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Published: July 17th 2007
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The coast trip was amazing, although we didn't actually see the coast until out last day. I'm going to write this in segments so I can get the places and the dates right. Plus we did so much that one blog would take forever so just be patient please. We left Ayacucho around 3 on friday afternoon. Originally the bus ride was supposed to take 6 hours, however peruvian time meant the ride actually took 10. The majority of the time delay was the roads outside of the city limits. They were still filled with rocks, and by rocks I mean boulders, from the paro of the previous week. Originally when I thought of people putting rocks in the road I thought a few big rocks but mostly stones every once in a while. The streets were actually filled with rocks and boulders so that it looked like there had been a landslide. Only a little path was cleared for cars to pass through. The rest of the drive remained uneventful and dramamine continues to be my good friend.
We arrived in Ica around 11 pm that night. Dinner was loud and everyone was tired and crabby. We ate
at a chain resaurant in peru called rokies, never again. The hotel was interesting. My pillows weighed about 20 pounds and was full of some sort of hard substance we didn't want to identify which left the sheets yellow when it was lifted up. After that I stopped looking at the sheets and pillows for the rest of the trip, I just used my coat and closed my eyes.
The real fun began on saturday. After breakfast we headed off to visit some wineries. Yes, we went to wineries at 10 in the morning. They were really interesting though. The first one we went to was run by a family who has owned it for over 200 years. We tasted grape beer, which is more like dessert wine than beer and some pisco. The second winery we went to was more modern. They gave us a tour of the tanks where the grapes are pressed and where the pisco is distilled. I don´t know too muhc about wine but here they actually only use grapes for the grape beer and they add pisco to the grapes that are going to be fermented into the wine. I thought that was
interesting. We also tasted more wine, straight pisco, a pisco sour mix and some sort of creamy, baileys tasting pisco drink. By this time it was almost 11 so it was ok.
From the wineries we stubbled, I mean drove (don´t worry it really was only a small amount of alcohol we tasted) to the witches village. We saw a 7 headed tree that was actually quite a freak of nature. There was a story that went along with it, something about a witch who sold her sole to the devil and when the time came for her to pay she hid in the tallest palm tree. The devil eventually found her and split the tree in 7 pushing it in the ground causing it to die, only the tree didn't die and its been in 7 ever since. Some people in the group got their palms read by a witch doctor but I opted out of it. I figure that I like my life being a surprise and what good could come of knowing, he also had a plastic witch out front of his house so that ruined it all for me anyway. From the witches village we
went to the dunes. My favorite part of the whole trip.
Lunch was at a resaurant in an oasis. Peru has crazy climates, we went from the freezing of the highlands straight into what seemed like the arabian desert. There were mountains of yellow sand for as far as the eye could see, it was incredible. We signed our lives away, put on some sweet goggles and loaded into the sand buggy. Our crazy driver Dominique took us everywhere imaginable. There were definitely moments when I thought I was going to fall out or we were going to roll. It was amazing though, indescribable. Well Dominique drove us up to the top of one of the sand dunes and told us to all get out. As we got out of the buggy he handed us a sand board with velcro foot straps. The whole time I was thinking is he nuts. If any of you saw my attempt at snow boarding last winter you would be thinking the same thing, fearing for my life. If I can't do a bunny hill on snow how do I do a straight drop in sand? Lucky for us they didn't excpect us
to stand, instead we laid down on the board like a sled. So it was more of sand sledding than anything else. Don't be fooled though, it was still absolutely terrifying and the pictures don't give the slope of the dine the justice it deserves. By far one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life. We did four different dunes each one becoming larger each time. The day ended with another buggey ride to the top of one of the highest dunes where we watched the sunset over the desert. It was absolutely beautiful to see the sand and the andes and Ica all at once. A perfect ending.
After dumping pounds of sand out of our shoes, ears, clothes and everything we owned we loaded back into the bus for our drive to Nazca.
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Len
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Spirituality
Em, What a great gift to be able to share your adventure in Peru. Hope it turns out to be all you hope for. Today we visited the Shambhala Mountain Center near Red Feather Lakes in Colorado. The Great Stupa at the center is the largest in North America. there are Stupas throughout the world as we learned today. the Buddist way is growing as many persons of other faiths have been drawn to the committment to their committment to awakening the world wisdom and compassion. Let me know if you come accross any Stupas in Peru. Len