So, we left Ica around lunch time on the 26th, we boarded a bus run by a company called Soyuz. The bus was comfortable and as we were only going to be on it for three hours, we didn't mind having to listen to a film badly dubbed into Spanish. The best part of the trip for me was when the bus made one of its scheduled stops and local people from the town boarded the bus touting their wares, we got some freshly made steak sandwichs and some plantain chips. Apparently you're not supposed to eat street food like that, but I'm still alive and it tasted good!

Upon arrival at Nazca we sorted out going on a flight over the famous lines. Our aircraft was a glorified Airfix model, with a really chirpy pilot called Enrique. He took us over the lines, leaning precariously over so we could get the best view. I didn't realise that when he said he'd use the wingtip to point out the lines, he was being serious!

Afterwards we checked into our hostel, which was so nice and friendly and a massive step up from the last one. We moved into our room, Emma had a look at the shower and was agrieved to find that it resembled the electric shock shower from the first hostel. Thankfully it didn't do any shocking. Nazca is in the middle of the desert, so we sat out in the sun, enjoying it's heat until about 5.

We met a couple of English travellers in the hostels common room, watched Batman Begins, then went out to a restaurant for dinner. The food was good and Emma and I shared our experience of doing a PGCE with our new friends, who also plan to do the same when they return to England. Tomorrow we're off to a burial ground somewhere in the desert... Cheery!

Gregg

So the burial ground was a little odd. The mummies were original but the tombs they were arranged in were not. All the gold and anything else worth anything had abviously been stolen long ago, leaving just pure white bones, the clothes they were buried in and amazingly long plaits of hair. It all just looked a little bit too set up although it was interesting to learn about their burial traditions, particularly that the rich were buried with something in their mouths, gold for those that were considered to have been good people and excrement of our animal (as our guide explained) for the bad ones.

The trip also included a couple of other stops, we went to see some copies of tradional pottery being made and also met the funniest gold miner ever, a hyperactive man who wanted to tell us all about how he found gold and also that he loved our country and our familes. Slightly creepy.

We relaxed in the sun in the afternoon, until we were accosted by a smelly smelly tramp. When I say accosted I just mean that he kept talking to us in Spanish and trying to shake our hands and would not leave us alone. I dont know why but Gregg attracts those kind of people. A bottle of wine helped us get over it though.

The following day was Peru´s independance day so there was a lot going on in the town. We watched a parade of marching bands from the local schools for a while with some friends from the hostel and one of the ladies that works there, and then she tooks us to see some ruins that are just outside the town, a pre-inca administration centre. The ruins were interesting but I preferred the great view we got of the Nazca valley as they were set into a hill.

We got back to the hostel just in time to grab our bags and get a taxi to the train station where we indured the ride to Arequipa without passing out deapite our proximity to the toilets which were letting off a hideous smell everytime someone opened the door. We have opted for different seats on our next bus trip!

Emma