Nazca Lines, Beach Buggies and Sand Boarding

´Of all the stars I´ve ever seen, you´re the sun´ Hang On by Teenage Fanclub

Hey blog fans

It has only been a couple of days since I last wrote but we have travelled quite a distance since then and had great fun, so I thought I would update the blog while everything is still fresh in my memory.

We are back in Lima after an overnight bus to the famous and mysterious Nazca Lines, then another bus to Ica where we had great fun zooming up, down and over sand dunes and sand boarding down them.

Friday March 21st
After a meal at a nice sushi restaurant in the stunning city of Arequipa we boarded a night bus to Nazca at 9.30pm. We were travelling with the bus company Cruz del Sur, the pinacle in bus transport. The bus was luxurious, our seats fully reclined and as we opted for premium class we even got to go into an exclusive lounge at Arequipa bus station!

The bus arrived in Nazca at 6am promptly and we were greeted off the us by our tour company waving a sign with our names. Oh to feel important. Andrew from Sydney was also on our tour and we were whisked off to Nazca´s tiny airport in double quick time.

For those of you that haven´t heard of the Nazca Lines, and I hadn´t before we started researching Peru, the following description is taken from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazca_Lines

The Nazca Lines are a series of geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert, a high arid plateau that stretches 53 miles or more than 80 kilometers between the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana in Peru. They were created by the Nazca culture between 200 BC and AD 700. There are hundreds of individual figures, ranging in complexity from simple lines to stylized hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys, fishes, sharks, llamas and lizards.

The Nazca lines cannot be recognized as coherent figures except from the air. Since it is presumed the Nazca people could never have seen their work from this vantage point, there has been much speculation on the builders' abilities and motivations.

At 6.30am we were on board our tiny 4 seater plane with Andrew in the front beside the pilot. The plane was even smaller than the one we got in New Zealand to visit Milford Sounds.

We got a 35 minute flight over the lines and we were both glad that we hadn´t had any breakfast as the plane banked left and right to allow us the best views. There is no denying that the lines/drawings are beautifully drawn and as they were created before air travel, you can only wonder how and why they were created. They are not all side by side and some are larger than others, there are spiders, monkeys and all kinds of stuff.

We decided not to hang about Nazca afterwards as it didn´t look like a happening place, so we got dropped back off at the bus station and caught the 7.40am bus to Ica. Nothing like travelling fast!

Within a few hours we were in Ica where we said goodbye to Andrew and checked into Hostal El Dorado. The prices had been doubled as it is Easter, but it was still only 15 quid a night. We booked in for a night, jumped under the shower and then walked round to the main square for some food. We booked on a tour to the sand dunes at the nearby desert oasis of Huacachina, booked a bus ticket for Lima for the following day and then went for a well earned nap.

We went back to the tour office at 5pm and were driven 4km out of Ica, through the desert to the small Oasis that is Huacachina. Bars, restaurants and tour companies are set up around the water in the desert and offer sand buggy and sand boarding tours. We got in our sand buggy with 4 others plus the driver and we were lucky enough to get a seat next to the driver.

We sped off into the desert and immediately started climbing a huge sand dune, skidding about in the sand as we did, the wind blowing through our hair and sand blowing into our faces. We got to the top of the dune and lurched down the other side, screaming and smiling at the same time.

The driver was first class and took us up, down and around sand dunes, stopping every 10 minutes so we could take photos. After the first stop we sped down a huge dune and up another one that was so steep that it must have been close to vertical. We got to the top and our prime seats allowed us a glimpse over the other side....it also looked vertical, a straight drop down. I managed ot let out a ´Holy S#@t´ before we went over the top and flew down the other side then up another dune to stop for breath. We all laughed and smiled, this was fantastic fun.

After another 10 minute session we stopped at the top of the largest sand dune and the driver took some snow boards (now sand boards) out the back. He showed us how to lie down on them, face first and motioned to a Columbian guy to go first. He lay down and the driver pushed him through his legs and he was off speeding down the hill, yelling as he went. I went third and it was a fantastic experience. Lynn went second last and received a cheer from our group and another group for going the fastest and getting the furthest.

After another 10 minute session and some photos of the sun going down we went back to Huacachina. We decided to go for a drink at a bar and get a taxi back rather than go straight back with the bus. We also had some lovely food before heading back for a good nights sleep.

Saturday March 22nd
WOW we got up to quite a lot yesterday! Today we got a bus at 11am to Lima, arriving just after 3.30pm and checking back into the Lion Backbackers Hostel in Miraflores.

We´ve just been for a bite to eat at a restaurant with views over a park and had a wander. Tomorrow is Easter Sunday so we´re not sure if anything will be open. There may be some processions and festivities so we´ll have a wander around.

On Tuesday our good friend Craig comes out to meet us and then on Wednesday we fly to Cusco to do the Inca Trail. It´s all go, but with only a little over 2 months left we want to pack a lot in before we reach Buenos Aires, where we intend to stay for a few weeks and watch football, eat steak and drink wine!

I´ll write again before we head off on the Inca Trail.

Lots of love
Murray and Lynn
xxx