Peru - Lima, Pisco, Huacachina & Nazca

It was very hard to finally leave Medellin and say goodbye to Dani and family, with no concrete plan as to when I was going to see them again. I had been very spoilt by her and her family who had really looked after me while I had been staying in Medellin. I could easily have stayed there for the rest of the year but I had a dream at the beginning of the year to travel to all corners of South America and I was determined to see fulfill this dream.

The first week in Peru was a low period for me. It felt strange to be solo again after so many fun times in Colombia. I felt sad and pretty antisocial as I boarded the plane from Colombian soil. This low feeling persisted for a few days. Lima wasn't that exciting... another huge capital, another Plaza de Armas, some interesting colonial architecture, more attractive looking churches... but not a huge amount to excite me!

After Lima I headed south to Pisco. Pisco turned out to be a dump!! There was a major earthquake in 2007 which destroyed 80% of the homes and killed hundreds of people. Three years later and they are still recovering from it. The reason for travelling to Pisco was to take a trip to the Islas Ballestas which are a collection of islands alternatively named 'Poor mans Galapagos'! As I skipped on the real Galapagos Islands this sounded a must do. The morning of the tour the mist had enveloped the coast and therefore I had to wait around at the harbour in the cold for 3 hours until the boat was eventually allowed to leave. The wait was justified. Just 10 minutes into the boat journey, we spotted a pod of dolphins surfacing near the boat. The skies were filled with birds racing us to the islands. At the islands we saw sea lions, cormorants, penguins, pelicans and rather amusingly named blue-footed boobies!!

Next stop was Huacachina for a night. Huacachina is a typical Oasis town built around a lake in the middle of the desert surrounded by huge sand dunes. I met Jerre getting off the bus who stuck out as the only other gringo on the bus. Jerre is a young dutch chap who ended up being my travelling buddy for the next few days. In Huacachina we shunned the opportunities to do sandboarding (snowboarding ...but with sand!!) as a tour and in the end just hired a board and trekked up the biggest sand dune we can see. It was good fun but such hard work climbing the dune that in the afternoon we went out into the dunes, this time by dune buggy which was like a roller-coaster ride.

After Haucachina, Jerre and I headed further south to Nazca, famous for its Nazca Lines. The best way to see the lines is from the air. Unfortunately on the day we were due to take the flight over the lines, again the weather was determined to disrupt our plans. A sandstorm had whipped up in the desert and eventually became enough to close the airport. I got as far as having a photo taken by the plane and then getting in and putting my belt on with the plane running, before we were told we'd have to head back into the airport. At 11am in the morning and with tickets for a late night bus much later that day, we decided to stick out a wait in the airport and hoping for a change of fortunes with the weather. Unfortunately that change didn't come so after 6 hours of waiting in a tiny airport, it was announced there would be no flights until the next day!! So I went to Nazca (the town itself is not a very nice place) and didn't get to see the lines! Oh well!