Nazca to Lima, Peru

The last blog entry you saw was in Machu Picchu, right. Now why the h*** am I, the "monkey" in the dessert now?

Well, since we are short on time (four more days in Peru), we got out of the Cuzco highlands pretty quickly. Namely, we took the tourist train from Aguascalientes to Urubamba, where a tax driver awaited us. This guy should then bring us as fast as possible to the Cuzco bus terminal from where we catch our bus to Nazca. Well, as usual the train was late and the driver was forced to go a "little faster" through the villages of the sacred valley in order to make it in time. Luckily, we had el conductor mas rapido del mundo and made it in time and alive :D

Nazca

Next day we woke up roughly 2.500m lower and in a totally different climate, the dessert of Nazca. Besides having the highest sand dune in the world (Cerro Blanco with a relative height of 1.200m!)

Nazca is famous for the world-known Nazca lines, giant geometric formations and animal drawings in the sand. By giant I mean that you can only see them from a plane. And so we hired a little Chessna ;)

Nobody knows how and why the Nazca culture created these up to 200m huge geoglyphs in the sand. Just imagine these geoglyphs were made 2.000 years ago with nearly perfect precision - how and why?

We had fun on-board observing the lines, although my stomach was revolting a little due to inhomogenity of the air we were flying through. Luckily, I had no breakfast.

Of the various motifs we saw this is my favorite one, "the astronaut." No it wasn't constructed a posteriori by some drunken kids, it has really been created 2.000 years ago. Makes you think about Däniken's theories.

Finally, we made it back to the ground. Since there's not a whole lot to do in Nazca (and I was strating to be fed up by traveling), we just chilled at the airport's pool,

had luch, and quickly hopped on the next bus which brought us to Ica, a small town three hours further North. Still in the misty jungle yesterday, and now lok at today's sunset in the Peruvian dessert.

Ica and Huachachina

The reason why we came to Ica, "Peru's garden", were not the various tropical fruits and the vine grown there, but a little oasis surrounded by dunes - Huachachina.

It is beautiful isn't it? Exactly how would draw an oasis, a small lake lake surrounded by 50m-100m high dunes. This was the perfect place for us to recover from the high mountain chill and to get some last sun before flying back to Germany.

Well, we didn't only relax there. The first thing I we did when we got up was climbing on top of the dunes and that is pretty exhausting, believe me. Two steps uphill and step sliding back down through the hot(!) sand. So you have actually achieved a little something by checking out the beach ;)

Do you see this pretty little fellow that I found we I came back down from the dunes:

No it didn't attack me ;)

Since chilling lazily in the sun isn't our cup of tea, we decided to rent a cab and go on a tour through the local vineyards. As if this wasn't cool anyways, we were additionally in the right time for the harvest season, and so Mum got to pound in the fresh grapes - good for your veins , apparently, and a lot of fun, too!

The cab driver got some local tropical fruits for us that I have never seen. Looks like large green beans filled with cotton, and tastes like banana. Its name was ...?

Here is a picture from the first small vinery that we visited. As you can see, they still use cloak amphorae to store their product:

And their product was, exceptionally not regular vine, but Pisco, a brandy and Peru's national drink. The grapes were just harvested and various sorts of Pisco have already been distillated. Of course, I had to try them all :D

See that's were the Pisco comes from, straight from the distillery. Methanol and Ethanol are here simply separated by taste and color... attention, dangerous!

To be fair, I have to admit that the skull is there for religious reasons and to honor the deads. Next, we went to another Pisco distillery, where they had an interesting museum in their garage with all kinds of freaky things, such as a model ship made of human bones, various Inka skulls and artefacts, stuffed animals etc. Mum especially liked the crocodile:

Another distillery and a vinery later, we were kind of drunk

but still had to move on to our next stop, Lima. More drunk than sober we got on the next bus...

Lima

Welcome to Santa Monica ... hmmm, Lima, right?

If you just see one of the osh suburbs with its modern coast line you could indeed think that you are somewhere in the L.A. area. Even the languages are the same - Castellano and English. No seriously there are also parts of Lima that you would expect as a traveller. I am a little bored from describing colonial architecture, churches, and museums, so just take a look at yourself at one street leading to the Plaza de Armas.

Still Lima is totally different than the rest of Peru, just as different as New York City is from Guatemala. I wonder how the people of Cuzco get along with this huge discrepancy in money, lifestyle, and all the non-Quechuan people. This difference just helps us to easier accustom to Western Civilization again, right Mum?

This picture was taken after a shopping spree, all the beach clothing she wears is new :) But we didn't just go shopping, or actually, I din't at all. I rather checked some parks on the waterfront, such as the Parque d'Amor which could be on-to-one in Barcelona, at least from the Gaudi-like mosaic benches.

But as you can see I am fed up with the travelling and lost the motivation to explore museums and visit churches. Am I ready to end my travels and go home? Probably. Our tour through colonial Lima was definitely as short as possible and

we rather went down to the beach :)

Since we only had 1.5 days anyways until our flight leaves, we just enjoyed ourselves, had some drinks in street bars

and fine'n'exquisite dinner in the evening.

Every trip comes to end and this time I and also my Mum weren't sad about it but looked forward to go home again. And so we left Lima, South America, and my little adventure came to an end.

Now there should be some concluding lines coming, wrapping up my trip, pointing out the highlights, crying for left-back friends and memories. Maybe I will write those lines one day, but not now. It has been a wonderful 2.5 months here in South America and I have countless unforgettable memories. I am not looking backward in tristesse but forward to go back home to all my beloved friends, family members, and, of course, Katrin!

Adios South America and thanks for all that I was allowed to see, touch, smell, taste, feel and experience there.

And now I am back home ;)

And tomorrow I will see Katrin again!!!