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Published: December 19th 2012
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Day 15: Saturday, August 25th, 2012- Cusco to Lima
Today, it was time to say goodbye to the andean mountains of Cusco, Peru and hello to the more bearable lower altitude of Lima, Peru. I immediately felt better, when we reached Lima. My stomach did not hurt, and I felt my appetite returning. We took the Green Taxi from the Lima Airport to our hotel, Mariel in Miraflores. At the hotel, we were pleasantly surprised to discover a peruvian tourist agency next door. We booked a tour to see the Ballestas Islands, and the Huacachina Oasis for the next day. Then we headed of to see the Huaca Pucllana, an Archaeological Complex in the city. We wanted to go inside but we were too late. So we headed back to the Parque Kennedy (Parque Central), to have dinner. I had this incredible rice dish and of course we could not leave without trying some Pisco Sours. Then, we headed back to our hotel to rest because we had to get up early the next day for the tour.
Day 16: Sunday, August 26th, 2012 - Ballestas Islands and Huacachina Oasis
The next morning we took a
taxi from our hotel to the Cruz del Sur bus station. Then we hopped on a bus that took us from Lima to Paracas. In Paracas, we met our guide who took us to the boats used to explore the Ballestas Islands. We saw pelicans, dolphins, sea lions but the highlight of the trip was seeing penguins 😊 I went a little crazy with the camera and took a lot of pictures, as you can see.
Then, we took another Cruz del Sur bus from the Ballestas Islands in Paracas to Ica. In Ica, we got to take a tour of a vineyard, where we learned how they make Pisco. I do not remember the process now, but it has a very large alcohol content, which may be why I always tend to get tipsy very quickly while drinking it. We we given many samples of Pisco, which were delicious. Renata and I really liked the caramel flavoured one. It tasted like Baileys, one of our favorite alcoholic beverages. We wanted to buy one but we were afraid that it would not get through customs. They check our luggage every time we board a plane.
After the vineyard,
we went to the Huacachina Oasis where we got to experience dune buggying and sand boarding for the first time. It was so much fun and definitely a big highlight of our trip :-). Dune Buggying, felt like we were on a roller coaster, going up and down hills. Sandboarding was a lot of fun, especially going down the hills. Climbing up the hills was a lot of work. I do not know how people do it sometimes.
After a great day, we took the Cruz del Sur bus from Ica back to Lima. Then we headed back to our hotel and slept for a couple of hours before we had to get up for our early morning flight back to Toronto, Ontario the next day.
Day 17: Monday, August 27th, 2012 - Lima, Peru to Toronto, Ontario
Today,we had to get up nice and early for our flight back to Toronto. At the Lima airport, we got a bottle of Pisco to bring back home. We then had a 5 hour layover in Bogota, Columbia. We spent our time writing in our journals, having some delicious Columbian coffee. We also went to the duty free in
Columbia where we found a good buy on bottles of Baileys (2 for $40USD). Usually, one bottle of baileys is around $30 Canadian. When, we got back home we were exhausted and went straight to bed. It definitely, was an experience of a lifetime. I definitely need to one day go back to Peru and finish off the inca trail. No turning back. Until then, I need to start saving up for my next trip.
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