On the Trail of Gringos

Peru is the IT place to travel right now. There are people everywhere. Tons of Americans, which we have not seen in such high numbers since we started this trip 10 months ago, as well as the ever present English, Irish, Australian and surprisingly, a massive number of French. Of course everyone comes to see mythical Machu Picchu, but there are tons of other activities to do in Peru, which brings in the crowds. We spent a lot of time discussing where all these people had came from and decided that we might as well ’join the party’. After Cusco we hopped on the aptly named ‘Gringo Trail’ with the masses that move in both directions between Cusco and Lima.

First up, the Nazca Lines. Spread over 500 sq km of land, the Nazca Lines form a network of over 800 lines, 300 geometric figures, and about 70 animal and plant drawings in the Peruvian desert. Now a Unesco World Heritage Site, the lines remain shrouded in mystery. There is no absolute idea of who created them or why, only theories,. To properly see the lines your must view them from overhead by flight in a small, light aircraft. We decided you couldn’t come to Peru and not see the lines, plus who doesn’t want the adventure of a small plane ride, so we immediately added a visit to our itinerary. The town of Nazca is a dry, dirty place, not really where you want to linger around for long,. We arrived by 13 hour overnight bus from Cusco, and immediately hoped in a cab and headed to the tiny airport with a New Zealand girl we had met on our bus. With three of us we hoped to have some bargaining power on the price of flights, and 15 minutes after arriving we where signed up for a 35 minute over flight for an affordable $40/person in a 4-seater plane (Cesna 172) that left immediately. Talk about quick. As the plane took off, I was a bit nervous as I hadn’t been in an aircraft this small since I was a child. It did not help that one of our passenger doors popped open just as we were heading down the runway, but Chad helped calm my nerves. The flight was amazing. I absolutely loved being up in the air in such a tiny plane and it gave me a feeling of freedom that we rarely feel trapped in all the long haul buses on the ground. There is a certain sense of peace up in the air, and it reminded me of my dad. And the lines, well, they were interesting and odd. The lines are truly unique and are unlike anything we have seen on this trip. Most of all, they are simply puzzling. The pilot flew us in tight circles, banking on both sides of the plane so everyone could get a good view and in the process making Chad feel a little nauseous!

With the excitement of the flight over, we caught the next bus 2 hours north to the town of Ica. Ica is famous for one thing, a liquor distilled from wine grapes called Pisco. We decided to stay 5 KM outside Ica in the small town of Huacachina (pop. 200), completely surrounded by sand dunes and sitting on a tiny lagoon. Our guidebook said it was THE place for backpackers to hang out, so we decided to join in on the relaxed atmosphere. So, maybe it was a little too relaxed! Such a small town with literally only a couple of streets and chock full of travelers begins to feel claustrophobic. On our second day we rented sandboards and headed up on our own into the dunes for a little adventure. Neither of us had ever tried sand boarding before but discovered that it was a bit different from our beloved snowboarding and we got a good laugh out of each other falling down the dunes. That same day we decided to get a break from the small town and hired a taxi for the afternoon to take us Pisco tasting in some of the surrounding bodegas (wineries). We visited three bodegas in all, ranging from the oldest winery in South America founded by the Spaniards in 1640 to a small family run bodega which only produces a few thousand cases of wine per year. We sampled some great wine, and some that was so-so. The wine is all stored in centuries old large ceramic jars resembling WWII bombs and we were able to taste directly from the containers. All of the tastings were free so we bought a bottle at the conclusion of each bodega and that with the cost of the taxi only came out to $25 total for the afternoon. If only Napa were that cheap!

We then pointed ourselves further northward on a 4 hour bus to the capital city of Lima. We booked a hostel room in the trendy Miraflores neighborhood on the ocean and spent the next 3 days going on long runs along the cliffs by the ocean and eating at the very impressive westernized local supermarkets.

Relaxed and refreshed we boarded an 18 hour overnight bus northward to the Peruvian surf town of Mancora. Peru has surprisingly impressive beaches in the North accompanied with throngs of local and international tourists and surfers. We checked into a hotel and paid a couple extra dollars to have a oceanside balcony where we had the endless entertainment of the massive ocean waves and energetic surfers. We had planned to do some surfing ourselves but a recent storm in the pacific had brought with it 8-10 ft surf and all surfing lessons were canceled for our days at the beach. We took a rain check (maybe Uruguay?), bought a liter of boxed wine and enjoyed the view from the balcony, concluding our days in Peru.