Huacachina, Peru

Well once your on the tourist trail you might as well stay on that bandwagon right??? Damn straight! With that in mind we left Pisco and Paracas behind and headed south to the sand dunes and oasis of Huacachina.  Like Paracas it existes solely for tourists, both national and international. We managed to find a reasonably priced place to stay, some reasonably priced food and beer and avoided anyone trying to sell us tours. You certainly have to watch what you pay for when you still have five and a half months of travelling to go.

It was easy enough to get an idea of the extent of the sand dunes by climbing up those that surrounded the town. And boy they sure are big and sure go a long way!! After a couple of leg burning climbs and with thoroughly excoliated feet we felt like our time was done and we caught the bus to Nazca to start spending some money.



Dunes and a neighbouring town

 

Who brought this guy!! Shameful!



Star Wars. That is all.
PS probably need more moons but you get the idea.



Pisco

After a lovely sojourn in the highlands we caught an overnight bus back to the coast and landed smack bang in the tourist trail. So far we seemed to have avoided most of the tourists, or they were diluted by the local population, but Paracas was heaving with them and it was a bit of a shock.

To get there we took the rather dodgy local overnight bus that dropped us at the side of the Panamerican Highway at 2am in the morning. After being warned about dodgy taxis etc by our hostel owner we were two rather scared gringos trying to act tough and like we knew what we were doing. Obviously we lucked out because 2 taxis and only 15 soles later we ended up at our hostel with all our gear and limbs intact. Phew!!!!

We were in the area to 1) take a trip around Paracas National Reservation and 2) a boat ride to Isla Ballestas, which is what every other person in the whole place was doing.

Both tours were very interesting in terms of seeing unique wildlife (mainly birds) and the crazy desert landscapes that look like the moon/Mars AND there were nice rocks and fossils too - hurrah!!! The islands were absolutely packed with birds and there are obviously no rules about approching marine life (like in NZ) because the boat was about 2m from the seals and dolphins.....tsk tsk. And yes we did both get pooed on by the birds, so lucky!!!


The birds......aaarrrgggg

 

They collect guano off the islands and this is where they load it onto a boat.





Paracas Trident.

  

Paracas National Reserve



Lunchtime stroll, Paracas National Reserve



Paracas National Reserve



Fishing boats, Paracas

  

Booby.....mwahahahahaah

Central Peru - Huancayo and Hauncavelica

Sorry about the slacker blog posting but we have been a bit out of computer access (for photos) and having too much fun to be too bothered about it to be honest.

From Lima we caught a bus up to Huancayo, which is at 3300m I think. From sea level it was a bit of shock to the system and I am not so good with altitude it turns out. Bruce is fine but do not say anything or he will get a big head. The reason we were going to Huancayo was so we could catch the train to Huancavelica (even higher), which was amazing!!!

So nice to get out of the city and up into the high altitude sunshine. It was really nice to get into some areas where they do not normally get tourists. We got stared at but not in a I-am-going-to-rob-you way.

Mooched around the towns, watched MORE marches, sat in the plaza and watched the world go by, ate lots of good food (seriously the food here is delicious), drank a lot of coca tea and enjoyed the scenery and the friendly people.

Photos are not in order I am sorry but you get the gist. Lots of train scenery that I have not labelled because I am too lazy.

Mosaic - Huancayo

More cute kids dressed up in the parade - Huancavelica

Ladies dancing. The women are often dressed up beautifully.

Semi-traditional dress - Huancavelica

A train ride - how exciting!!!

All the excitement is too much.

I like to think this lady is selling rocks. A very important profession!

Lima, Peru

A few grey overcast days in Lima was made a bit lighter and happier by an unexpected parade/competition this morning around the corner from our hostel. Every college, primary school, secondary school and preschool in the district turned up with their bands, costumes and teachers. Plus the local police (on foot, bikes AND segways), fire and civil defence. They all paraded infront of the judges for the glory of something (could not understand the spanish that well) and when they won it all the girls shrieked so loudly my ears drums nearly melted.

The little kids were so frickin´cute I just wanted to eat them!! Much more exciting than going into town and looking at old buildings.

Finally heading out of the city tomorrow. Sunshine, cold weather and high mountians here we come!!!

Southern California

After Big Sur the topography really flattened out and the miles seemed to pass with ease. Southern California is an area with so much contrast: ridiculously wealthy areas like Santa Monica and Orange County vs. the homeless people at Venice Beach a few miles down the road, lovely surf beaches and loads of parks next to huge power stations or oil refineries. It was certainly an interesting area to ride through.

Katy, Kristian and I parted ways at Ventura. They were heading over to Phoenix, Arizona for Christmas. It had been a real treat to ride with two such lovely people and I was going to miss their company and Katy’s cooking. I was a bit nervous of cycling thought LA and had planned on getting public transport but it turned out not to be that bad and was actually a very interesting experience!

Santa Monica was underwhelming and the mainly Hollywood based sightseeing did not interest me at all. I spent nearly one week in San Diego and a lot of that time was spent cleaning, organising and packing my bike and gear and spending quite a while arranging freighting of everything. I felt very relieved and free when it had been picked up and all I have left is carry on luggage.......ooo oohh the freedom!!!!

I have spent my last night in the US at a bar by the beach drinking a few pints of good American beer (yes it does exist!!!), eating seafood tacos and thinking that the next time I have a pint it will be with Ella and Phil in London. Cheers!!!

Really enjoying some forzen yoghurt during a break at San Luis Obispo.

Enjoying the sunset on our last night camping together at Gaviota State Beach.

Empty beach and lonely volleyball nets at Santa Monica.

The murky, smoggy and grey Los Angeles megalopolis I had just biked through.

A typical Southern California scene: lovely water, some surfers, a flash house or two and a big power station.

The USA-Mexican border

(or as close as you can get from where I was unless you are crossing)

My bike enjoying being unloaded and finally at the border!! [you can have a break now little bike]

I also enjoyed finally getting there but not the actual place.