Travelled south from Lima along the coast to Pisco for a night, then into Nazca to see the famous Nazca lines. The thing that has amazed me most about Peru so far is the landscape....all coastal Peru seems to be desert. It isn't a desert with occasional salt bush like home or grasses and the occasional tree link around the Northern Cape of South Africa, it is a desert with rock, stone and nothing more. I expected jungles and mountains and it been like the Nallab...

Lima like most major cities in Latin America is full of colonial charm mixed with modern chaos. At one stage Lima was Lima was a relative back water until the Spanish took over the region that is Peru. The Spaniards decided not to use Cusco the traditional capital as their head quarters as it is located inland in the Andes and didn't offer a quick route of escape if the natives revolted. Hence Lima developed and thrived as the Spanish colonial capital of south A...

The bus ride (again I'm adding a transportation blog) to Lima was O-R-G-A-S-M-I-C. We were on a 'first class' bus which apparently only plies this northern route. As we boarded at a typically dingy Peruvian private bus station, we stepped through the door and were ushered up to the top floor by little Peruvian bus-hosties, I think just about every one of us gasped when we looked at the spacious seats (like airline business class) that were spread out three acros...

We spent two full days in Mancora (which is apparently THE Peruvian beach town) which was a nice break after some of the long bus ride and intense travel days in Ecuador. The surf wasn't too bad so I bit the bullet and hired a long board and attempted to go for a surf in the first time in over 10 years - it wasn't pretty but I had a ball. The sefood in Mancora was also fantastic, so I gorged on this. To be honest I liked the laid back and kind-of run-down feel t...

Yet another bus saga......... Catching an Ecuadorian first class bus from Cuenca to down to the Ecuadorian-Peruvian border we had another 'public transport' experience. I've already mentioned the method Ecuadorians used to slow buses down but today I witnessed some masters of this art. Firstly, I'd just like to point out that the bus driver was psychotic, he was on a mission to get where he was going as quickly as possible, however in between care...