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Sunday was really a travel day to get to our first stop of the tour, Paracas, about 4 hours coach ride south of Lima on the coast. The bus was a step up from the buses in Ecuador, with seat belts and a safety video, where they warn you not to put your bag between your feet in case someone comes along and takes it! Paracas is next to a place called Pisco, which is famous for it´s production of pisco which is a spirit which goes in pisco sour cocktails! I know I like my cocktails but I definitely do not like these, way too strong for me! Monday morning we went on a boat trip to the nearbuy Ballestas Islands, which was really good, despite having already seen the Galapagos Islands. We saw loads of birds there, comorants and hundereds of Peruvian boobies, similar to the blue footed variety but no blue feet! We saw some sea lions too, and also lots of penguins up on the rocks. After the boat trip we travelled to the Huacachina Oasis which is in the picture. On the way we stopped at a pisco making place, to learn how it´s made, then for tasting. I didn´t try any of them really, except the baileys type mix, which was the best of a bad bunch! Huacachina is famous for it´s sand dunes which surround the oasis, and we went on a sandbugtying trip. Basically the dune buggy took up to 9 people plus a driver and went racing all over the sand dunes (similar to the dune bashing I did in Dubai). A little like being on a roller coaster going up and down the steep dunes. It was really good fun, though a bit scary at times! You could do some sandboarding at various times on the dunes, but I didn´t fancy it. It was like snowboarding but on sand, so I just took photos of everyone, and they all seemed to enjoy it. After we drove on to Nazca, where we today got to go and see the famous Nazca lines. First of all we went on a tour of the Chauchilla cemetary which was interesting, but a little morbid, lots of mummies and bones on display in tombs. The flight over the Nazca lines was really good as you got a great view of the lines and the shapes, which include, a monkey, an astronought, a condor, a hummingbird to name a few. They are a mystery and it is still not known for certain who created them and why. It was a six seater plane to view them and made us feel a little ill, as the pilot wanted to make sure everyone got a good view but this meant quite a lot of tipping towards the right or left in the small plane! My group also had to wait ages for out flight which was not great, as the airport is tiny, still we got to do it in the end, and it was worth doing. I am now waiting to go to the bus terminal as we are taking a night bus to Arequipa, our next stop on the trip. Fingers crossed that I manage to sleep!
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