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Published: March 24th 2007
Our ride
Pete standing in front of our top notch plane for our trip over the Nasca lines. Thank god that we did not eat before we got on this motion sickness machine!! Yes thats right the next Indiana Jones movie has had its title decided right here and you are the first to know. Peru is a pretty amazing place, to say the least. Where else can you see more ancient ruins than you can poke an ancient stick at. With ¨these people conquered these people and built a giant fortress here which when you see it you are amazed only to be conqured by these people who built a city over 20 square km¨- which does your head in. Unlike Indiana Jones however Sean Connery does not appear to annoy you as a bald old codger.
After the Inca Trial we left Cusco on a night bus which stoped for 6 hours due to a land slide which is always fun making us a tiny bit late getting to our next destination of Nazca.
NAZCA
Until the 1930´s Nazca was just another town that no one really wanted to visit which had nothing much to see. Then one day a few guys tootling around in a plane saw some funny lines on the ground and then more and more and then wierd shapes that looked like animals. As
Hummingbird
You may need to enlarge this photo to see the hummingbird.
These lines were very impressive- the ancient Nascans sure knew how to draw! a result the toruist industry of Nazca was born! The town itself is dependent on the lines with the lines hotel and the lines being the sole business of the small town.
We booked into our hotel and were accosted in the lobby by an agent for a tour company who told us all about the lines and the flights we could take. The first is in a 21 seat plane that looks strudy and well built the other flight is in a small thing that resembles a plane but is more like a motorbike with a sidecar and seats 4 people but you get a better view of the lines as the flying machine plummets into the ground killing all on board but the photos are great! Peter had slight reservations over the small flying skateboard and wanted to do a flight in a larger more sturdy plane. However Trionas remarks of ¨whats the worst that can happen¨ and ¨you get a better view¨, somehow convinced him to take the flight....
Arriving at the airport Peter was confronted with what looked like a nice little Cessna a bit small but confindence came from the lack of flying skateboards around
Astronaut
This man is entitled the ¨astronaut¨- probably because a lot of people beleive that Aliens created these drawings??? and he started to get excited at the prospect of flying in a small plane. All 4 of us got in our trusty plane and our pilot taxied out to the runway with his arm out the window (as you do). We took of and the flight was great- it was actually like flying- you could see all the instruments and what was going on instead of the person infront of you and thier bald head. ALL the guidebooks warn you no to have breakfast as the flights are a bit bumpy and can have tight turns however, all was going well and we came across our first animal on the ground. The pilot dipped down to give the left side a good view and then yelled into the headphones RIGHT SIDE at this point the plane nearly flipped and started beeping and then buzzing as all stomachs were lost and the force of turn forced everyone back into thier seat. The beeping stopped as the plane was righted. So for the next 40min the plane beeped and buzzed its way around the lines, the lines are amazing with a condor over 100m long etched into the desert below, along
Sand dune of Huacachina
This sand dune took forever to climb to the top but only a minute to roll down to the bottom of- lots of fun! with a monkey a hummingbird, a man and many other things.
The pilot was having fun and let the girl in the front fly the plane on the way back, which stopped the buzzing which we concluded was the planes warning system saying that you are being far to crazy and the plane is turning to hard. The flight was a lot of fun and definately worth it as the tower built to see the lines wouldn´t have allowed you to see anything! Even Peter thought it was great and can´t wait to go in a small plane again but maybe not with a pilot from Nazca.
ICA- HUACACHINA
From Nazca we went to the town of Ica, most people who visit here decide to stay in Huacachina which is a desert Oasis and is very hot! From here you can go sandboarding and dune bugging. On the first afternoon we decided to rent some sandboards which were more like pieces of wood than a snowboard- as they had no rails they were impossible to control. Our friendly wood vendor told us that the more wax we put on the faster we would go, on this advice Peter
Our dune buggy
Our driver was crazy!!!! And we loved it! spent the next 15 minutes rubbing wax all over the board while Triona was slightly more sparring. After climbing to the top of a dune Peter pointed his board at the bottom and went flying down. About halfway down his leg came out and with a lot of speed up had a massive stack in which he nearly broke his leg and was very sore for a little while. Triona lined her board up and had more success as she wasn´t going at light speed however we both resorted to sitting on the board after this so as to avoid broken legs.
The next day we went dune bugging which was an experience in itself with the guys driving stripped 4WD´s around the dunes as fast as they could. They would just point the buggy down a dune and away we would go with the buggy flying down the 50m plus dunes while the driver accelerated down the dune. Luckily we survived our dune buggy drive only to be taken to the biggest dunes ever where we lay on the sandboard, pointed it down the dune and away we went!
One girl fell off her board and then had some
Sand boarding
The small dot that you can see at the top of this huge dune is someone sand boarding! These dunes were insane- and lots of fun! sort of breakdown in the desert (as you do) and refused to even walk down the other dunes- preferring to go down them on her arse (as you do) and crying at the bottom (as you do). Her friends weren´t very inpressed with this and neither was Peter who said very loudly, ¨If I was waiting to go while she doing that shit I would just run her over¨! Her friends who would have heard didn´t even raise an eyebrow to Peter (I think that they agreed- and would have also run her down)!
PISCO- ISLAS BALLESTAS
After several exciting days we stopped in Pisco to take a tour to the Islas Ballestas of the coast also known as the ¨poor mans Galapagous¨. Peter already being a poor man and Triona being poor and with the adoption of man status for the day- decided to head off to the islands with Triona been re-named Trevor for the day. The bus ride out to the islands truly stank with the smell of fish meal factories and various fish odours permeating through the van.
The Islands are reached by speed boat which visits the candleabra a huge etching in the
Sunset over dunes
The sunsets here were amazing! I dont think that this photo does this sunset any justice desert along the way. It is thought to represent a cactus in the area and is really amazing. It has been there for centuries because it never rains, the wind doesn´t move the sand over the lines and the salty water has made it like cement.
The islands were covered in gulls and Sea lions and all sorts of sea life and once again stank! The bird colonies just crap all over each other and all the islands are covered in the once famous fertiliser Guano (bird poo)- which allowed some people to have what would have to be the smelliest workplace in the world. The sealions were probably the highlight with one beach being completely covered in them as they jumped all over each other and blew thier noses at each other.
TRUJILLO
We left Pisco on an afternoon bus which stopped in Lima and then we had another glorious night bus to Trujillo on the north of Peru. Trujillo is a really beautiflu city and our favourite along with Arequipa in the south and is along way from the tourist feel of the cities in the south of Peru and is a must see. We were
The Ballestas Islands
Our welcome sign to the islands going to go to Huaraz in the mountains but changed our plans at the last minute. The reason we went to Trujillo was to visit the HUGE ruins of Chan Chan which cover over 20sqkm, the city was once conquered by the Incas and is a huge mud brick city. At the moment you can only visit one palace inside the city but it so big it takes 3 hours to see it all and it has a water catchment that is 100 by 50m and fills one of the smaller rooms. The whole place was really cool to see and thankfully the government has just started funding for the entire place to be rebuilt which is going to be truly amazing when its finished.
HUANCHACO
From trujillo we spent 3 days at Huanchaco- a beach resort in Peru and the Peru surfing capital. One of these days was spent by Peter surfing his way from the bed to the toilet with food poisoning. COWABUNGA DUDE. Luckily he recovered well and we were able to leave to head north.
We arrived in Piura in the far north of Peru to find that it is the hottest place
PEDRO PABLO
Petes new boat... on earth and at night it doesnt cool down. We stayed only 15 long hot hours before heading into Ecuador by bus.
VILLCABAMBA
We arrived in the Ecuadorian city of Loja which was really nice stayed a night before heading of to the peaceful village of Villcababamba which was made famous as the place with the greatest number of people over 100 in the world. We stayed there for 2 nights one of which was Trionas birthday which she celebrated with a massage and by doing very little. (It should also be added at this point that she knows who sent her a happy birthday email and who didn´t and its all been noted down.)
CUENCA
After our relaxing in Vilcabamba we headed North to Cuenca the place where Panama hats came from which should actually be known as the Ecuador hat. Peters dreams of owning a Panama hat were quashed when he saw the price, the best hats sell for over $100 US and despite giving him the appearance of a travelling English safari hunter. He had to decline.
We leave tomorrow without a hat and head for Riobamba which is reknowned for tours
Penguins
Lots and lots of penguins and other birds were on these islands. It resulted in them been very smelly and noisy. Despite this though, they were very impressive! in which you ride down the side of Volcano Cotopaxi.
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Lucky Phil
non-member comment
Thanks again for a few laughs and great pics. Kepp it coming. All the best, Phil