Happy 2009!

We have come a long way since Huarez at christmas, and the temperature has gradually increased to an unbearable heat here in our last stop in the west of peru - Nasca.

First we travelled to Lima, against our better judgement, but in order to sort out an annoying couple of things (the thief in Guatemala is STILL causing us problems as new bank cards and flight tickets are required) where our kind British Embassy royally screwed us over, declaring they had not received our parcel containing the new bank cards. A few apologetic emails to us later and it materialised that they clearly didnt look very hard, by which time we were (very annoyingly) long gone, so I am still playing chancellor of the exchequeor in charge of all the money, which owing to Kates maths skills is probably no bad thing! Lima is everything you could want if you are searching for a shopping mall looking suspiciously like a downtown American city, only where some people speak spanish. Not exactly what we wanted, but we knew what to expect so we didnt stay long.

Next - to Pisco. Only on the way there we were informed Pisco was in ruins due to an earthquake last year that destroyed most of the buildings. So a teeny bit further to Parracas, its (thankfully rather more picturesque) neighbouring seaside village. This was the 29th of December, not a date any would expect to be a source of great difficulty, but the start of what must be the most chaotic week in the Peruvian calendar owing to the proximity of New years eve. They must really celebrate in a big style if a crummy, already overpiced, 20 dollar room is about to go up to a 50 dollar room and people ruck and maul their way onto the last seat on any bus. Or so we thought (more later). So our few days in Pisco was reduced to one brief night in Parracas, which in hindsight was certainly no bad thing. We booked ourselves onto a boat the next morning to visit the Islas de Ballestas - or "poor mans Galapagos" as it is locally known (we didnt visit the Galapagos in Ecaudor due to David Attenboroughs plea to leave them alone) and enjoyed a suprisingly tasty dinner of local seafood; the Peruvian cuisine in general is still absolutely shockin so this was a rare treat. The islands are a marine reserve just a short way off the coast and home to millions of birds - Pelicans, turns, Peruvian boobies (ha) and, best of all, Penguins, of which we spotted at least 50. On the way out early in the morning we were joined by 4 common dolphins playing in the wake of the boat, but it was the hordes of sea lions that were the most impressive spectacle however, especially the massive male putting one of his many girlfriends in their place by smashing us bulk into them and another unsuspecting male. The trip felt like we were in a zoo there was so much to see, apparently due to the huge numbers of fish that live here. We would not, however, recommend the second part of the trip to the Paracas nature reserve which is just a man driving you around the desert for no apparent reason (although he did briefly stop for us to look at some flamingoes) until eventually winding up miles from nowhere starving and thirsty, conveniently close to his mates overpriced restaurant.

From Paracas onto Ica, the loudest and most hectic place we have visited so far - every inhabitant of this town seems to own a taxi, and they get very annoyed not only at the amount of other taxis in their way, but also the fact that there is nobody around for a fare, as everyone else is driving a taxi. They take out their frustration (...and happiness, and fear, and sadness, and hunger, and confusion....) on their horns, making for a very polluted, dusty, and overall LOUD little town. Again, we had been warned that everywhere we would be full for new years, and the scrums for a bus seat seemed to confirm this, but we easily found a room, only to be told that the prices would be going up the next day. "Why, are you full? no. Reservations? no." Just to annoy you seemed to be his true reply. By this time we really thought the next days NYE celebrations would be huge, and so on the big night itself we had an enjoyable and enterprising pre-lash in the supermarket, doing laps and strategically placing ourselves near to the new attendants for several free shots of pisco, the local spirit. The fast food restaurants were rammed, they must be lining their stomachs we thought. Quick shower, couple of supermarkets beers and we were back out. Where is everyone??? A tour of the terrible bars confirmed that this was no more a big occasion than a local grab-a-granny night back home, everone just seemed to be celebratin at home with their families, and so we spent a rather dejected midnight on a park bench eating some chips watching teenagers set off bangers. 2009 can only get better from here!

For my birthday we went to Huacachina, a tiny oasis (pictured) in the middle of some enourmous sand dunes in the desert. We went on a dune buggying tour - strapped into an oversized go kart with an engine pissing oil and water we zoomed off into the dunes, the driver doing his best to give us all whiplash before the morning was out. It was like a naturally made rollercoaster, steep climbs and lurching drops, only with the added fun of high speed sand (tasty AND crunchy!). After half an hour or so, the driver stopped at the top of some massive dunes, and got out the sandboards, crudely cut pieces of MDF fashioned into snowboard-esq shapes. Standing was not really an option unless you knew how to snowboard as you simply sunk straight away, and so it was far far more fun to lie face first and be shoved over the lip of the dunes to whiz down centimetres from the sand. it was INCREDIBLE, so so much fun, slightly dangerous (luckily we both stayed on our boards on all the runs but others werent so lucky, one Peruvian girl looked like she had eaten a pound of sand after an aunties-bloomers-style fall). As it was my birthday we had enjoyed a massive breakfast of chocolate pancakes beforehand, which i was entirely grateful for when a hungry looking Australian challenged me to a race. As anyone familiar with Australian-English sporting encounters knows, "friendlies" dont exis. Both taking it seriously but pretending not to we waxed down our boards (oh yes, no messing around here) and awkwardly shuffled ourselves into position on the lip of the biggest dune. A better start for him saw me behind to begin with, but then the pancakes were worth the investment as i gained speed, overtook and crashed to an emphatic win at kates feet (the official finishing post). YES! The rest of the day we attempted to remove the particles of sand that had lodged themselves into places that i previosuly hadnt known were places at all, and lounged by our pool before a massive birthday pizza (gringo food is the only food that both tastes nice, and more importantly, doesnt come with rice).

A couple of days ago we came to Nasca, hoping to see the lines and leave. We saw the lines, not from a plane but from the observation tower as we coulodnt really be bothered to fork out a small fortune to fly over them. Interesting as they are we would then have liked to have left Nasca, the town itself which can only be described as the hottest place on earth. But, sadly the Peruvians are still confusing us telling us that we cant get a bus as it was new years eve the other day and for some reason that means everyone has bought all of the bus tickets and prices are double (we look forward to the day when this holiday actually ends and they have to think up a new excuse to overcharge us for everything). So we are still in Nasca, and about to melt, but finally getting a bus to Cuzco tonight.