The following day, we got a bus to go further south, to the city of Chincha. The bus ride was long, but the bus was a very comfortable one. We arrived late in the afternoon, and decided it was time for lunch we sampled their Ceviche and Caripulchra, both of which were amazing. Since it was a long day, it was to be a bit more laid back for us. Our travels had left us tired and weary, the following day we would be traveling to Nazca. We finished our evening by going to our new friend Micki’s house to enjoy a local favorite, Pisco Saurs, made with Limes, Pisco and sugar. Our night ended rather late, and the next one would start very early.
We got up very early, 3:30 AM, and got in a huge van and took the four-hour ride to Nazca. On the way, we managed to stop at the Nazca Lines, which for me was an amazing experience. I have always had interest in the lines and their unknown origin; amazing.
We finally arrived in Nazca, which was much hotter than our time in Lima. We got a quick breakfast and some amazing fruit juices, it was perfect preparation to participate in the Nazca Olympics. It was very interesting that all the local Rotary clubs, on their labor day weekend, participate in a few yearly games to celebrate their holiday and Rotary membership. The Olympics were only in soccer and volleyball, we were chosen to participate in the volleyball game first. As usual, I was god awful at volley ball and did not participate in the second half of the game.
The Olympic events ended with the Nazca team winning the days events. Everyone broke for food and we went back to our hotel to change and relax a bit before coming back to visit with out new friends. We returned after a few hours, and in true Peruvian fashion, a dance party had erupted. Everyone danced long into the night, until the men would leave to see the boxing match, all were pulling for Manny Pacqiao. Hank, Grace, Monica and I went to get some food, after which Hank and I would attend the fight. However, due to the intensity of our schedule, we all hit the bed early.
It was a later leaving for the day than it had usually been for all of us, and we were thankful for that. Ten in the morning and we were leaving for the desert of Ica. Victor assured us that it would be loads of fun and we would really enjoy the desert. We arrived to meet some of Victor’s family that lived in Ica, and we were off to the sand dunes.
We rode in a giant dune buggy at amazingly fast speeds, it was probably some of the most fun that I had. We hit some huge dunes and it was like a live action roller coaster. During a bit of break time on the dunes, we got to try sandboarding. Grace was the only one from our group that tried standing up, everyone else went down on their stomachs.
We grabbed lunch at the mall and then it was back to Chincha. The girls rode back with Victor, but Hank and I took the bus. We then went to Pedro’s house on the beach, called the ecological beach. All the houses are made of materials that easily go back to nature, in the case of any earthquakes, which Peru is well known for. We enjoyed a BBQ and Pedro was nice enough to let us stay at his house for the night.
The following morning, our new friend Armando from the night before, took us to tour the fruit factory that he worked at. It was a pretty awesome experience; we got the view the entire facility that sorted thousands of pounds of fruit everyday. They shipped to the US and as far away as Russia and the Ukraine. After a nice lunch, we gathered our things and waited for the long bus ride back to Lima. An enjoyable but marathon three days was not over.