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Buenos Chicos!
I left Lima and took at 5 hour bus to Ica. I left Lima and it was slightly cold and arrived in Ica to the beaming sun! I was welcomed at the bus station by one of my hostel owners, Gian Carlo. Himself and his brother, Yosef, own the hostel in Ica. I treated myself to a single room as my last night in Lima was not a pleasant one with two girls arriving in my dorm room after midnight and making as much noise as possible to keep me awake.
I dropped off my stuff and I asked Gian Carlo where the cash machine was and he said he would come with me. Along the way, he took me to different historical places around the town and shared a bit of history with me. On eof the churches had been destroyed by a earthquake but it stil stood there, unused. He then brought me to a cafe to meet his friend from Venezuala who could speak English. His friend explained that it is good for him to work at the cafe to improve his English as everyone he works with only speaks Spanish and when a
non- spanish speaker comes in he is asked to translate. I tried a peruvian dish called Papas Rellena whish was mashed potato with meat and vegetables inside and then it was cooked. So yummy! I then went back to the hostel and chilled out for the night.
The next day, I decided to have a walk around the town to take some pictures as it was such a lovely warm day. The roads are hectic with tuk tiuks and taxi beeping their horns every second of the day trying to get people out pf the way or trying to attract people´s attention on the pavements. I went for lunch and ordered a sandwich from a shop. The bread was stale and lacked any taste. I was a little scared to ask them to take it back so just ate the inside of the sandwich and left the bread. Later on, I bought myself an icecream and I could hear someone calling ¨Buenos dias, buenos dias.¨ I thought that the guy walking beside me was on the phone so I carried on walking. I turned my head and realised he was actually talking to me. I said Buenos dias back
and carried on my way. He tried to talk to me in Spanish and the typical statement came from my mouth - no espanol! However, he carried on talking to me and I tried to make some conversation with the words I recognised. I then got to the street with my hostel on and he followed me. He was asking me if I like pisco sours and wine and it sounded like he was asking me to go with him for a drink! This was at midday. I said no and thankfully I was at my hostel. I had to press te buzzer to enter and Gian Cralo came to the door. I asked Gian Carlo to ask the man what he wants and he said that he wants to know when you are leaving to go to Cusco! I said tomorrow and quickly said adios. The man was probably in his sixties. Gian Cralo was laughing that a granddad was chatting me up haha.
Later that afternoon, I was picked up by a tour company to take me to a pisco bodega and the sand dunes in Huiacachina. The bodega wasn´t that interesting as I couldn´t see the
production process and tasters we had were very strong...not my type of drink. We were then driven to the sand dunes where we were taken dune buddying and sand boarding. Both were really good fun! To go even faster on the sand dunes, wax was rubbed over the base of our boards. I probably went double the speed! The last sand boarding we did was on a double dune, so we went down one really fast and then down another. At the base of the second sand dune was a ripple that flung me up in the air and I bashed my body on the ground. A few bruises appeared the next day 😞 Even though I hurt myself, it was still lots of fun and I would definitely do it again.
The dune buggy then took us to the oasis. I was expecting it to be so beautiful but in fact tourism has destroyed its beauty. Buildings of different shapes and sizes, looking very run down, surrounded the oasis along with huge palm trees. It just didn´t look like what I had pictured in my head. I am seeing this a lot on my trip that tourism can
effect the beauty of some places as people are wanting to make as much money as possible. Such a shame.
The next day, I set off to my next destination...Cusco! Getting ready for the altitude sickness!
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