Nazca, Ica and Paracas

There is only one reason to visit Nazca and that is to see the 1500 year old geoglyphs carved into the desert floor a few miles north of the town.

There are over a thousand shapes depicting plants, animals and humans in an area covering 325 sq miles, so the only way to really see them is from the air. But the safety record of the light aircraft that service this particular treat is somewhat suspect to say the least, so nothing was going to get Mum up in one of these death traps, let alone whilst paying for the privilege.

There is one alternative, a tower by the side of the panamericana which we climbed which gives a partial view over the nearest geoglyphs, not the most brilliant of perspectives but better than nothing.

And then we were on our way up the coast to Paracas and the national reserve of las Islas Ballestas which is a sea-life and bird mecca.

We then met up with Pamela and Laura for a final weekend in Ica close to the oasis and sand dunes of Huacachina. Today the oasis is a rather forlorn sight as the water levels have reached dangerously low levels and the old hotels that surround the 'lake' (much more of a pond) have definitely seen better days but it is a fun place to visit, have a beer and watch the world wander by and then book an excursion on a dune buggy that includes a little dune surfing.

On the morrow we visited a vineyard not far away on the other side of town, to round off a weekend of contrasts all within a few kilometres of each other.

  

And then back up to Lima to complete the full road trip circuit. In total we had covered 4,300 kilometres in 3 weeks. From the sea level of Lima we had climbed to over 4,800 metres on two occasions, with 6000m peaks often close by, usually the roads we traveled on were at over 3,500 metres above sea level or dropping precariously into the next valley or back up to those heady heights for that is the Peruvian terrain within 100 kms or so of the coast.

Four times we were held up by landslides that had blocked our path, the worst being an overnight stay of 21 hours, for that is what travelling in Peru in the rainy season (December to March/April) is all about.

We stayed in 10 separate hotels/hostels all of which were inexpensive (except for El Albergue in Ollantaytambo which is v special) but perfectly adequate (apart from El Ambasador (ironically with that name) in Puno) and ate in a different restaurant almost every meal, all of which were great, for that is the wonder that is Peruvian cuisine.

Most importantly thank you to everybody that we met along the way who almost without exception were incredibly helpful, generous and a great credit to this fabulous country - from the locals that helped us with directions (2-20 times a day) and occasionally insisted on jumping into the car just to make sure we arrived in the right place :) to the police that stopped us (2-8 times a day) initially to check documents and inquire as to why a couple of gringitos were so far from home but usually then to be super helpful in terms of directions as to where we were heading and to ensure we were ok, and to everyone else...thank you.

And of course a big thank you to Mum for just going with the flow throughout even in the more challenging moments whether it be with the altitude, food, terrain, landslides, impromptu accommodation or map reading!...happy happy memories...