On my third trip to Peru, I am sill discovering so many more faces to this amazing country and friendly people. I am here as partly work for Women's Own Adventure and partly vacation, to learn more, to improve my Spanish, to experience paragliding in Lima and to spend time with some of the people I work with.
Having arrived in Lima we travelled south 260 kms to Paracas the next day. Paracas is a small seaside village which is the gateway to the Ballestas Islands. These islands are Peru's secret oasis of life in the coastal desert. The coastal landscape is very dry with almost no rain at all year round. Taking a large open speedboat across the water to the Ballestas Islands we spotted a pod of dolphins lazily swimming alongside us in the thick soupy waters. These waters don't compare to our Australian waters at all. There is a darkness and heaviness, a smell and an aura full of life. It invades my senses with the beginnings of life. So many birds have never seen before, as they dive for food, hover above and perch on the rocky outcrops, share the same space are penguins, cormorant, seagulls, pelicans and others I can't name. Sea Lions are also abundant on these rocks, sleeping in the sun. A humbling experience to be amongst so much life.
Our journey then takes us a little further south to Ica, where the only true Oasis in the actual desert still exists in the whole of South America. The city of Ica is surrounded by massive sand hills, extending for some 60kms. With little imagination, the locals favourite past-time is sand surfing and sand buggy riding. They build dune buggies big en0ugh for 10 brave hearted people to strap themselves in and have the ride of their lives, speeding across the dunes with hills larger and steeper than any roller coaster ride. Those of us who are unable to master sand boarding (like snow boarding) lying on my stomach on the board and pointing downhill worked even better and faster. Great fun, but probably not for everyone.
A little further south again, brought us to Nasca, home of the amazing Nasca Lines. Many theories exist about this archeological wonder on what its purpose was, having been etched in the ground between about 100bc and 400bc by he Nasca people, well before the Incas came into being. The high plains of the desert area are etched with hundreds of lines and markings, many of which clearly portray images that can only be deciphered from the air. Such images as a spider, condor, hummingbird, dog, monkey and others. So, in order to get a birds eye view of these amazing images, some spanning 100 metres wide, we took to the air in a light plane. The view was spectacular and the images so clearly visible from the air, it has raised so many more questions in my mind about the diverse culture and history which makes up this remarkable country of Peru.
- signing off from Marika, Women's Own Adventure
