From Lima, we took a bus to Pisco, the town that suffered the most from the earthquake of August last year. We arrived in the evening and saw a dreadful town, devastated by the earthquake. Most of the hotels were down, houses had no more roof or no more upper floor, and half of the population was living in tents, under 35ºC. The roads were partly destroyed, so the taxi drivers kept on sliding from left to right to avoid de holes on the ground.
For the first time, we felt sad and useless. Our guide told us that all the towns along the coast of Peru up to Chile suffered from the earthquake, but Pisco was at the epicentre. Also, more than half of what foreign coutries sent to help the population never arrived...
Our goal was not to stay in Pisco but, from Pisco, take a boat and go and visit the Ballestas Islands, "the Galapagos of the poor" as they call it, a much cheaper option. So, the morning after our arrival, we went to "las Islas Ballestas" and saw pelicans, sea lions, penguins and birds of different kind such as seagulls, Northern gannets (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Gannet) with red feet or blue feet. It was really fun and refreshing :)
In the afternoon, we left Pisco and the Ballestas Islands and headed to Huacachina, 2 hours South from Pisco (check the map), where you could find sand dunes and an oasis. We stayed there the whole afternoon, enjoying the dunes and the swimming pool below. There, we met a Swiss-Peruvian guy who's been living in Lima for years and advised us to go further south to a place called "Puerto Inka" that was supposed to be a little "jewel" of peace along the sea.
As it was a bit far, we stopped first at Nazca for a day just to check the Nazca lines you can only see from the sky. So we arrived on Thursday evening, the 14th, to a nice hostel owned by a Peruvian-Dutch couple. The weather was still very warm and made our night short and difficult.
On Friday morning, we went on a journey in search of those mysterious lines drawn on the floor, but too huge to see in their entirety from the ground: a 30 minutes journey on a 4-people plane where I got sick after 3 minutes... Unfortunately, I didn't see any of them, concentrating my attention on the horizon...
After this bad adventure (for me only of course... Stomach problems are my curse on this trip ;) ), we hung out in the city, saw some catacombs, then decided to leave Nazca to reach that peaceful place called "Puerto Inka".
It turned out it looked very much like a Club Med place where we got so bored we ended up playing any games they had in their storage room: dominoes, scrabble, table tennis and, last but not least, "baccalauréat" game (for those who know what it is).
We left after 2 days, bored to death and annoyed by such a waste of time and money.
On Sunday night, the 17th, we were finally gone, on the way to Arequipa, further South. The journey was great. I barely slept but as it was full moon, I could guess the amazing landscape, the ocean from one side, the broken mountain from the other side. We seemed to be driving on another planet :)
Unfortunately, some others didn't enjoy the trip that much and had difficulties digesting the last Pisco-sour (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisco_sour) we had before leaving Puerto-Inka ;-) Alicia decided to quit this cocktail from now on...
Arequipa (2380m) is a lovely town and usually the first stop for any tourist who wants to go to Cuzco and Machu Picchu afterwards, much higher than Arequipa. This way, it prevents from suffering too much from the high altitude of Cuzco and M.P.
Unfortunately, it rained nearly all day (ah well! January to March is the rainy season after all). So, we didn't see much of Arequipa city.
The next day, Tuesday 19th, we went on a 2 days trek to the Colca Canyon. We didn't trek that much actually, but still the trìp was good.
The first day, we were mainly on the bus, stopped a few times at some market places, then tried the coca leaf to beat the effects of the high altitude (absolutely disgusting but it does work :) ), then drove up to 4900m high from where we had no view at all as the weather turned bad, dark sky, rain and wind.
In the evening, back at the hostel, some went to enjoy some hot springs while Alicia and myself fell asleep in our gloomy room (with no hot water and a high degree of humidity)... until dinner time hehe!
Then we went to a restaurant where probably no local people go, all made for tourists: music, typical dances. As far as I'm concerned, I enjoyed the food but didn't like the whole tourist attraction and swore never to return to such places... (arg, never say never).
The day after was much better. Weather was great, we walked up to the Colca Canyon and saw some condors. Good atmosphere in the group :D
We left in the evening when the weather started to change. Wednesday evening, 20th, back at Arequipa city, we packed our backpacks and took a night bus to Cuzco, all excited by the idea we would soon go to Machu Picchu :D
Links for any pics are the same:
