Peru II (August 21st - August 25th)

Arriving to chilly Lima at 5 a.m., followed by coming across series of overpriced taxis and hostels, was not the best possible start of the day. Luckily, the fog and cold was soon gone, together with the first successes of the long-awaited "organizational day" - travellers' cheques were exchanged into Nuevo soles as well as American dollars (to be needed in Bolivia and mainly in Venezuela later on), the time-sensitive train and accommodation around Machu Picchu was booked and - most of all - the flight tickets back to Caracas, Venezuela were purchased for September 20th.

Lima, 5 a.m., in the bus to Miraflores district

El Fredovito in charge of city traffic

German tourist, whom the expeditioners helped out from trouble

Upcoming 4 days were spent in towns and villages situated along the west Peruvian coastline. The first stop was in Paracas (after skipping Chilca, famous for its mud baths, due to inconvenient bus connections). Paracas, small village surrounded by coastal dessert, is heavilly visited because of two main natural attractions - Islas Ballestas (aka "Poor-men Gallapagos", amazing island rock formations populated by hundreds of thousands (!) of birds of various species, and some water-based mammals, too, e.g. penguins, pelicans, sea lions and dolphins) and Reserva Nacional de Paracas (vast desert area with exceptional landscape phenomenas) - both providing the expeditioners with remarkable natural views.

Approaching Islas Ballestas, attractive tourist destination

Impressive, neverending chains of birds on the skies, trying to squeeze on already fully occupied islands

Sea lions, penguins and other mammals were easy to spot

Miguel Hudeiro thoroughly exploring beaches around Paracas

Tasty lunch in fishermen's village - ceviche (local equivalent of sushi) as a starter and roasted fresh fish

Proceeding further south, Huacachina village is the center of sand-surfing and sand dunes buggy tours. The adventurers did not spent much time and money on these group attractions and rather took benefit of very pleasant sunny weather and climbed up the highest sand dune in the area to enjoy unusual outlook on close-by town Ica - where the crew broadened their knowledge of Peruvian history in the regional museum.

Just climbed up - after almost an hour struggle with hot sand

Huacachina in the front, Ica in the back, sand dunes all around

Miguel Hudeiro and Don Madonarra chasing each other

Nazca is a world-famous center of influential Pre-Columbian (ca. before 1492) Nazca culture. Flights over the Nazca lines spread across 500 km2 of desert plains around the city are the main target for all tourists hitting Peru. However, after receiving rather reserved impressions of other fellow travellers, the expeditioners decided to make it a light version. One afternoon was eventually enough to observe at least three figures (lizard, tree and frog) visible from the outlook point outside town.

One of many Nazca lines figures (a tree)

Having still some spare time before boarding a night bus to Cuzco, the crew took a cab to admire nearby Cerro Blanco, the highest known sand dune in the world (height of 2.078 m).

Approaching Cerro Blanco, the world's highest sand dune

17-hour bus ride to Cuzco with reportedly one of the most reputable coach operators in Peru turned out to be truly dismal experience - outrageously overpriced, considerably delayed and poorly customer oriented Cruz del Sur is a company not to be recommended further on. The city of Cuzco made it up for them, though - once being the center of the Inca empire, Cuzco is nowadays rightly considered an archeological capital of the entire continent. Late afternoon and night sightseeing allowed the travelers to explore the most beautiful parts of the city, and get a decent sleep before setting off to Machu Picchu.

Plaza de Armas in Cuzco
(the main square in every Peruvian city holds this name)

Local women in traditional dresses posing with baby sheep

May the Maya be with you! :)