Peru so far!
Trip Start
Jun 03, 2008
1
8
23
Trip End
Sep 22, 2008
Lima,
Peru
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
The group wasnt coming for another couple of days so I had this time to explore Lima. The hostel was more like a hotel, I had a whole room with a tv and ensuite bathroom to myself... which was luxury, but at the same time no way to meet other travellers which sucked. Sat, a guy joining the group in Lima also joined me in the room the second night. He´s a nice fella and we're pretty similar in an odd way. We went around central Lima, the main areas being between Plaza de Mayor and Plaza San Martin. Its very colonial, the main sights being churches and catacombs, and being a typical city with all the restaurants and shops.
lima
Getting a recommendation from the hostel staff as I usually do, I ate a nice lunch consisting of rice and various seafood - which is apparently whats good round here cos we´re by the coast. I did a good few things like visit some church and catacombs, walked the city lots, got my haircut, drank the traditional pisco sour at the grand national hotel, bought a wooly hat, ate lots of food... like i had half a chicken like at nandos but for less than 2 pounds.. i havent eaten chicken in ages.. We also took a local bus to miraflores, a more modern area of Lima, which seemed to be very touristy. There was a good vegetarian restaurant we found cos he's a veggie, but they did lots of traditional peruvian food and it was goooood.. I dont think I've had a meal without meat in a very very long time! We met up with the group later that evening and had a meal with them, then headed out to the bars and clubs of Barranco which was quite fun. The first night we camped out on the beach of the national park of Paracas, which was cool, first night camping and all. It was my groups turn to cook, and we cooked some stir fry.. the foods better than I expected. The next morning was a boat trip giving a tour of the Ballestas Islands, seeing all sorts of wildlife including vultures, penguins and sea lions. The island is basically covered in white bird shit because the place is full of birds, since its rich in anchovies
lima
. The bird shit has a name which I forgot, but apparently its really expensive and a really good manure. We left paracas to go to Pisco, the home of Peru's traditional alcoholic spirit/beverage Pisco, and we had a free tour of a brewery.. was told how its made through distillation, fermentation blah blah.. more importantly we got to try out lots of different piscos at the end. Its strong stuff - 43% but our guide seemed to gulp it down with no problem - teaching us the secret technique.. but apparently it doesnt give people a hangover, which is wrong as people found out a few days later.We left Pisco for Huachachina where there were loads of sand dunes... It was pretty hardcore, we went around in dune buggies and had the chance to sandboard.. well not standing up because apparently even the best snowboarders cant.. but lying face front on the boards and sliding down... the dunes were steep and I was able to get some serious speed on it, even managing to get a little sand burn on my forearm because it was sticking out.
We camped out in Huachachina with the dune buggy drivers, they did a lovely chicken and sausage barbecue for us, and gave plenty of pisco and coke.. it was like we were in the middle of the desert and you could see the city lights and we camped under the stars (no tents!) which wasnt as cold as I was expecting but was pretty cool.
lima
The next morning we were able to shower and have breakfast at a local hostel.. then we set off for Nazca where people went on a tiny plane and had a flight over the place to see the crop circles / lines... It was a bit pricey so I skipped this activity like several others.. but there was a video about it all which I watched for a bit while waiting for the other. Basically nobody knows how the nazca lines got there, some believe they were from aliens... and something about how the lines are so perfectly straight and the geometry is amazing or something...
We spent the rest of the day on the road and freecamped on the coast again, getting an early night. Today we've been on the road since early morning, and arrived into Arequipa, another city, which we'll explore tomorrow before moving on again..
I´m in a rush and trying to think of everything I've been doing but cant remember so sorry for the shit entry lol
