At one point I thought that I would end up spending quite a few days in Lima, but that plan quickly changed as I decided to go trekking instead. I therefore quickly rushed away from Huaraz the same night we finished the trek, and got on the night bus slightly tipsy after taking a few well-deserved celebratory drinks with some locals in a shady back alley. At least it made me sleep perfectly on the bus that night, and sometimes you’ve just got to embrace those oh so local experiences.
I arrived in Lima early in the morning and made my way to the Metropolitano to get to my hostel in Miraflores in the cheapest way possible. Before getting on the bus I had my first argument in Spanish, as the security guard at the station meant that my backpack was too big to go on the bus. When he realised that he was losing that argument he instead started yelling at me for not having bought a bus card. “Excuse me, but I have been in the city for ten minutes?” It also turned out that I could buy said card from a machine less than a meter from where I was standing. I guess some people just argue for the sake of it. Eventually it all worked out and I made it to Miraflores; an area I immediately liked. It was so developed and different from all the places I had been recently, and I found myself enjoying the change of scenery. I spent the first day in Lima just walking around the area, taking a stroll down by the beach and checking out some shops and restaurants. Those days are needed every now and then. For my second, and last, day in the city I went into the centre to take a look around and spent a few hours checking out a few seemingly important buildings without caring enough to find out what they actually were.
In the afternoon it was time to gather my stuff and move to Barranco, a different area of town, where I would meet the group I would be traveling with for the next three weeks. After more than two months of traveling and working everything out myself it was a strange feeling being about to give up all control and also traveling with a group I didn’t choose myself. I was definitely curious as I made my way down to the welcome meeting at 6 pm. A few hours later I was sat in a bar with 13 people who were about to become my friends, laughing and playing drinking games. I figured three weeks of organised traveling wouldn’t be that bad after all.
We woke up early the following day and got ready for the first out of many bus rides together. Our first destination was Paracas, a tiny town mostly known for its excursions to Ballestas Island. It turned out the town didn’t have much more than that, and as I, having been to the slightly more spectacular Galápagos Islands, opted out of that excursion, Paracas didn’t really stand out to me. Those who went on the boat trip seemed happy about the experience.
When the others got back from their activity we all got in a private bus and started a long day of traveling with a few stops along the way. The first stop of the day was at a winery where we were taught about the making of the local drink of pisco. We had a guided tour of the winery before moving on to a pretty extensive tasting session. There were a lot of good piscos and some very strong and less enjoyable ones. Our second stop was by far the best one. We stopped in the colonial town of Ica where we were to go sand buggying and sand boarding near the oasis of Huacachina. The group was split into two different buggies and the ride was surprisingly thrilling, kind of like a roller coaster. Every now and then we would get out of the buggy to go sliding down the dunes on a sand board. When standing on top of the hills I was more nervous than expected, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. We finished the activity by stopping at the oasis, where we could take some photos, before we went back to Ica for lunch. I was already starting to realise why it’s unfortunate being the only vegetarian in a big group travelling in Peru (apart from the very poor selection of vegetarian options in most restaurants, obviously), as I was consequently getting my meal last. This turned out to be the case for the entire three weeks I traveled with the group, but at least I was fed in the end.
After lunch we got back on the bus, this time heading for our final destination of Nazca, a ride that took a few hours. We reached Nazca around sunset, and stopped one last time to enter a lookout where you could see some of the Nazca Lines. Such a weird and fascinating creation with no apparent purpose. When we finally got to our hotel we realised that it was located pretty far away from town so it appeared we would be spending a lot of time there during the next day. Luckily it had a pool and a restaurant. On the other hand it meant I never actually bothered to see the town of Nazca. A few of the others went and my impression is I didn’t really miss out. The highlight of the day we spent in Nazca was the local meal cooked for us for lunch the following day. The entire meal was prepared underground and featured lots of veggies and, obviously, lots of meats for the meat eaters, accompanied by a strange purple corn juice to drink. During our day stuck in our Nazca hotel the card games of “President and asshole” and “Shithead” were also introduced, and those two were to be played a lot throughout our time together. In the evening it was finally time to head to the bus station as our night bus to the lovely city of Arequipa was waiting.
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