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Hi!
I met up with my group on Fiday night - they are all really nice people (14 in total mainly girls and mostly younger than me and from the UK, apart from two ladies from Melbourne who are in their 40's one of which lives a few streets away from Pauline - small world). Anyway on Saturday morning me and Katy got a cab into the old town of Lima to have a look around. As soon as we got there we spotted the heavily armed guards and 2 tanks! At least we weren't going to get mugged there!
After a tour around the cathedral with some really patronising American men we headed back to the hotel ready to catch a public bus to Pisco. We didn't arrive in Pisco until late, but to be honest their wasn't much to see there anyway. On Sunday morning alot of the group took a boat out to some islands to see some wildlife, but as I had only just got over my sea sickness I opted for a lie in (only till 8am, but a lie in no the less).
After the boat trip we started our journey to Nasca. En route we stopped at a vinyard to have a tour and taste some Pisco Sour (the national drink of Peru, which when made properly includes a spirit, lime and egg white, its ok). We then stopped off at a oasis in the desert near Ica for lunch and a bit of dune buggy riding and sandboarding!
I really enjoyed the sandboarding!! Although the sand dues were really high it was no where near as scary as that last bungy jump I did (I still get sticky palms thinking about that)! We went down head first, tyring to be careful not to eat too much sand.
Last night we arrived in Nasca and went for a traditional dinner of food cooked underground. I was the godmother for the night and had to take part in a pre dinner ceremony of blowing leaves onto the oven, then crossing the oven with a liquid then drinking the rest of it (no idea what it was), then lifting a cross out of the top of the oven. It was all good fun.
This morning we had to get up early in preparation for our flight over the Nasca lines and a trip to an ancient cemetary. In the end we went to the cemetory first. It was a bit wierd as all the tombs and graves had been looted so the whold thing was very staged. Nevertheless we got a good idea of how the Nasca people used to bury people - they had extremely long hair for some reason (and when I say long I mean down to the floor in had they been standing up, but in a dreadlock......mmm nice). After that we headed back to the airport to watch a documentary then go on a flight over the Nasca Lines.
The aircraft was very small - it only fitted in 6 people including the pilot. And as the pilot had to make sure people on bothe sides of the plane saw each of the pictures we twisted from side to side on the plane. We must have only been at the second and third image before I started feeling sick. Luckily I spotted some sick bags in the pocket of the seat infront of me in case of emergencies, but given that I have never been sick on a plane I though I would be ok. I was wrong!! But I have learned a new skill of taking photos with one hand whilst being sick holding a sick bag with the other (mum would never forgive me if I didn't document the flight! He he he he!!). Quite an achievement especially as when I look at the pics now I did actually capture some of the Nasca Lines. The lines were not as big as I expected, but were still very impressive. I am pleased I did the flight even though I was ill (however I will add light aircraft to my list of transport I prefer not to travel in).
This afternoon I just relaxed by a swimming pool reading a book which was nice. Now I am about to get on a night bus (which is not nice). We get on the bus at about 11pm and arrive at our destination at about 8am .
I will put the pics on the net tommorrow.
All the best,
Louise xxx.
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