Can’t believe we’ve already been in Peru for almost 2 weeks. Time flies by and we’ll be in Bolivia in less then 10 days !!!

End of Feb, at our arrival back to Lima we ended up in our hotel room at 1.00 in the morning, frantically leafing through our lonely planet, trying to work out where to go first. We wanted to start by the little visited central southern part of Peru, going through high perched little Andean villages.Unfortunately, we’re bang on in the middle of the rainy season, which means constant rain in altitude and the regular mud slides that block roads for days on end until the government decide to send the army to clear the roads … So after being informed by the reliable bus companies that they do not go into this part of the country between January and April, we decided to give up our dreams of “off the beaten track” exploration of Peru and sheepishly rejoined the traditional tourist trail along the southern coast !!

We started by 2 days of pure relaxation in the little oasis of Huacachina, 4hours south of Lima, and near the town of Ica . A tiny resort in the middle of gigantic sand dunes. Wake up call at 6.30 in the morning to climb the big dune by our hotel to see the sun rise. What we hadn’t realised was how hard it actually is to climb in the sand !! After a gruelling 45mn effort, we arrived at the top just on time to admire the sun rising behind the dunes and the town below emerging out of the mist. We had only enough energy left to let ourselves roll back down the dunes to enjoy a copious breakfast by the hotel pool !

The rest of the day was spent lounging by the pool, talking with the parrot as far as Andy was concerned (who got really excited when he discovered that the parrot was saying “Ola !” :) and exploring the tiny resort built around the lagoon. Our next excursion in the dunes proved much less tiresome, on board of a powerful buggie rushing through the dunes : sensation of adrenaline guaranteed ! The highlight was sandboarding down the dunes. I was absolutely rubbish, hardly managing to stay up. Andy on the other hand got the hang of it in no time, throwing himself down without fear ! But we all felt real apprehension when it came to sliding down a 200m slope, stomach on the board, at about 60km/h ! All in all, a great afternoon finished off with a stunning sunset in the dunes.

Another highlight during our stay in the wine region of Ica, was the visit of a traditional bodega (vineyard) where they make the famous pisco. Since we’re in the low tourist season, we were the only tourists there an had a private tour of the bodega, which concluded with a full tasting of 45 percent pisco at only 10.00 in the morning… :)

After Huacachina, we headed off to Nazca to see the Nazca lines, one of the world’s great archeological mysteries. They consist of over 800 straight lines , 300 geometric figures and about 70 animal and plant drawings spread across 500sq metres of arid plain in the Pampa Colorada. Nobody really knows who constructed those lines and why (theories range from assuming it is a astronomical calendar from the Nazca culture to an extraterrestrial landing site !!!).The lines can only be seen from the sky so early in the morning we took a little 3 seaters plane to fly above them. To Andy’s great joy, he was designated as the co-pilot and found himself (in true aeronautical engineer style) more busy filming the landing and taking off the plane than admiring the lines !! Myself, I was more concerned with keeping my breakfast in, since the plane was dramatically swaying left and right to allow the passengers on each side to admire the lines ! Check our the pics for a little piece of history !

Next destination : Arequipa, where we’re starting getting closer to the Inca culture !