Peru Vacation: Chapter Uno

Date: Mon, May 12, 2008 at 8:36 AM
Subject: Chapter Uno - Arrival to Lima, Sandboarding in Huacachina, Paracas, Ballestas Islands, and the Nazca Lines.

We have arrived in Arequipa....I am feeling fine but now Gerson is feeling the effects of Mancha Panca's revenge and altitude sickness so he is resting.

So far...

Day 1:

Arrived in Lima, got picked up by a man holding a sign that read "Mathews Fox"....close enough. We had an exciting (read terrifying) trip from the airport to the hotel in Lima. Although in Peru we drive on the right hand side, we spend most of our time in the oncoming lane (or creating our own) passing slower cars. Red lights are mere suggestions to stop, and cars have the right of way, not people (I actually like that rule). The taxi was expensive ($20), but worth it I guess. Out hotel was nice but very American ($88 a night plus a mini bar with $3.50 bottled water). The beds were hard (7 on a scale of 10 with 10 being concrete) Gerson arrived around 1:30AM...we fell asleep, and then at 7:00 while he was in the shower his aunt dropped by so I got to hang out with her for a bit. Most of our time was spent trying to explain to one another that while we could read the other's language well...we weren't so good at speaking. The rest of the morning we spent stopping at various places to see other relatives (aunts, cousin, and even Grandpa). We got dropped off at a bus station and were off to Ica.

Day 2-4

We arrived in Ica, and the firs thing we did was purchase our tickets out of Ica. A nice security guard at the station suggested we stay in Huacachina and called us a cab. That's when we made our first friend William. William drove us to the oasis of Huacachina, hooked us up with a hostel, and helped us arrange our dune buggy/sand boarding, and Paracas adventures. We had the entire hostel to our selves, including a sweet pool. The only drawback is that the hostel was owned by a family, and they seemed to go to bed early, so we had to as well. Food in Huacachina was cheap and alright...I had some chaufa de pollo (chicken fried rice), lomo saltado, and some pollo de chicharon (aka fried chicken), as well as some continental breakfasts. Probably the best offerings were the fresh pineapple and papaya juices.

Our first adventure was sand dune buggying and sand boarding. Sand dune buggying was neat, and was basically like riding a roller coaster with no track and with gasoline flying into your face every now and then. We caught a little air, and our driver Ricardo was cool about stopping to let us take photos. The highlight though was when he would stop on top of a huge dune, we'd hop out, and ride down on boards. Apparently, I have monster feet by South American standards so I did not get a cool "professional" board with bindings like Gerson. Instead, mine was more like a plank with Velcro straps. I elected to ride down on my stomach since the board didn't feel very secure. Gerson manned up and rode down like a true boarder...and his only complaint was that he didn't go fast enough.

Later, we rented boards and decided to set out on foot. In the desert distances are deceiving. It took us about an hour to climb a dune, and in hindsight there were a lot of things we could have done better to make our ascent more bearable (not go at noon when its hottest, walk up less steep parts of the dune for example). We eventually made it, took some photos, enjoyed the scenery, and then with Gerson's encouragement we both boarded down, with me standing this time. I wiped out a few times, but eventually got it. After one run, we were tired and done for the day.

The next day we did Paracas and the Ballestas Islands. We saw the "candelabra" which is a huge sand sculpture that can be viewed off the coast, and then saw more birds, bird shit, sea lions, penguins, and other creatures that you could ever imagine...even if you could imagine the sight (from my photos), the smell could never really be described. Hopefully in the future, cameras will be able to capture stench as well. The Ballestas were amazing. Upon arriving back at port, we witnessed some stray dogs humping (there are more stray dogs than owned dogs in Peru). We also ate some really good bananas (that may have come back to haunt me later) We returned to Huacachina, chilled, checked out, and left Ica for Nazca...a 2-3 hour bus ride.

Day 5-6

Arrived is Nazca. Our taxi driver/tour arranger from Huacachina set us up with his amigo don Fernando who greeted us at the bus station and drove us to his hostel. This hostel was really nice, but again, we were sort of locked in at night. The next morning we flew over the Nazca lines, but prior to that I had a short but violent bout of Mancha Panca's revenge (those god damn delicious bananas from Paracas I am betting). The pilot and I talked about flying and he let me preflight with him. The plane looked safe, and ultimately was since I am pretty sure we survived. The flight was very smooth, and although I don't believe my pictures came out well...the lines were amazing. We finished early and then had to kill about 12 hours in Nazca...which is easier said than done. In the course of those hours, I ate some anticuchos (beef heart skewers), chorizos, and other parts of a cow that I probably never have tasted before...all was delicious. We then sat in the town's central plaza for a few hours just taking in the sights (a Peruvian transsexual that declared me to be it's "amor" and sat on my lap before I knew what was happening...it also felt up Gerson's chest), and sounds (dogs barking and horns constantly honking). As darkness approached we headed back to the hostel where it was safer and spent a few more hours before heading to the bus station where we spent a few more hours. By the time our bus to Arequipa left (10:30PM), we both were feeling pretty insane. Our conclusion is that the ancient Nazca civilization drew the lines in the desert out of sheer boredom and insanity, and that there mysterious disappearance was likely a mass suicide because they couldn't figure out any other way to get out of Nazca....we were close to following their lead, but eventually we boarded the bus and were on our way.

The overnight bus was ok....slept a little, ate a disgusting sandwich, but eventually arrived in Arequipa at 7 AM. That leads us to right now...I feel fine, Gerson has had his own visit from Mancha Panca and is also experiencing altitude sickness....thus he is resting as I write this. It's definitely colder here, but looks beautiful.


Other random observations:

Peruvian bus tickets are confusing, and never to be believed.
Stray dogs in the cities are friendly, stray dogs in the country are mean.
Dogs are smarter here...they know how to cross roads and not get run over.
Continental breakfasts will always leave you hungry and wanting more.

I will try to post some pictures.

Please forgive my typos...

Love,

Mateo

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Additional Details:

Huacachina Hotel: Hotel Curasi right at the only entrance to Huacachina. Nice pool, hard beds, friendly owners and quiet.

Best taxi driver/tour arranger: William - ask for him by name, I'm pretty anyone in town will know who you mean. I think William (and dune buggy chauffeur Ricardo) are independent, but work closely with a company called 'Desert Peru' based in Huacachina:

Desert Peru
Tele: +51-056-215401 / 256264
Mobil: +51-056-9682045 / 9629800
http://www.desertperu.com


Nazca Hotel:
Hostal Camiluz
Av. Reiche 304
Nazca
Tele: (056) 523871
http://www.hostalcamiluznasca.com