We got braver on our second day in Lima and had dinner, met up with the rest of the group and even took out some money. It´s actually not that bad. On the third day our tour with the group started properly. Got taxis to the bus station and then got the bus to Pisco. We arrived in the late afternooon early evening in Pisco. It´s a nice town a little run down but not bad. We got chased though by a mad dog...no really it was mad. Thank god we got the rabies injections! but it was all ok in the end.
Next day got up early to the tourist bus to the Islas Balleares also known as the poor man´s Galapagos. We saw a huge Nazca type formation done by the Paracas people on the side of the hill and then got the islands on a speed boat...hmmm The islands were full of sea birds, seals crabs all pooing! the excrement is collected and made into fertilizer!
Back at shore we got another bus into Huacachino (sorry about the spelling) which is an oasis in the desert. The whole area is sand dunes. We got strapped into our sand dune buggies and got some pretty rigid boards to whizz down on our bellies. Chris was very brave and tried to surf down it but it looked way too hard! It was awesome but i´m glad we hadn´t eaten for a while. After lunch we got some more taxi transport to Nazca and arrived at the hotel eager for dinner and sleep.
The next day we saw the awesome Nazca lines from the air which was pretty impressive, as was the fighter pilot skills of the pilot...glad we didn´have breakfast beforehand! Also visited the Chauchillo cemetry with real mummies (real hair, skin etc) incredible, how the Nazcan people made their pretty pottery and learned about how gold is mined in the surrounding area and it is very different to how gold would be mined in other countries. the miners take a lot of risks...it was a real eye opener.
That night we took the night bus to Arequipa...glad it was a night bus and we didn´t get to see the scenery otherwise we might have wanted to get off! the road was apparently pretty hairy!
