Peru Day 19: Lima to Ica and the Nazca Lines

Yawn! 5:15am alarm and a pickup for 6:20am to get to the Cruz del Sol coach station for our 4 hour journey down the coast to Ica and our potential stomach churn of flying above the Nazca Lines.

We were expecting something quite basic but instead it was a luxury coach with reclining seats, footrests, TV etc. However, this didn't stop us moaning about the jazzy muzak they insisted on playing. We endured it watching the Monday morning rush hour plod into Lima city as traffic built up, buses collected passengers and as the city limits thinned the shanty towns influence increased. The landscape got more desolate with stoney, grey dune like hills with the main motorway cut through and huge advertising boards flanked either side sometimes with 3D effects.

A quick safety video telling us the bus was being tracked by GPS and the drivers get changed halfway then they changed it to a DVD of Beowulf - result! A couple of observations: some larger business sites had turret like watch towers for night security; there were politcial graffiti saying 'Fujimuri Innocenti' - the ex-president and notorious bent politician; then we saw a shanty restaurant named 'Kevin'.

As well as the DVD, we were briefly entertained by a game of bingo which Kerry narrowly got beaten for a line. Net video was Jumper which was quite good but lost its edge towards the end. We arrive at Las Dunas hotel about 11:45am to slight confusion and a paranoid bus attendant for our bag then the tour rep seemed more interested in other people. Our first room was two single beds so whinged to the porter expecting nothing. They then called us to say they'll move us. Thing is the builders are renovating a wing with drilling on one side and gardeners chopping or cutting grass on the other.

In the sweltering desert heat we grabbed a sandwich since our tour rep decided not to tell us the plane trip over the Nazca Lines had been put back until 1:45pm. The chicken sandwich (wrong one ordered) was tough but edible though took its time coming. At the scheduled time we met the rep who apologised tha the trip had been put back again until 3pm! Booked our sandbuggy experience for N$180.

Finally we got picked up for the 5 minute transfer to the local airport but was told we had to wait again until 4pm. Kerry's paranoia started to build as she feared the motion sickness would get her the people on the flight before us made her more worried until they confirmed it was more about the heat in the plane than the motion.

Finally we were in plane with the Norfolk couple and a Mexican couple for a 1 hour 20 minute flight across the desert. The first triangle shape line was quite hard to see but others got easier to spot and photograph as teh pilot swooped in for both window sides. The Astronaut shape looked like a kid had drawn it but the classic Nazca Lines looked great. Touchdown completed a successful flight with Kerry not being sick, just a bit scared.

Has a couple of pina colada cocktails and a buffet (most expensive yet). It was good with duck a l'orange. With the early start it didn't take long to fall asleep even though the builders were working late.