Nazca / Huacachina

After the strenuous activities in and around Arequipa it was time to get down to sea level and get some preliminary R&R in before getting some extreme R&R in Brazil.

I first stopped at Nazca where I hopped off the bus from Arequipa and hopped on a tiny Cessna with two Austrian sisters to view the famous Nazca lines from above. I noticed the girls were a bit "chubby" (ahem) and I am not the lightest myself, but when our pilot (who looked like he was just out of school (and probably was)) looked slightly concerned towards the end of the runway I realised that the ladies should have maybe left out the last Apfelstrudel. We made it (obviously) with a couple of meters runway to spare. Our pilot looked relived, grinned and started pretending like he was in an interview for the Red Arrows display team, yawing and banking and doing whatever else planes do like a madman. "Look down to left you will see Hummingbird", he says. "Where?", I say. "There under the wing!", he says banking to the left as if we are avoiding an incoming Exocet missile. We get out half an hour later and I do a Pope, kissing the tarmac. The girls laughed, but I reckon the pilot was a bit miffed.

Huacachina was next, a couple of kms away from Ica. It is a small Oasis (complete with lake and palm trees) situated in the middle of some massive sand dunes. I immediately liked it as the place I stayed had a swimming pool with a bar beside it. Fuck canyons and 6000m mountains, this was more like it. I ended up DJing at the bar, getting free or half price booze and nearly breaking my neck on a sandboard. My original plans of staying for a day or two were upsized and 5 days later I staggered out of the place to make my way to Lima.