Lima to Nazca - Fun in the desert.

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Trip Start Aug 07, 2008 Previous
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  Ika, Peru
Friday, August 15, 2008

Lima to Nasca - days 4 through 6
 
TW - So the overland tour started on a cold damp, cloudy and very early Sunday morning in the centre of Lima. Our overland truck ready to take us on the first, full on, stage of our 6 week trip through South America.
 
We set off with some trepidation as the traffic and driving in Lima is about as crazy as it gets and it seems the only requirement to pass a driving test is either that you managed to drive your car to the test centre, or that you can drive your car, at speed, through gaps only 5 millimetres wider than the width of your car whilst only being 2 inches from the car in front!!! Having said all that, it seems the good people of Lima party hard enough on a Saturday night not be up at 6 am on a Sunday, as our route out of the city was completely deserted, which was nice

Ballestas Islands More Sea lions

. Our Truck has a "charm" about it, and although many words could be used to describe it, luxurious, would deffo not be one of them. We are already starting to love it though.
 
From Lima we travelled south, for 4 and a half hours, through desert to a national park called Paracas. This was our jumping off point for a two hour boat trip around the Ballestas Islands, which has an amazing amount of bird life (there are so many birds, which produce so much bird poo, they harvest it once a year and sell it as compost!!). Some of the species we saw where, Cormorants, Grey footed Boobies (yes we did laugh at the name like school kids) and Penguins. We also saw some very lazy sea lions. The trip was amazing; we spent half an hour getting there on a speed boat and then an hour going around the islands (very slowly) checking out the birds. It was like being in our very own wildlife documentary, I half expected Mr Attenborough to step on the boat and be our guide. He didn't, but our actual guide was very informative, even if he did tell us off for talking when he did. On our return we passed the massive Candelabrum, which is similar to the Nazca lines, in that no one really knows the reason for it being there, but it's been there for around 2000 years and will apparently be there for at least another 2000 years due to the lack of rain here (they have about half an hour of rain every 2 years!!), My favoured reason was that it was there as a point of reference for the fishermen.
 
From the Ballestas Islands we travelled east, further into the desert to a really cool oasis called Huachachina., where we stopped for two nights of camping. We camped in the grounds of one of the hostels, which meant we had use of the pool and bar and they let the 18 of us turn their car park into our kitchen, where we prepared, ate and washed up, in what is already a pretty slick operation

Desert Oasis Huacachina

. After eating and erecting our tents, we all retired to the bar for a few drinks and the slow realisation that they weren't joking when they said it gets cold in the desert at night!! Then it was off to bed for our first night in the tent. I'd like to say it was fine and we handled it with ease, but........we didn't. Despite all the gear, the ground was hard enough to numb whichever part of our body touched it, it was freezing cold and 3 pesky cockerels' started a competition to see who could make the most noise, at 3.30!!!! It's all part of the experience though, at least, that's what we kept telling ourselves.
 
Next day we were all up by 6 (only 'cos of the noise and the cold) and ready for a morning by the pool and an afternoon of dune buggying and sand boarding. It's difficult to get across how much fun we had being driven around the huge sand dunes in 8 seater roll cages, with 6.5 litre V8 engines and by guys who, it appeared, had had there brains removed!! Then, if that wasn't enough, we were stopping every now and then so we could hurtle down some really steep and high sand dunes and ending it all by watching the sun set behind the dunes. Then, on the way back, it was there in front of us. We passed a tour company who had a board outside advertising the same trip we had just done and they had a picture of a few people with a quote underneath which simply said "FU@!(?@ BRILLIANT!!!

Huacachina About to board down this dune

! and it sums up the experience perfectly. We were both knackered when we got back and once we'd spent an age trying to get sand out of just about every hole, we ate and went to sleep early, convinced we'd get a good nights sleep in the tent..............we didn't..........but we haven't forgotten, it's all part of the experience!!
 
Day 6 and with everyone still going on about how much fun they'd had the day before we set off for another 4 and half hour drive through the desert to Nasca, sight of the world famous (maybe thanks to Indiana Jones) Nasca Lines. The lines depict various shapes carved out of the desert, that have been there for thousands of years, although they only came to the general conscious in the 1930's when pilots started to fly over the area, which is how we plan to see them. Having said that, when we arrived, the person we are arranging the flights with was not here for the afternoon, so no flying today. We planned to stay the night, so, planned to all try again tomorrow. As an alternative to the flight, we were driven into the desert to look at an ancient cemetery, where the Ica's mummified their dead and due to this process and the dryness of the desert, they are incredibly well preserved, making them very eerie. We then returned to the hostel to set up our tents and relax until dinner. When it came to it, we had the choice to upgrade to a double room, with our own bathroom, hot shower and cable TV, for £20, so we jumped at the chance, only so we could charge all our electrics, you understand........honest.  Once settled into the room and after a couple of beers for Dutch courage, it was our first time to cook for the group. It was spag bowl for 18 and thankfully turned out well, with no complaints and no sick people. (point of interest for GMAC people and one of those spooky moments for the rest. Our group of four cooking group, includes Nikesh Patel, who used to work on the IT service desk, so he says hi to everyone and congrats to MB)

Huacachina Hotel First Nights Camping

.
 
So now we're up to the present. I'm in our lovely upgrade room waiting to find out if we are able to get a flight over the lines today, as although it virtually never rains in the Peruvian desert, there is a thick mist that descends every morning and takes a few hours to clear and unless it clears soon we wont be going, as we have to leave by lunchtime and take the next trip of 3 and half hours, this time, still through the desert (it's a big desert in case you didn't know), to the beach, where we camp for the night on said beach.
 
Take care everyone and hopefully you'll look forward to more updates soon.
 
PS. Thanks to all of you who have sent messages. We'll try and acknowledge them individually soon, but we need to get to a main city, where the internet is a bit quicker, as it takes about a lifetime just to open a message where we are at the moment.
 
PPS. Photos will be posted in the next couple of days for those that are interested.
 
xx.

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Huacachina Just boarded down the dune behind	Huacachina Mummy Winehouse lookalikey?	Huacachina Parrot breaking and entering	Huacachina Proof Suzanna stayed in a tent
Huacachina Strapped in for the Dune Bugging	Huacachina Toby relaxing in the buggy	Huacachina Us with the Dune Buggy	Huacachina View of the sand dunes
Huacachina Watching the sun set from the buggy	Huanchina Cheeky Parrot	Huanchina Mummy	Nazca Chauchilla Cemetery
Nazca Plaza

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