Peruvian Aventures #4?

We haven't had wifi access for a few days so I'll have to send these all out at the same time when we do.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

This morning we started out with a great breakfast at the hotel. There were many choices. You could choose from scrambled eggs, ham, feta cheese, slices of some type of white cheese, olives, tomatoes, mango, watermelon, papaya, French toast, little bits of fried chicken, honey, corn flakes, raspberry yogurt, cocoa puffs, just a ton of items to choose from!

After breakfast we got on the bus and drove about a block to the port. We then all got on a boat and went out to the Ballestas Islands. We saw millions of birds there. Pellicans, sea gulls and penguins. We also saw many sea lions. I would have to say the highlight of that excursion is having at least 6 dolphins come up to the side of the boat, jumping in and out of the water and a mama dolphin with her calf. After we got back to port we got back in the bus and went down the street to the hotel and picked up our bags and left on our way to the pisco making distillery.

The area that the pisco distillery was hot. We took a short tour and got to sample all kinds of pisco after. Then we were able to purchase some. Which I did.

From there we went to an area which was really an oasis in the desert. There were sand dunes all around and a small lake in the middle. We had lunch where I had rice and beans and also this potato appetizer with a slightly spicy sauce on it. We had the option to pay for a dune buggy ride of the sand dunes but we both opted out after the bumpy boat ride in the morning and being jostled about in the bus in the afternoon. We walked around the area and I saw a YHA hostel. We ended up settling down at the park and took a nap on the grass. That was so relaxing! The wind had a slight breeze in the palm trees above us. I could have slept for hours there.

We next took about three hours bus ride to the Nazca lines. It was a long trip and when we finally got there the sun was just setting. We had to hurry up the platform to be able to see them and even then we could only just make out two of them. I took a couple of pictures which came out ok. I think that Kimberly's camera was too nice and they didn't come out well because of the distance. It was a bit disappointing since we were only there for about 10 minutes and that was supposed to be a highlight of the trip. There is one woman on our bus who really wants to take the plane trip to see the lines but it is not advisable since there has been 13 deaths this year alone with the last one happening last week. Kimberly had wanted to do the plane trip but does want to go to the cemetery trip that is in the morning.

We got to the hotel around 6:45 and that is in Nazca which is really in the middle of nowhere. It's on the outskirts of town and down a very long and bumpy dirt road. It's a really nice hotel and I'm looking forward to seeing it in the am. We settled into our room and took a look around. The room had a fridge, 2 twin beds, a dresser and a closet. When I opened the door to see the bathroom I was surprised to see another room with 2 more twin beds. It's rather nice. I'm in the back room and Kimberly is in the front room which is great because I have the window open and fresh air coming in. The bathroom is HUGE! There is no tv though.

After settling in we ate dinner at the hotel. I got these cheese won ton stick things with guacamole. I know it doesn't sound good but they were so yummy. I also had a glass of red wine. Kimberly was able to get spaghetti with marinara sauce which was really good. We asked our tour guide, Julio, to eat with us since he was going to sit alone. The hotel also gave us complimentary pisco sours, which was great.