There's really not much to say about the rest of our stay at Puerta Inca. There were some ruins a 15 minute walk away...but I saw Machu Picchu so I didn't feel the need to drag myself away from sun baking to see some more ruins.....well, that's how I justified it to myself anyway!! The most stressful part of camping at the beach was the excruciating wait for cocktails to be made....over 2 hours sometimes! I know, tragic right!
Reluctantly we tore ourselves away from the beach & jumped back on the truck...next stop Nazca. On the way we did make a quick stop to look at one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen. A whole heap of open tombs at the Chauchilla Cemetery, full of freaky skeletons complete with floor length deadlocks, teeth & clothes. After looking in the first few I ran around the rest without looking...then went & ate lunch!
The only reason for stopping in Nazca is for the Nazca Lines. Strange formations in the ground that to this day have yet to be explained. We were too tight to shell out for the flight over the lines so could only climb a tower on the edge of the park to see the them (which I didn't even do because I was too scared to climb the tower!). A bit of an anticlimax but at least we saw them.
The big highlight of the day was the sand boarding. We headed straight from the lines to Huacachina where we jumping in dune buggies for an exhilarating ride over the sand dunes. I may or may not have screamed the place down but I loved every second of it as we zoomed up dunes so steep you felt like you were going to fall off the face of the earth when you reached to top & dropped over the other side.
After flying around for about 30 minutes we arrived at the top of the first dune & got ready to board down it. This involved laying down on your front, on top of a snowboard & hanging on for dear life as they pushed you off over the edge. I wasn't planning on doing it cos I thought the buggy ride was enough for me but once I saw how much fun the others were having I decided to give it a go. Again, I won't lie, I definitely screamed the place down as I rocketed down the hill but it was awesome fun. After sliding down a couple more dunes we jumped back on the buggies & headed over to a real, live oasis. A bit of a disappointment only because it had been very dry so the oasis didn't have much water in it but it was easy to imagine how cool it would be in full flood. Adrenaline activities over & we were back on the truck & heading to our next stop, Pisco.
Pisco is a tiny town & unfortunately it had been completely flattened in 2007 by an earthquake, so it is still somewhat in ruins. It's good that we still stopped there though because the more tourists that stop there & help their local economy the sooner they can continue to rebuild. We went for a walk around the town that night & a freaky pack of stray dogs followed us around the main square. That was all good & well until they started an all in brawl with us in the centre of the action. Thank god for those rabies shots!!
Pisco will also always be remembered by me for another thing - Lomo Saltado.....a delicious Peruvian speciality. Part fajita, part rice dish - completely mouth watering & my new favourite thing! Our last truck journey took us into Lima, the capital of Peru. On the way we had another quick detour. A boat trip out to the Ballestas Islands to check out the millions of birds, penguins, seals, sea lions & crabs! When I say millions of birds, I'm not joking. They actually use the Islands to harvest bird poo! The thing I loved the most though was buying pecans coated in caramel then dipped in chocolate off the little ladies at the dock....yum!! We did make it to Lima though & after a delicious dinner, where I tried Ceviche (raw fish soup) for the first time we spent our last night hanging out in the bar chatting & trying to hang onto the last day of our tour together.
Photo: That black stuff is all birds!
Photo: Soooo cute!
The next morning was our last official day on tour so we all met in the lounge where Graeme & Andrew had organised a champagne & orange juice toast.....how sweet! Then, even though we were officially off the tour, we spent the day together!! We went to lunch & some of the team ate Guinea Pig......eewwwwww :( Luckily they weren't whole but they did still have little feet which really freaked me out!
Next task was to jump in a taxi & make our way out to Miraflores, a suburb of Lima. I was really looking forward to staying there because there were 6 of us & we had booked a 6 bed hostel so it was going to be like a big sleep over! The hostel was lovely, it even had a roof top deck where we cooked & hung out. We did catch up with the rest of the group that night when we headed down to the waterfront. There was quite an up market shopping centre there but we took advantage of the $3 movie tickets & saw the only English language movie showing - The Jones.
The next day we went back into the centre of Lima - the area aptly named Centro! We had a packed day of sightseeing. We did everything that was free - Churches, Cathedrals, walked around the markets & had our last Pisco Sours. We did pay for one sight though & it was brilliant. The Cathedral & Catacombs at the San Fransisco Monastery. It happened to be Saint Fransisco Day in town so we got to watch some of the ceremony in the church & then later on we saw the procession take over the streets. However, I digress, above the catacombs is the most spectacular & brilliant library I have ever seen. We weren't supposed to take photos (as it turns out they sell postcards of the library in the gift shop so that explains that!) I did take a photo though, admittedly not a great one cos I just held the camera down at waist height & took whatever was in the frame, but it is better than nothing! Oh, & for the record, I bought a postcard too! The library looked like something out of Harry Potter, complete with spiral staircases up to the mezzanine level & books from floor to ceiling. I think it was my favourite place in Lima.
The next day was another round of sad goodbyes as Grovie & Gemma both left. We headed back out after breakfast for some shopping & ended up in a dodgy little salon having pedicures. We spent our last few days in Lima with the Char's, walking around, shopping, eating McDonald's soft serve cones (they are choc-vanilla swirl!!) & cooking every night. While on the topic of McDonald's, we also came across a revelation on the Lima menu....the Chicken Mac. As the name suggests it is a Big Mac with chicken instead of beef.....OH..MY..GOD....so delicious.
It was so nice to be in one place for an extended period & to do things like cook & sit around & chat. Lovely! Before we knew it the Char's were leaving for their adventure in the jungle & then there were 2! That night we headed for the airport, not before having a farewell Chicken Mac!! So goodbye Sth America.....hello Nth America.........
