A bus journey through the night brought us to Nasca, a town situated in the desert to the west of the Andes. The town had nothing to offer until aircraft noticed strange formations on the desert floor in the 1950s. These were then investigated by some crazy German woman (saw the photos, she looks it) over a period of 50 years and have been plotted, modelled, restored slightly, preserved (although not before a tarmac highway was built through the middle of one of the formations) and are now open for tourists to see (from a distance). The lines were built by ancient civilisations although nobody really knows why, or of course how. It matters not, in fact the mystery adds a little something. The most interesting ones are those that form shapes - monkey, condor, whale, parrot. Peru's answer to the UKs crop circles really. The only way to really see the lines is from the air. We took a light aircraft up and flew over the formations. Very impressive. Photos may not be able to be seen well on the web due to quality so will bore you all with piccies when we get home. As there is nothing else to do in Nasca, we had a day around the hotel pool (luxury!) before taking a couple of crappy old American cars through the desert to Ica (great experience) going via the Oasis of Huacachina. Huacachina is in the desert proper, which means fine sand that blows into stunning dunes. When you visit, it also blows into your eyes, mouth, clothes, and hair. As the wind alone wasnt doing a good enough job of battering us with sand, we took a dune buggy from the Oasis out into the desert. Great fun in itself, but being in a third world country where safety is not a major concern, the fact that you were always not far from death or at least serious injury added to the thrill somewhat. We took sandboards in the buggy, and pulled them out at a few enormous dunes. A real blast! After a few well earned beers we took a short bus ride to Pisco, bithplace, I presume, of the famous Peruvian drink, the Pisco Sour. Photos posted on the site if you want to take a look. S