We arrive at Nazca very early and head directly to the airport after negociating a taxi in the main square. The driver is positive that he will be able to put all three of our backpacks in the tiny tiny trunk of his car, we obviously don't believe him but he makes it ! The ride is quite funny. It starts with "en voiture Simone", a french expression that the driver learned somehow somewhere and then for 15 minutes he tries and tell us all of the many french expressions he learned from all the tourists who come by Nazca. By the way, he talks to us a nice offer to fly above the Nazca lines, a pretty low price to see all of the lines in a small plane (to have every one with a window). We are five with a couple from Germany in the plane. And indeed, the plane is very small. People who would be stomach sensitive should definitely not do that. Indeed, on top of all the small turbulences, to enable each of us to see each line (so once on the left, once on the right), the plane would take some quite strong turns, which you could definitely feel inside your body, if you know what I mean. But the flight is definitely worth it. On top of being quite funny (for those who like sensations), the Nazca lines, although not as strongly visible as on the well known pics, are very interesting.
The Colibri line
Once the flight over, we go directly get a two hours and a half bus to Ica, a bit more north. I don't have a single cent left with me and as I was trying to draw money, the ATM took my card. After a bit of stress, I talk to the woman responsible for the bank who tells me that my card has now been destroid for sure... At this point I was very lucky to be travelling with two friends, as alone I would have had to find a way to get to the French ambassy in Lima (six hours of bus away) without any money. The Amazing Race always fascinated me but I didn't really want to try it out in these conditions and alone.
So Laura and Maxime payed everything for me for the next three days, the time for me to find a solution. Once the stress back to its naturally low level, we take a cab to Huacachina, an oasis ten minutes away from the city. When I say "oasis", I really mean oasis the way we all imagine it. We are in the middle of the peruvian desert which occupies a big part of the south and coast of the country (Lima is right in the middle of it !), and there is a big lake surrounded by palm trees in the middle of giant sand dunes. We find a three beds room in a hotel with a pool, which is very nice after the winter temperature of the Andes. I spend my evening figuring out my bank's issues, surrounded by a very nice scenery.
The next day we enjoy the pool and then go do a buggy tour for two hours in the dunes. We continue with the strong sensations and between two dunes in the buggy, we did some sand boarding down some of the big dunes lying on the snow boards! The first one is really scary, as we are going down head first, but in the end it is actually very funny!
At night we go out with some of Maxime's friends who are in Huacachina at the same time. We spend a very good night in the only dance club of the oasis...
The next day is a very full one. We go in the morning to Pisco, a city close by Ica, to go visit Paracas, a natural reservation on the coast. Once in Paracas, we desperatly look around for a hotel, but we are in the middle of the saint week, and we can't find anything under 15€ per person, so let's say, not really in our budget...
We finally decide to take a few hours boat tour on the Pacific to go see the Ballestas Islands in the afternoon and then take a bus to Lima in the night. The boat tour goes around the islands for us to be able to see, hear and smell (!) the many sea lions that live in it. We also are lucky enough to sea a few pinguins and loads of birds of all sorts.
Once back on dear land (the Pacific is not Titicaca lake, it move a little bit...) we go back to Pisco to take our four hours bus to Lima. We almost missed the stop, all sound asleep with the driver having to wake us up once in Lima. We arrive at minight thirty at our hostel. The south of Peru is already over, next step will be a little pause on the northen coast, once the saint week and its crazy prices over.
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