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Dinner with the Dutchies 2 We got up early and headed to the bus station where we said our goodbyes to the Dutchies as they headed north and we moved south. The landscape was barren desert again and pretty uneventful. When we got to Nazca, after having being met at the bus terminal by a guy from the hostal (after he’d been waiting for hours for us apparently...oops!), who thought Ian was Peruvian (ha!), we went for a wander into town to find some lunch...which consisted of chicken feet soup and then the rest of the chicken with some uncooked potatoes. The one saving grace about lunch was meeting Gus, a nice, old guy, if slightly bonkers, (he thought London was too humid!?), who had lived in the US for 52 years, and gave us some recommendations about places to visit.
We then went on in search of a place to watch the footie - Spurs versus Man City, a big game, and a must see for Ian, even though the ever present Spurs nerves were evident - to no avail. So we headed back to the hostel to see if they had any ideas, and who did we run into but Koen and Carissa,
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Our dorm room all to ourselves the other Dutch couple we’d met in Pisco, who were staying at the same hostel. Back at Pirwa, the super helpful and friendly lady told us the place to go and off we went, Ian with fingers and toes crossed. En route we bumped into Koen again, beers in hand (our kind of man!) and told him of the footie plans, of which he was most happy, seeing as he is a big footie fan too. And the hostel lady was proved right as we found the game at La Choza, where the beers started flowing and a great result was had by the Spurs (an ecstatic Ian and a relieved Lisa too, as a grumpy boyfriend was avoided). Headed back to the hostel after having got the beers and dinner in. Made a yummy pasta, chatted and drank beers until the Dutchies left for the night bus and we headed off to bed.
Was a rude awakening the next morning however, with a cold shower reminiscent of our apartment in Guayaquil, as well as the surprising early check out - who does that anymore?? But it meant we got up to buy our bus tickets to Arequipa, had
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Pirwa Hostal a good brekko and managed to do some sightseeing.
First up, the Mueso Dodattico Antonini, a little expensive but worth it as we had the place to ourselves and learnt a lot about Peruvian history, and Ian was happy as he could gawp at lots of skulls. We then took a taxi to the Nazca Lines Mirador, as we couldn’t afford to take the plane ride over them. Our experience was a little unimpressive and not that cheap in the end, but hey ho, we saw the Hands and the Tree, surrounded by a Mars-like landscape and didn’t feel too gutted as hadn’t heard great things about the plane ride anyway.
Then it was onto the Taller Artesanias, which turned out to be much better than expected as we were entertained by Toby, the crazy potter, whose Dad had recreated the ancient art of pottery making and won loads of awards for it. Toby spoke in the most amazing Spanglish we’d ever heard and showed us how pottery was made back in the day while telling us that both Steven Seagal and Jena Reno had visited him, which left us with a smile on our faces. And all
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Messing about without expecting a penny from us...so we duly bought a couple of keyrings. We then headed over to his friend, the crazy gold miner Luis, who gave us a mini-mining demo with all the flair and kookiness of a true artiste.
Our walk home, over a river with no water, via the supermarket (where we discovered Fanny tuna and other general Fanny products!), was plagued by old folks begging, who we are sure are sent out by their families just to get them out from under their feet. Cynical, us? We chilled at the hostel, eating cheese and tuna sandwiches and chatting to the owner, while waiting for the bus to leave. Now this was supposed to happen at 10pm, but we got to the terminal at 9.40pm as requested, only for the bus to show up at 11.20pm - Peruvian timing! It was the best bus we’d travelled on so far though - it was split over 2 levels, had super comfy seats that reclined amazingly far back, a foot rest (not discovered until 6 in the morning by Ian though!) and they gave you blankets and a little breakfast too. The roads were a different story however
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The Museum all to ourselves as well - typically windy, bumpy, gravelly and potholey with steep drops off the side of them. Easily forgotten though with the mouth-droppingly stunning mountainous scenery we travelled through, albeit by night and so not so clearly. Ah well, will have to come back one day and check it out in daylight...
Love as always
Sood + Pav xxxxxxxxx
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