Lima Day 285 30/06/2015

Nasca is a fairly insignificant desert town and after a day here you develop a real dislike for the taxi drivers who insist on continually pipping their horns every time they pass somebody on the pavement. It's enough to drive you mad. Nearly all visitors come here to visit the Nasca lines and there's not much else to do, unless you want to climb Cerro Blanco, the world's highest sand dune at 2078m. Neither of us had any inclination to do this, or to be driven around the bottom by some crazy Peruvian in a sand buggy! So the plan was to get the bus to Lima, a 7.5 hour journey north long the Pan American highway. The bus was due to leave at 1000 we meant we had time for breakfast at the Nasca Lines hotel before packing and walked the short distance to the Cruz del Sur terminal. The hotel had been a nice place to stay and the pool was a real treat. It wouldn't have been out of place in any European beach resort. The weather was quite overcast and we were lucky to have picked yesterday for our flight over the Nasca lines. We left the bus terminal ahead of schedule and set off north on the Pan American highway, dropping down to follow the coast. The landscape is extremely barren and bleak until you arrive at Ica which is like an oasis in the desert. Wine, asparagus and various fruits are all grown here. As we left the terminal here a tuk tuk driver decided he had right of way over the bus (probably not the most sensible thing to do given the size difference). A lot of shouting and gesticulating followed. Our driver actually got off the bus and we thought he was going to punch the tuk tuk driver. Luckily he didn't and we soon set off again with the landscape quickly reverting to barren desert. We arrived in Lima just after 1700. Despite it's reputation for being consistently fog bound the sun was shining. The traffic wasn't too bad either and certainly nothing like our previous visits here which might have been time of day or because we were arriving from the south. Cruz del Sur terminal isn't too far from where we were staying in Miraflores. We took a taxi for the 15 minute journey. We've previously stayed at the Faraona Hotel but it was full and even if it hadn't been it was over our budget and expensive for what it is. Instead we'd booked to stay at the Casa Cielo which is just the other side of Park Kennedy. We checked in, dropped off our bags, took our washing to the laundry which was just a few buildings away and wandered into Park Kennedy. Diane is in desperate need of a new bikini before our trip to the Galapagos and is still trying to buy some contact lens solution. Unfortunately Miraflores didn't come up with the goods so we headed back, stopping on route for a beer and to watch a bit of the Argentina v Paraguay game (Argentina won 6-1 and are through to the final against Chile). In the evening we ate at Haiti Cafe by the park. The food seemed very pricey compared to other parts of Peru but then we are in the capital.

On the road again!