Lima to Pisco

Trip Start Dec 26, 2005
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201
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Trip End Jan 25, 2009


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Saturday, September 16, 2006

The greatest disadvantage of travelling on a group tour is the lack of flexibility... I absolutely fell in love with Lima and detest the fact that I had to move on. Like other fantastic cities on my RTW trip (Bangkok, Barcelona etc.), I didn´t want to move on after ONLY 2 nights. So I´m on a bit of a low now, and feeling a bit claustrophobic by the nature of the group tour (I´m getting sick of some of the people... and lack of my own space!), even though it does continue to provide significant benefits such as ease of travel. The tour is also giving me a great overview of this country. I´ll just have to return to Peru with the use of my frequent flyer points! Furthermore, my next extensive international trip will have to have a significant purpose added to it... I´m kind of over moving through places at a lightning pace, especially when I meet really great locals such as Anderson and his mates.

Anyway, we departed Lima at the humane hour of 2pm
A busy beach
A busy beach
. We travelled for 3 hours, on local transport to the turn off to Pisco. God knows how I would of navigated this area if I had of been on my own... it was confusing. The terrain has changed significantly, and we are now in the desert area of Peru - the home of the Nazca Lines.

From the turn off, we boarded a comfortable van to a housing estate on the coast. The main reason for coming to Pisco is to visit the Ballistas Islands... home of a mind boggling array of wildlife, including sea lions, pelicans, seals and birds.

On Saturday morning, we hired a small boat and ventured out to the Ballistas Islands for 2 hours... I loved this part of the visit and can´t wait to get the photos on here... I took 140 photos. Surely there are some good ones! An abundance of fantastic wildlife... makes up for my non-visit to Galapagos Islands in Ecuador.

In terms of value for money, the accommodation on this tour is far less superior than that experienced on the budget tours in China and Vietnam. We are having heaps of cold showers (if there is water at all... my current hotel has no water due to an electricity strike for 1 day) and many of the rooms are very small and cramped... some with musty smells. At least the tour is giving me the confidence, and added Spanish to embark on this continent independently... which I´m now very much looking forward to given that I´ve been on tour for 20 days now.

The food on the other hand has been absolutely superb... the country offers a full abundance of dishes similar to the standard offered in Australia. I´ve enjoyed pasta, seafood, chicken, steak and lots of beans, scrumptious salads and delicious desserts.
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