Blogs from Pisco, Ica, Peru, South America - page 8

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Now that Lauren and I have met up and started our journies in Perú, it seems like AGES since I´ve written, and DECADES ago since I was in Venezuela. It´s like it´s another world away! I wanted to write a few closing notes on Venezuela, a country that I both LOVED with all my heart, and that frustrated me to NO end! Here is a list of of a few things in Venezuela that I will not miss... 1. The Men. 99% of the mauchismo males drove me nuts! They hissed, they followed me, they made lewd comments and they stared. They made me feel like meat, and it was nasty. There were a few who allllmost made up for the others, but not completely! 2. The Meat. Speaking of meat... ... read more

We left Nazca and headed for Pisco on the Flores bus. I put my backpack in the overhead compartment and held Tiffs carry on in my lap. A little while later a man started taking to us. He was friendly and later asked us to buy him a bottle of water. We both leaned over to pry the window open and reach for the bottle while he stole my jacket from my backpack. I didn't notice till later. When we were arriving in Ica water spilled on me from the overhead compartment, something that has happened a million times in El Salvador. Our friend momentarily picked up Tiffs bag from my lap, helped dry me off for less than ten seconds, then put the bag back. I started looking in it just to make sure that ... read more

The Islas Ballestas, located a few kilometers off-shore from Pisco and Paracas, are sometimes referred to as "the poor man's Galápagos." "Well," I said, "I'm, poor, a man, and have always wanted to go to the Galápagos Islands . . . Let's do it." Numerous tour companies leave out of Pisco for three-hour tours. They seem a bit short, and if you're looking for information about the animals, you might have to read a book or something, but for the pure shock of seeing such a sight, the tour is well worth the 30 soles ($8USD) you'll dish out for it. Starting off, the boat passes by a huge 150-meter tall, 50-meter wide figure called the Candelario drawn into the hillside of the shore. It's origins are unknown, but theories range from indians drawing it to ... read more

From Pisco, we did a tour of the Ballestas Islands. They are also known as the 'poor man's Galapagos'. We got a 25-man speedboat out to the islands and then sailed round them. I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed it. It was basically looking at loads of different birds (250 different species I think, including Peruvian booby, pelican and penguin) and sealions. To be so close to them and see them in their natural habitat was really interesting though. There is so much bird shit on the islands, that the locals can gather it and use it as a natural fertiliser back on land! We found a hostel that was really new and good value. The owners were dead keen and friendly, and invited us for a 'petit digestif' with some other residents one ... read more

we stopped on the way at a cool place with a pool, wish actually we could have stayed there the last night as it seemed nicer than Nasca!!!! we had lunch here before we headed out to go sandboarding and sand buggying!!! Caz again decided to stay at the hostel place by the pool as she still wasn´t feeling great. Nic and Gabby came with us sand buggying but decided not to sandboard. the sand buggying was really cool, felt at time like you were on a rollercoaster cos of the way the guy was driving over the dunes, some of them we came over the top and found there was a really unexpected dip on the other side like a cliff edge!!! it must be the perfect blokes job to be the driver, our guy ... read more