We headed out for dinner that night and I finally got my lasagna which I was happy about but unfortunatley most of the new group had plans so only 2 new people joined us and 3 never made it to the meeting. After dinner we were quite tired (or lazy) from the day so we got a taxi back with two others while the others went in search of a bar. The following morning the alarm never woke us up for breakfast but thankfully I did wake up in time to watch the end of the Tri-Nations final and all of Man Utd beating Spurs on TV (with South American commentary - absolutely gas when there's a goal - GGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). We got up and did a bit of sightseeing around the centre of Lima starting at Plaza Mayor which was only up the street from our hotel. We took some photos before heading to San Francisco Cathedral where we did a (poorly) guided tour, first of the grounds and then of the catacombs beneath the Cathedral which were fascinating. One of the noteable things of the tour of the grounds was the depiction of the last supper which was slightly different to European versions I have seen: they were all sat around a round table and in the middle was Cuy, which is Guinea Pig - a delicacy here in Peru.
We strolled around the city a bit more seeing many churches and some more big squares. We headed back to the hotel via the supermarket and a restaurant where we got more roast chicken and chips which is so good here - they roast the chicken on spits over charcoal fires and it's incredibly cheap! We met back at the hotel for our evening meeting, packed and then met down in the bar where there was a cheese and wine night with the new and old crew which was a bit of banter and a great oppoortunity to meet the new faces. We chatted but didn't partake in the drinking and headed off to bed as things winded down.
Which was probably for the best as the following day we were up at 6am for breakfast and travelling. Taxis to the train station for the bus to Ica and then taxis again for a few kilometres to a small desert oasis called Huacachino. It was one of the most picturesque little villages which had one road in and out, a lagoon and was surrounded by incredibly high sand dunes all around. This time we got to the hotel and we were unable to check-in as the rooms were ready which was no problem - we put our bags in storage and went to the restaurant for lunch. The hotel was lovely - we were sitting poolside and the whole place was only recently completed and out the back gate was a massive sand dune to climb. After lunch we checked into our roomes which were equally beautiful and chilled out for the afternoon, messing with the hotels parrots and relaxing poolside.
At 4 we all (at least those of us doing it, 3 declined) met up at the hotels entrance to head off sandboarding. As I came out I found Emer chatting to a group of Irish people - one who she knew from Badminton and one who lived 5 miles outside of Nenagh and knew my Mama well. It's a small world. When ready we all hopped into the vehicles to bring us out sandboarding which were mental - a massive V8, a chassis, roll cage and 10 bucket seats with seat belts. We all got in, buckled up and jumped as the engines roared into life. We headed through the village to the entrance to the dunes leaving a trail of car alarms in our wake. At the entrance we paid our sand tax (laughable, I know) and then headed off on a mental journey not one of us expected.
The drivers were absolutely mental and we tore off up, over, down and around the various sand dunes in the area. It was like a rollercoaster except it wasn't on tracks - we all hung on for dear life, screams of terror and joy barely audible over the roar of the big V8 engine working hard up front. We stopped at 4 different locations to do some sandboarding which was good fun too - a couple of people (foolishly) tried to stand up to do down the dune wheras we lay down on the board and picked up much more speed as a result. After the various boarding locations were done with we went west and from a high vantage point watched the sunset over the dunes in the distance which allowed some stunning photos to be taken. We all came back buzzing after the ride, had showers and headed out for BBQ dinner as a group before heading to bed ahead of the early start the following morning.
Our alarm had us up at early o'clock and after a quick breakfast we were in our bus to bring us to the dock to visit Las Islas Ballestras - islands about 8km off the Peruvian coast which are a haven for sea birds. Upon arrival at the dock we were brought to our boat, donned lifejackets and set off. Before we reached the main islands we were shown a massive symbol carved into the side of a hill and only visible from the water. It resembled a cactus and there are various theories relating to it's existence and why it was made. After taking photos etc we headed on towards the islands. At this stage we were warned to stay sitting down and to hold onto any hats we were wearing and it became obvious why soon after. The captain put the pedal to the metal so to speak and the two massive Yamaha 250 engines kicked into life and we flew out to the islands.
Here we were brought around in the boat (as nobody is allowed on the islands) and saw the multitude of sea birds flying around and nesting on the cliffs of the island. We also saw some sea lions and penguins which was nice but we really weren't as amazed as alot of people on the boat due to our time spent on the Galapagos Islands. We also saw the amount of guana on the island and we were informed that the Peruvian government collect it and sell it as a fertiliser. As a result, there are two people allowed on the island at any one time and these people work as guards to make sure the bird poo isn't robbed!!! After sailing around a bit and going through a couple of natural arches we headed back to shore, recing with various colonies of sea birds who were also heading back too. At the shore we had a bit of free time so we looked at the various stalls but they were nothing special.
After a while we hopped back on our bus and headed back to the hotel where we had another beautiful lunch poolside and stayed there for the afternoon. We played with the parrots, had a few drinks and some people climbed the massive sand dune behind the hotel. I went up a bit but gave up halfway and came back down to continue the banter with the others. We had a game of mafia before heading out for dinner and then to a bar where there were due to be salsa lessons. I ended up having a bit too much to drink so headed home before the salsa teacher turned up (which to be fair was well after midnight) and we had our laat sleep in the oasis village of Huacachino. We got up for a quick (poor) breakfast and packed our bags before meeting outside to hit the road to our next destination - Nazca.
All of us expected to be getting a bus as usual but what greeted us were 5 60's muscle cars which were going to bring us straight to our hotel for the day in Nazca. I slept most of the way and when we arrived we went for lunch before the optional excursion of a flight over the famous Nazca lines which everyone chose to do. The Nazca lines are various lines, shapes and depictions which were "drawn" on the desert floor hundreds of years ago and are only visible from the air. I say drawn but they were formed by removing the top layer of stones from the desert floor to expose the lighter soil below and due to the climactic conditions in the area, the lines still remain visible to this day. We got a bus transfer from our hotel to the airstrip where we paid the tax and waited for our plane to be ready.
A short while later we were greeted by our captain, went through "security" and then walked out on the runway to our 12 seater Cessna plane which was to take us over the desert to view the lines. Everyone had a window seat and the pilot did a figure of 8 flight over each of the lines and shapes we viewed so that people on both sides could see them. Some were quite difficult to see due to the angle of the sun and it was quite a bumby ride so alot of us were concentrating to ensure we didn't get sick. It was well worth the money to see the shapes like the monkey, the dog, the astronaut, the hummingbird and many others which were incredibly big and must have been quite an undertaking to construct. It was something both of us were looking forward to see ever since booking the tour and we were both delighted to have seen them. The pictures had quite a cartooney feel to them with the monkey having a really long curly tail for example. Back on terra firma we all got our stomachs to settle before lunch back at the hotel and then we headed off on our second archaeological trip of the day - Cauchilla Cemetary.
Cauchilla Cemetary is an Incan cemetary and the most important in the area, measuring 3km long and 1km wide. Unfortunately looters discovered the graves before archaeologists so alot of the mummies were just left out and damaged by the desert conditions. They have done a good job restoring the graves and we went around with our guide and looked at the various restorations. All the people were buried in the foetal position facing east where the sun rises so that they could go on to their next life after being buried. Alot of them were buried with ornaments and pottery which is what the looters took when they discovered the graves which were not hard to find as they were marked so distinctly. One mummy was discovered intact by archaeologists and this was on display inside a glass case indoors which was good to see - the skin, hair and findernails were still intact. After this tour we headed back to the hotel and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon before getting another night bus on towards Arequipa.
No comments:
Post a Comment