So much sand!

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16 November: Today was the day we'd leave Ecuador and Diego behind and say hola to Peru and or new guide Jhonn.
We left the hotel in Cuenca at 9 am to catch a 10am bus to the Peruvian border about 5 hours away. When we arrive we met John, our new guide and after going through immigration we bid our farewells to Diego and we were on our bus to Zorritos, a beachside town. On the way we stopped in a place called Tombas where we exchange money for solis or took some from the ATM. Then from here it was 40 minutes onto our home for the next few days. We arrived at the lodge in Zorritos checked into our rooms, had dinner and relaxed in the bedside paradise that would be our home for 2 nights. 17 November: Today was a free day where we could laze about at the beach near the lodge or for 20 solis we could hire surfboards and surf or for 50 we could get surfboard hire and a 2 hour lesson. I've seen it done before so I just went with board hire. Catching waves was not a problem, until I tried to stand up. That's where things got difficult. I managed at onetime to ride a wave in a crouched position for a few seconds still clutching the sides, that's the closest I got to standing.We headed back for lunch and after lunch it was time to relax with a swim and to just laze around in the hammocks for the remainder of the afternoon. Before dinner we all took advantage on the 2 for 1 (but really 2 for 1.5) cocktails and played a couple quick rounds of Four Kings. Dinner tonight was Paella, and afterwards we were having a Bon fire at the beach. So after dinner, few drinks and marshmallows in hand, we headed to the fire and just sat around and enjoyed each other's company. I slept like a log after the cocktails and cerveza's earlier in the night. 18 November: Today would be a half day at the beach lodge in Zorritos before getting vans back to Tombas where at 2.30 we boarded out 8 hour bus to Chiclayo. Through the desert we drove, past gas plants and wind farms and over some of the most ordinary roads I have ever seen. All of it I guess adds to the travelling experience. We made it into Chiclayo checked into the hotel, and headed to my room for a shower and bed. I found Superbad on the TV in Spanish so I watched it and then went to sleep. 19 November: Today after breakfast a group of us went to the Lord of Sipan museum. A museum dedicated to the untouched discovery of a Moche tomb in 1987. To put it into perspective it was as significant discovery for South America similar to that of Tutenkahman in Egypt. Between the nine of us who went we got transportation, guide and entrance to the museum for ten solis each which is roughly $3.50USD. It was an amazing exhibit to witness and our guide Juilio was so passionate about it made for a really enjoyable time, walking around and look at the gold and silver jewellery, as well as the armpit and crowns of some of the Kings from this period, some 900 years before the Inca civilisation. There was no photography allowed in the museum so there is nothing to show how incredible this exhibit really was. We arrived back at the hotel to pack our stuff, check out and go to lunch as we had a 3pm bus to catch to Trujillo which meant our short time in Chiclayo was over. We boarded our VIP service bus for the three or so hour journey and we were on our way again, this time however in the comfort of leather seats, extra leg room and a snack service. I could really get used to bus travel like this. We arrived into Chiclayo at around 7pm checked into the hotel and went out for dinner. It was Emily's birthday so we planned on going out for a drink after and after everyone else bailed it was just Terina, Tiffany, John, Aiden and I. Aiden bailed when we were told it was 10 solis entry and as well all walked away they let us in for free. We had a couple of drinks and went home to bed. 20 November: After probably our best breakfast, buffet style, we fought our transport for the day to the Temple of the Moon of the Moche civilisation, where we walked around the museum and the archeological site which was rather amazing to see. The temple is made up of five layers, each from a different Moche generation. The temple also over looked the Temple of the Sun, which isn't yet open to the public. Being around the architecture and artwork on the facade of a civilisation that old is a little indescribable, but so amazing to see. From here we went to the Chan Chan an archeological site of the Chimu civilisation where one section of the site has been restored to what it would have been like in the times of the Chimu people. It wasn't as amazing at the Temple of the Moon but it was cool to be able to see how they loved all those years ago. From here we went to a beachside town for lunch and some free time. Rather than go for another big sit down lunch, a few of us went for a walk and we found just some sandwiches and juice for eight solis. From here we got ice cream then got back on the bus back to Chiclayo for a few hours of free time before we had to head to the bus station to catch our overnight bus to Lima. Again a comfortable VIP style bus, where sleeping most of the way shouldn't be an issue. 21 November: We arrived in Lima around 7am and went to the hotel, we dropped our bags and had breakfast and met our new travel companions, then about 9.30 we walked to the bus station and took the metro into the town centre where we saw some churches and some old buildings. We went to the main square and saw the changing of the guard at the Presidential Palace then went to the Saint Francis Monastery where we walked around and checked out the church and then went down into the Catacombes of the church where the bones of some 30,0000 people are kept. Compared to the the Paris Catacombes it was pretty basic, but I big well towards the end was pretty cool. From here some of us started to make our way back to the hotel as we hadn't showered and smelt pretty ordinary. We got lunch on the way back from a sandwich bar which was a pretty awesome lunch. From here we cut through the 'cat park' where heaps of cats just roam around free, as if they own the place. I found it kind of strange and it freaked me out a little bit. We made it back to the hotel and had possibly the most amazing shower of my life. From here, just chilled out for a while, shared some beers with the group. We headed out and had dinner with the guys leaving us and some of the went to the movies the rest of us went to the Parque de la Reserva where there is 13 fountains and at night there is a fountain show complete with music and lasers. After the show we walked for a while looking at the different fountains including a maze type one and a tunnel. From here we got the bus back to the hotel and called it a night. 22 November: Today started on a sad night bidding farewell to Terina, Sam and Emily at breakfast. We then walked to the shopping mall on the beach and just loitered around for a while before we had to return to the hotel to go to the bus station to catch our next bus to Paracas.The bus ride to Paracas was about four hours and when we got here we went in search of dinner. Being a small beachside town, the seafood was highly recommended. And when I spotted calamari on the menu my mind was made up pretty easily. It was hands down the best calamari I have ever had. From here it was back to the hotel where we had a couple of beers on the roof before going to bed. 23 November: this morning we met for breakfast then at 7.45 most of us left on a boat ride around the Ballestas Islands where we saw a plethora of sea birds and sea lions. The whole journey took about 2 hours and upon return it was back to the bus station to catch our next bus, four hours to Nazca. When we arrived in Nazca most people went off for a flight over the Nazca Lines, figures carved out in the desert over an area of 350km which can only be views from the air as the sheer size of them make them impossible to see from ground level. I decided to save my money for Igauzu Falls later in my trip. I just chilled out at the hotel for the afternoon and had a shower and stuff. Dinner was amazing tonight for 25 solis I had an entrée of potatoes in a sauce I'm not sure what it was but was pretty good, followed by beef sautéed in Pisco with onions and tomato for main, with ice cream to follow. not bad for around ten Aussie dollars. Was back to the hotel where again the night finished with a bunch of us having a few beers and just talking about various topics until we ran out of beer and went to bed. 24 November: Today started like most other days with breakfast of eggs and bread rolls around 7am from there we were picked up in our dune buggies and taken off into the desert for a morning of dune buggying and sand boarding with a couple of cultural stops as well. The dune buggies were fun and as many times as I asked if they would let me drive, sadly they wouldn't. We came to a large dune where we stopped unloaded he sand boards, waxed them up and we were ready to start. Firstly I went down just sitting on the board and with a complete wipeout at the bottom the next option was to lay on the board and go forwards like a penguin. No wipeouts on this one then decided it was time to try and stand. With a history that involves not being able to stand on a stationary skateboard without falling off I thought I might struggle, but on my first attempt after some quick pointers from the poms to stay low I took off. Half way down I realised I asked nothing about stopping and when I made it to the bottom still standing, I figured my safest option was to just bail out. Pretty happy with being able to ride it all the way to the bottom first go. From here we were back in the buggies and drove for a bit through the desert where we stopped at a Nazca cemetery from the civilisation dating back some 400 years BC. Our guides were impressed when we arrived because it was quite obvious to see that during the previous night there had been people in with excavators , they walked around and took some pictures for the authorities and then one proceeded to tell us about the site and the mummification process while the other continued to look around who came to the circle of bones and broken pottery we were standing around with some cloth and rope from the graves that had been dug the night before. He set off again and when he came back the second time he carried with him a mummified head which he also placed in the circle. That was pretty crazy to see. From here were drove a bit further to the Cahuachi a site of three Nazcan pyramids which we walked around for a bit. From here it was to one of the ancient aqua ducts that they city of Nazca still use to this day. From here it was back into town to shower the mornings sand off, which I am still finding in my nose. We had just under two hours to find some lunch and meet at the bus stop. We managed to find a two course lunch and mug of juice for 7 solis, probably the cheapest meal I've had since arriving and it was awesome. From here it was to the bus station for our next 11 hour bus trip to Arequipa.

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