Bad sand. Many days and many miles of desert have passed since leaving Zorrittos. One night stays at Chiclayo, Trujillo, Lima, Paracas and Nazca (and an overnight bus ride) gets us to Arequipa. While the buses in Ecuador were less comfortable, the view was significantly better - mountains, valleys, waterfalls, villages, grazing animals... Watching the hundreds and hundreds of miles of sand and dunes along coastal northern Peru didn't do much to pass the time. The rides were long, not very comfortable, and stress inducing. Two ten hour bus rides during the day were particularly challenging, the overnight was not as bad as I was able to get roughly five solid hours of sleep.
Good sand. On the positive side, the desert provided fascinating sites - and sand boarding! Throughout the last week we visited an excellently curated museum featuring artifacts of the Lord of Sipan, the head of a local tribe that rules from 500 - 1,000 AD; toured Moche archaeological sites; flew over the famous Nazca lines and went sand boarding after traversing the desert in a dune buggy. Flying down the dunes on either my stomach or bum was terrifying and exhilarating. Less fun - and breathtaking, literally - was climbing back up the lose sand that comprises the huge dune.
While there were some interesting sites and adventures - I am glad to be done with this part of the journey. The very long bus rides separated by single night stays was both mentally and physically exhausting. Looking forward, most of our stops are for at least two nights - and our Machu Picchu trek is just around the corner.
Random highlights
Learning so much about the Sipan culture from an excellent guide at Museo Tumbas Reales del Senor de Sipan
All of the cats in Parque Kennedy in Miraflores
Walking along the coast in Miraflores; watching locals jogging, playing tennis and generally enjoying a beautiful Sunday morning
Hearing Total Eclipse of the Heart - AGAIN - from my hotel window in Miraflores
Finding that the string of shacks behind the bus depot that was our hostel in Paracas had actually fairly clean and modern interiors
Not crying, nor throwing up, before/during/after the flight over the Nazca lines (in a six seater prop plan!)
An honest and comforting conversation with a fellow tour member in the hotel courtyard
Continuing to push out of my comfort zone and participating in the sand boarding excursion
