Lima Bean

I made it safely to Peru and have finally found a free moment to update. The past week or so has been hectic and amazing.

After Cuenca, we had a long drive into Peru and arrived at Punta Sal, which is tiny beach town close to the larger town of Mancora. The beach was beautiful and nearly empty, so we camped on the beach instead of staying the hostel. On our first night, we met up with the other Oasis truck and had a party on the beach.

The next day, we went into Mancora in the morning to do some shopping. I was on cook group for dinner, so my group and I went into the fish markets to buy food. It was a very authentic experience and a lot of fun. In the afternoon, we all relaxed on the beach. In the evening, we celebrated a birthday for a girl on our truck with a "tribal" themed party. Not very PC, but a blast.

On Friday, we left Punta Sal and bushcamped just off the road for the night. On the way, we stopped at the Museo Tumbas Reales de Spain, which is excellent museum about the Sipan (sp) people, who lived in the Andes before the Incas. Everything was written in Spanish, which was great practice for me, although it is possible that my knowledge of the Sipans is now somewhat confused.

The next day, we had another long drive before stopping to bushcamp. We found an amazing spot to camp, on a cliff overlooking the ocean. On the way there, we stopped at the Chan Chan ruins, which is the largest adobe city in the world and was built by the Chimus, another pre-Incan Andean people.

Finally, we arrived in Lima. I was a bit apprehensive about the city because I hadn't heard great things, but I actually really enjoyed it. We spent two days just wandering around, eating, shopping, and enjoying the incredible colonial architecture in the main plazas. We went out dancing one night, which was tons of fun even though it was a Sunday and we were the only people in the bar.

After two days in Lima, we met up with nine new members of our group and drove to Huacachina, which is a tiny little oasis town in the desert near Ica. We were taken on a fantastic drive through the sand dunes and driven up to the top of the dunes to go sandboarding. It was absolutely incredible, scary, beautiful, and so much fun. After sandboarding, we camped in the desert and had a barbeque. No tents, just slept in the sand. I've never seen stars like what I saw that night and I finally got to see the Southern Cross. It was a really incredible day and night and a definite trip highlight.

Today, we drove to Nasca and went up to see the Nasca Lines. The lines themselves are pretty amazing, but I was in a tiny six-seater plane and was thoroughly nauseaus after a few minutes. But it was still worth it. Tomorrow, we drive to Areqipa and then on the Colca Canyon.

Still having an unbelievable time, but missing everyone!

Lots of love,

Sarah