In Deepest Darkest Peru...

One of the most surprising things about traveling around Peru is the sheer diversity of its landscapes and climate. Like many, when someone mentions this South American country, images of the ruins at Machu Picchu spring to mind, leading to the impression Peru is universally high, and well… green. In fact, the country is home to incredible biodiversity, ranging from tropical jungles in the Amazon to desert conditions complete with picture perfect sand dunes, and not forgetting the imposing Andes, which jut their way across the east of the country. This was one of the many reasons we sought to explore using a hop on hop off bus service on our way to La Paz in Bolivia.

Our journey started in Lima (once Joe had located his wallet) where we caught a bus to our first hostel in the upmarket district of Miraflores. After spending some time recovering from travel induced nausea (Alice) we ventured out in search of lunch and to people watch in the central park. It was here we cooked our first hostel meal of the trip (a very imaginative pasta with tomato sauce)...

Paracas
Having taken the first ‘hop’ on our bus to Paracas, we explored this tiny town which sits right on the Pacific ocean. Surrounded by almost complete nothingness, the majority of the landscape in this area sits in the Paracas Natural Reserve, which is protected by the Peruvian Government. We ventured out to see some of the famous sights, including The Red Beach, and La Catedral: a rock formation battered by waves and which was damaged by Peru’s most recent violent earthquake in 2007. We also used our time in Paracas to take a boat trip to the Ballestas Islands, often called the Galapagos of Peru, home to thousands of birds of varying species, as well as sea lions (note the smell is not for the faint hearted!).

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Huacachina
On our third day we traveled to the party oasis of Huacachina, a small settlement literally sunken amongst towering sand dunes with a more ‘resort’ feel. Restaurants and hotels line the small lagoon and touts offer sand dune boarding and sand buggies for those looking for thrills (these options were not cheap!). Instead we climbed a sand dune on foot to catch the sunset before heading back for drinks organised by the bus operators. Later on we ended up at a restaurant on the water front and accidentally ordered enough food to feed a small army (or one hungry Joe).

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Nazca
On our way to Nazca, we experienced our first real hiccup with an otherwise faultless bus service. A small, cramped ‘private’ taxi turned up to transport us to our next stop as we were unceremoniously kicked off the spacious coach we paid for. After some serious stress, our bus guide managed to miraculously find extra seats to get us to our next stop.

The day wasn’t all stress however, as we were able to enjoy a tour around an artisanal Pisco winery, trying a range of super sweet Peruvian ‘wines’ (made from grapes but at much hotter temperatures in clay pots and fermenting in just 3 weeks). We also stopped at a viewing tower to take in a couple of the world famous Nazca Lines geoglyphs, markings made in the rocky ground between 500BC and 500AD by the Nazca civilization.

As a result of the bus issues, we arrived in Nazca later than planned with no cash and struggled to find something to eat. At this point we were rescued by a wonderfully generous Spanish couple and their adorable dog who took pity on our sorry state and happily shared their evening meal with us.