin. At the base of the statue in the centre of this square is another statue of a woman. When this statue was commissioned, the sponsors asked that a crown of flames be put on her head. Confusion over the double meaning of the spanish word for flame (llama) meant that a llama was placed there instead, and remains to this day.

We left Lima early the next day (Sunday), first catching a taxi to the bus station. We bartered the price of the taxi down as much as possible, and in return were put in the smallest, most beaten up vehicle available. But it got us there, and we caught the next bus to Ica, 5 hours south of Lima. Ica was one of the towns badly hit by the recent earthquake, and we could see repair work was still ongoing. Some of the emergency tents were still up. Nevertheless, the tourist industry (important for the local economy) was still going, albeit quietly.

We took a taxi 5 minutes out of town to Huacachina, an oasis nestled in sand dunes of the desert that borders Ica. This has always been a popular resort as the waters of the lagoon were believed to have health benefits to those who swam in it. Swimming is not allowed these days and the resort is mainly visited by thrillseekers wanting to have a go at sandboarding. The same afternoon we were able to get on an excursion on a dune buggy out into the desert. We were taken to the tops of the dunes, and down the steep slopes on the other side - more thrilling than any ride at Alton Towers. We would stop at the tops of some of the dunes to sandboard down them. I´d tried snowboarding briefly once, but I´m not sure it helped. I managed to stay standing for most of the way down, as did Jen. I tried sitting on the bopard for one slope but took an unfortunate tumble and ended up with sand in just about every facial orifice. Not nice. The trip ended with us watching the sun go down over the desert.

The following day, we took a trip to see some local wineries and pisco makers. We had our own private driver for this who we chatted to in our best Spanish. First we went to an industrial wine and pisco maker, then to another who still uses traditional methods (including treading the grapes). The harvesting and treading of the grapes is done in February and March, with much celebration, and it would have been good to be here at that time of year. Pisco is made simply by pressing the grapes (as if to make wine), fermenting it for two weeks only, and then distilling it. We preferred the traditionally made pisco and would have bought some, but we have much more travelling to do. So we returned to the hostel in Huacachina to collect our bags, then to the bus stop and on to Nazca.

On arrival in Nazca, we arranged our flights over the Nazca lines for the next day, and so we got up early this morning to be taken to the airfield. After a short video discussing the history of the lines, we bundled into a 6-seater plane and took off. The flight lasted between 30 and 40 minutes. The pilot flew over each of the animal figures in tight turns so that we could study them and take photos. They were an amazing sight, but this made us quite dizzy and by the time we landed, we were both feeling a bit ill. This afternoon, we are going to see some of the archaeological sites. Tomorrow, it is back to Lima and on to Cusco. Another blog from there, we hope.

Jamie

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Photos

The monkey
You might have to click on this to see it

Comments

[Julesy Baby]

You should have lay on the front down the dunes. You go soooo fast. Bit hard to stop before you reach the road at the bottom mnd. Probably best you didn't go swimming in the oasis as well. When we did, my friend found a fish with no eyes. Happy days