After a 30 hour disaster journey we finally arrived in Lima…. tired, delirious and mildly catatonic we managed to find our way to our hotel at 5am (impressive, huh!). After a few hours sleep we felt a little more human so managed to stumble around the town taking these beautiful snaps and soaking up the culture. We then sat in the square with our first Peruvian beer, watching the people pass by, a city full of new sights, sounds and smells… so much take in, it really felt real – that we had finally arrived in Peru after months, maybe years of dreaming of one day visiting.
The next day we were off again, Ballestas Islands was an amazing experience, they call it the ‘mini Galapagos’ – islands around 45 minutes by speed boat from Paracas teaming with wildlife, the scenery is just amazing too. Rugged desert mountains against a beautiful blue horizon, just stunning. We got a chance to get really close to the rocky shores and snap these gorgeous sea lions, penguins and so many birds, the favourite being the boobies (insert childish giggle here).
After a long windy coach journey up the mountains, we headed into the desert. The
desert spans across South America from Chile into Peru and is one of the most amazing views I’ve ever seen, rolling bright white sand dunes as far as the eye can see. Of course it would be rude not to take a Sand Buggy (pronounced boogy here) and zoom around over the dunes at lightning speed up and down like a rollercoaster. I felt a bit nervous about this at first but I’m so glad I pushed myself to do it as it was so much fun The lunch afterwards in the desert oasis was just beautiful.
Today I had one of the most amazing experiences in my life. We took a scenic flight over the famous Nazca Lines. These ancient lines that date back over 2000 years and no one really understands why they were formed. The lines form pictures that can only be seen from the sky and are thought to have been offerings to the gods, although there are many theories on why there were created. The plane journey was absolutely terrifying, being ex-cabin crew I thought I was pretty good with flights, but this was just a tiny plane with just 5 passengers, plus of course the pilot and co-pilot. We took off and all squealed as we felt the plane lift from the ground, to allow us to see the lines the small plane would bank right over tipping us almost vertical (it felt) and was such an odd feeling. No wonder we were all told to take sick bags… Anyway, we had an amazing tour of the lines, circling over each one as the pilots gave a detailed commentary over our headphones. It was really amazing and a total bucket list experience I am so glad I had the opportunity to do, I loved every second of it.
