Doug's Travel Blog

Another travel day. This makes 2  days back to back. Fortunately, today will not be as gruelling as yesterday. I stayed at a hostel just outside the airport last night. Everyone that stays here is just here for 1 night. Mostly for the same reason as me, to ease the pain of getting to airport for a flight. My flight is not until 1:15 this afternoon. It is now just after 8 am, and I have already had breakfast, so I have plenty of time to shower and pack.  I am flying to Iquitos, Peru. A 2 hour flight from Lima.  Iquitos is the largest city in the world that cannot be reached by road that is not an island, it is only accessible by river and air. I will be staying in Iquitos for a few days before boarding a boat on the Amazon River to go to Leticia, olombia.   Amazonia is the what we refer to as the Amazon. It is not bond by borders and occupies large areas in 9 countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guyana, Guyana, Peru, Surinam, and Venezuela. It covers ...

Another travel day today. This will be a bit longer bus ride. I think about 6 hours. I will only be in Lima overnight, then I will catch a short flight to Iquitos tomorrow. I was up early this morning as usual. I forgot to buy more water yesterday. I had enough to make tea, but not enough to make oatmeal. I caught a TukTuk into the Ica bus terminal. I arrived early in Ica. I was able to spend some time in the VIP lounge having another coffee and a small snack before boarding the bus. What I didn't do was buy a snack for the 4 plus hour ride to Lima. I had seen all this landscape between Huacachina and Lima on my trip south last week. My supply of Peruvian Soles was almost exhausted, so while at the bus station, I did a Western Union money transfer for me to pick up on arrival in Lima. We arrived in Lima a little after 3. My first task was to find a Western Union to pick up money. There were none close by, but I was able to take a city bus to get a little closer. I went to the first...

After getting up this morning, I went up to the roof top terrace and kitchen to make coffee and oatmeal for my first breakfast. After breakfast, I took my first stroll around the lake. Huacachini is quite small about 10 to 15 minute taxi outside the larger town of Ica. I could walk the whole of it several times in a day. It is this oasis around a small lake, surrounded by huge sand dunes. Huacachina is the only natural oasis in South America. The formation of the lake was created naturally, fed by underground aquifers. In the mid 2000's do to pumping water out the aquifers, the level of the lake started to fall. Local businesses began a program to supplement the lake by pumping in water to preserve this tourist attraction. I strolled around this morning checking out the views from the walkway surrounding the Huacachina Lake.  Very few people walking around in the morning. I think the biggest activity is catching a dune buggy to ride to the top of the dunes to watch sunset from 4 pm...

My bus to Huacachina doesn't leave until 2 pm, so that gives me time to see a couple more things in Nasca. (I appears that Nazca and Nasca are both exceptable spellings) I went to the corner cafe again this morning early and got my coffee fix, orange juice and a couple buns. One with cheese and one with shredded chicken. It was still too early to go anywhere so I had time to shower and pack I then hailed a taxi to take me to the Aqueductos de Cantalloc, a drive of about 20 minutes. We arrived 8 am just as the gates were being opened for the day. The driver asked if I needed a ride back, he would wait for me. We agreed on a price of 30 soles for the round trip, about $8 usd. Here is a little blurb about the aqueductos; The  Cantalloc Aqueducts  are one of the most outstanding works of hydraulic engineering in the world, built in the middle of the desert by the ancient  Nazca  culture (200 AD - 700 AD). They are located 4 kilometers north of Nazca, in the valleys of Na...

The only downside of the hostel (more like a cheap hotel) is that there is no kitchen and no way to make hot water. I woke up early, so I spent some time checking mail and news before heading out to find coffee and something to eat. I have plenty of time. The ladies are not scheduled to pick me up until 9:30 am to go to the airport. Checking google maps. I see there is a cafe only about 3 blocks away. Off I go. It is a small corner cafe. They offered coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice and buns. Plain, buttered, jellied or with a variety of different meats. The coffe and orange juice were guaranteed. I wasn't to happy about the bun selection, but I ended up having 1 buttered and 1 with cheese. Total for everything, $3 usd. I will be back tomorrow mostly for the excellent coffee and large orange juice. I got back to the hostel and about 9 there is a knock on the door (30 minutes early). It is the ladies to collect me,,,, with news. There are not enough people signed up for the econo...

Today will be a travel day. Leaving Paracas at 11 am. Arriving in Nasca around 3 pm. Nothing planned for this morning except the morning rituals and probably walk to the bus station. After I booked my ticket, I found out that today is a festival day in Paracas. I could miss my bus, but probably not. I may see some festivities before I leave. I had my breakfast of oatmeal and banana at 7, then my early lunch before going the the bus at 10:30. Guacamole on tortillas. Had to say goodbye to the cats. This one finds a new bed to sleep in every night. I didn't see any festivities on the way, but did see a few people in traditional attire. I'm on the bus now. We should pull out in just a few minutes. The bus ride to Nasca went travelled mainly along the coast. The whole time in the coastal desert of Peru, which included passing through some incredible desolate mountain terrain. I was in the second row in the upper deck. After the first stop in Huacachina, the people in the front row g...

 Good Morning. More wall art in the hostel. I do have a plan for the day. First I will rent a bicyle for the day. I will go to the bus station for buy a ticket to go Nazca tomorrow.  I am still undecided if I will take a short flight over the lines or just see what I see of the lines from a tower overlooking a some of the lines. Then in the opposite direction I will head to the national park just a few kilometers down the road. I am hoping there are no hills. I picked up the bike. As planned I first road down to the bus station and bought a ticket to go to Nazca. The bus will depart at 11 am tomorrow. I then headed out to the Reserva Nacional de Paracas. It seemed like a straight ride out to the reserve, but I have this knack for getting twisted around. I rode for about 15 minutes until I came to a piece of the road that looked very familiar, and then I saw the hostel I am staying at. I apparently made a big loop and ended up where I started. I turned around and started out ag...

 I was tired and went to bed too early last night resulting in me waking up too early this morning. Some wall art at the hostel. It's all good though, I have to meet at the tour desk across the street at 7:50 to be escorted to the boat to go out to Isla Ballestas this morning. It will be a beautiful day out on the water with a high of around 85 degrees F This hostel has 3 levels and an open roof terrace. If I knew about the roof terrace last night, I could have gone up there to watch the sunset. The terrace is where you will find me the next 2 nights at sunset. I went up to the terrace this morning a little late for sunrise, but the sunrise may also be visible from the roof top terrace. So happy that my room is on the 1st level instead of the 2nd or 3rd. Save my knees and legs for other walking. A few hours later. I went on the boat tour, it was about a 30 minute ride out to the islands. Then about an hour boating slowly around different parts of the island. On the way out to the i...