to LIMA and then to Nazca - story now adapted and completed...

I am already on my way. I did not have time anymore to update my blog before leaving. Therefore you will not have a map of my tour or anything like that this time. Sorry...

After a monstruosly long trip (train from Brussels to Paris, then flight to Atlanta and then to Lima. Though there was some confusion over my luggage in Atlanta (do I have to carry my bags through customs myself or not - the problem was I wanted to, but the bag was not there - panic !!!...), I arrived - with my bag - in Lima, early yesterday morning. I immediately took a cab to the bus station to catch a bus to the south. Unfortunately the bus I wanted to take left 30 minutes earlier than I had seen on the internet and so I had to wait for another 2 hours and go with another company. The bus was quite conmfortable, but broke down half way. We had to wait for an hour until they sent us another one (which was already surprisingly quick..). After another 100 km, we had another breakdown.. In total we arrived 3 hours late plus the 2 others I had left later, which meant that I arrived in Nazca 5 hours later than scheduled. Fortunately my hotel room was still free and I was still able to do the final confirmation for my flight over the Nazca lines. The bus tour as such was quite nice as we went south on the "Panamericana", which offers spectacular views on the ocean and crosses a very nice landscape, with deserts and mountains. I saw fields of cotton, asparagus, corn/maize, but a lot of times, there was just sand and rocks... We drove past Pisco, where, in August last year, there was a heavy earthquake... in the whole region (and even here in Nazca - almost 200 km South) a lot of the houses are completely destroyed and people only build up their houses very slowly.. a lot of people live in tiny little provisional baracks made of wood.

I got a nice shower in my very cute hotel (Hotel Alegria = happiness...) ;-) have a look... http://www.hotelalegria.net/ - they advertise as a "shelter for the adventurous traveller - wekk, that's all ME !! Welcome adventure! Then I headed out for one of the lectures on the Naca lines (the only one still available aqt that time was in spanish..), which was well done and quite interesting. They explain the different theories (until todaym, it is still not sure how they were built and what their purpose was..) I was so tired that I almost fell asleep, but as the art-loving person that I am, I sat through it!! Well done !

I had dinner in a tiny place run by an older lady.. very nice simple food.

This morning I did the flight over the Nazca lines, these strange lines and figures carved in the rock over an area of 500 square km.. the flight lasted 35 minutes and was quite spectacular.. I had to wait for 2 hours before getting on the plane, but it was definetely worth it !!! Evem if the German Ministry for Foreign Affairs resommended not to fly over them for safety reasons.. but, well, hundreds of people do it every day.. you could see the lines and the figures really well.. there is a monkey, a colibri, a spider, a pelican, etc.. I took a motion sickness pill and did not have breakfast, that was a very good thing, because in this little plane (we were only 5 passengers.. a French family) my stomach went up and down the whole time..

After the flight, I walked around town and had some vewry tasty food at Paulita's, a really cute place.. they proposed a special plate where they put some of all the specialities they had , which was delicious, but faaar too much.. I was stuffed when I went out..

At 15h30 I took the bus to my next destination: Arequipa - the white city and the second biggest city after Lima. This time, the bus did not break down, but it was really slow... Insted of 23h00, we only arrived there at 2h00 in the morning.. it was a bit scary to walk through the almost empty bus terminal, but fortunately, there were still some taxis waiting.. and at my hotel, the Casa de Melgar, somebody still opened the door.. ouff... but the guy from the agnecy, with which I had booked a two-day excursion to the Colca Canyon, would pick me up alreadu at 07h30 in the morning... how cruel is that: not even 5 hourds of sleep ..!! More from Arequipa...