Lima to Nasca

Ok so we left the hotel at 12.30 in a private bus. We are 16 people from Denmark, USA, Canada, Ireland and UK plus our Peruvian CEO. Drove to the busstation where we boarded a bigger bus to Paracas. The scenery was pretty much the same as from Máncora: sand and hills! Still pretty amazing though. Arrived in Paracas, checked in to our hotel and went out for dinner. Alim took us to a seafood restaurant on the beach. Luckily they had four chicken options since I don’t eat seafood!!
Next morning most of the group wanted to go to Ballestas islands aka mini Galapagos! After standing in a line and watching the chaos created by approx 500 people wanting to board the same few boats at the same time we got onboard our boat. After maybe 15 min we passed this massive sand dune with a Nasca figure. I just don’t understand how they could make these figures 500 years ago in the sand and they are still here…
Got to the islands and saw lots and lots of sealions, most on land in big colonies all making a lot of noise, some swimming and plaing in the water. There were also lots of birds and humpboldt penguins. It was very fascinating watching it all.
Back in Paracas we grabbed our prepacked bags and got in a private bus that took us to a winery where we tried six different piscos ( and before lunch!)! I liked the dessert wine the best… After that we drove to Huan where we were going sandboarding. First we drove around in the desert in these special cars. Up and down, really fast. It was like a rollercoaster and I loved it! Got to the top of a big dune and got the sand boards out. Had to lie on the stomach, elbows in, feet up, holding on to two straps and then off we went! Soooo funny! Walked up to the next top and now we were allowed to stand up if we wanted! I watched the first eight out of ten fall in various states of grace so decided to play safe and lie on my stomach! Back in the car for some more crazy driving before we got to the biggest dune of the day. I went first on this one and I got really far very fast. It is definitely one of the funnier things I’ve tried!!!
After this we had a few hours lunch break and we could jump in the pool to get rid of the sand and sweat!
Around four pm we continued towards Nasca. Stopped and climbed a viewing tower and saw two more Nasca lines, the hands and the tree. The lines are 30 cm deep, 60 cm wide and some are kilometers long. It is still a mystery who made them, how and why! Aliens? A calender?
Arrived at the next hotel and ate in the restaurant there. The chef was apparently on his own so the food took quite a long time to arrive and most had finished eating before the last person got her food! I found it a bit funny. Next morning I laughed even more when the chef was running around in small confused circles because there were six of us for the breakfast buffet. We asked for more coffee and bread and five minutes later he would bring tea and bananas!
Ten of us were flying over the lines so we went to the airport and got into this small airplane with 12 seats, all by the window, and took off. The pilot explained as we passed the different figures and first he would bank to the left so that side got a good look, then he would turn around pretty steeply and pass on the right and so on through all the lines! We saw the whale, the spider, the monkey the hummingbird and many more. I loved the feeling of being in a rollercoaster but some of the others were very quiet!
I decided to explore the town a little but all the others went back to the hotel to relax by the pool. I walked around, found the Plaza de Arma, a small market, bought earrings from a Columbian guy and had lunch at a local restaurant, potato/chicken pastry and chicha, a local drink made from black corns, cinnamon and something else. Walked back to the hotel and spent a few hours by the pool before we were going to the busstation to catch a night bus to Arequipa.