Paracas to Nasca

Day 3 Paracas to Nasca

Today was an early start, which doesn't bother me too much since I still have trouble sleeping in the mornings anyway. This morning I even woke up with a very runny nose and a sore throat. Straight away I decided to ignore it, had some meds and moved on.

First activity of the day was a boat trip to The Ballestas Islands. Rock islands with a rich bird life and sea lions and penguins. Peru's mini Galapagos they call it.

On the way to the islands we stopped where there is a phenomena in the sand dune a shore. It is in a shape of a candelabra, and is very similar to the Nasca Lines, just in sand.

The islands themselves were awesome and we saw some great birds and animals out there. 

After the trip it was time to pack up and move on. A new mini bus arrived and is to take us to Nasca. 

First stop was outside Ica, on a wine farm. In this area they grow wines, asparagus and some other fruits.

At the wine farm we got to taste six different Piscos and some wines and other odd drinks. I'm not and will never be a Pisco fan. 

Pisco is kind of a national drink in Peru. It belongs to the brandy family. 

I will for sure have a few Pisco Sours though. They are refreshing.. :)

When tasting was done we moved on to next adrenaline activity - sand boarding and sand buggies. Since I have done this before, have no interested in doing it again and want to save my back for the trek I saved my money and hade a chilled afternoon. I found a corner with a good breeze in the restaurant, since it is far too hot outside today.

When the group got back and had had a late lunch, we departures for a 2h30 min drive to Nasca. It started out as calm as it can on these crazy roads, and watching the desert landscape passing by made me sleepy and the heat to that made me doze off a bit. However I got a brutal awakening when we started to climb up and down the mountains...

We made it just in time to get a glimpse of what is in for tomorrow, the Nasca lines. There is a watching tower, and we got there just as the sun set.

It was really something, and I'm now looking forward to tomorrow even more. Tomorrow is going to be one of the highlights on this trip.

After checking in to the hostel and had a refreshing shower, we went out for a traditional meal, grilled chicken and chips Peruan style. Really simple but really nice.

No drinks needed tonight, everyone is tired so early bed is on the agenda.