Ok, next stop on the tour was Lima, which to be honest is not the most dynamic city I have ever visited! The drive from Huanchaco to Lima, however, was beautiful as we went along the coast. In Lima, visited the San Francisco Monastery & Catacombs, which was beautiful and a bit gruesome as the catacombs were built as the city cemetery and contain the bones of over 20,000 people!! Watched the very lengthy and not particularly entertaining changing of the guard outside the Government Palace- lots of goose stepping, shouting and a brass band! Tried a Pisco Sour in the cafe recommended by Lonely Planet and boy was it strong!! We staggered out in search of a Lonely Planet recommended bakery to soak up the alcohol :) In the evening a big group of us hit a sushi place called Magma in Miraflores for the all you can eat for $20 maki rolls- though I decided that wasn't the option for me and shared a platter of sushi, maki and sashimi. It was definitely some of the best sushi I've ever had and great to have a break from the local cuisine. As it was a Monday night, most of the bars were shut or empty, so we ended up in The Old Pub surrounded by British people!! The second day in Lima was a wash out, pretty much spent the day in bed feeling a bit rough :( Luckily, I was recovered enough the next day for the trip to Pisco and the Parracas National Park, which was almost exclusively sand and desert and beaches...with a few flamingoes in the distance. Dinner in Pisco was at one of many Pollorias (chicken place) where there was no menu, just chicken either with chips or rice- pretty easy decision, not dallying over which dish to have ;) It was very tasty and pretty cheap. Afterwards we went for a Pisco in Pisco, which was a lot weaker than the Pisco Sour in Lima but still good. The next morning was a boat trip around the Ballestas Islands, known as the poor man's Galapagos and it was great to see so much wildlife in such a small place- male sealions with their harems ready for the mating season, cormorants, boobies, Humbolt penguins, crabs and Inca terns. The Islands are also harvested for guano every 5-7 years, once approx 40cm has accumulated - and it stinks!!! The afternoon was spent in sand buggys zooming around the desert by the Huacachina Oasis which was like the best rollercoaster ever. The sun was blazing down and the sand unbearably hot, but amazing views of massive sand dunes. Drove on to Nasca ready for the flight over the Nasca lines the next morning. Got up really early and ended up waiting ages at the airport, nothing new really ;) Flight was amazing, just 4 of us and 2 pilots, one of whom pointed out the shapes to us. Think I managed to capture quite a lot of the lines, but some were tricky to see as they weren't very well defined and actually looked quite small from the air. My favourites were the monkey, the hummingbird and the condor which were all beautifully depicted. I bought a pair of monkey and condor earrings at the viewing tower which looks over the tree and the hands (bit weird, just a blob with a pair of hands). In the afternoon, we went to the Chauchilla Necropolis where the Inca's buried their dead, well preserved by the dry desert air, sitting upright with their hair still attached. Arrived into Puerto Inca with plenty of light to put up the tents (for once!! previously it has been in the dark striking & pitching the tents and once raining too)!! Spent the day lounging around and exploring the Inca ruins and rocks around the beach, then unfortunately was taken over by a migraine from a few nights bad sleep :(
