It's official--white water rafting > trekking for most of our crew! After knocking out a few hours of school last Sunday we headed 20 minutes outside of the city for an amazing paddle down the Chili River (which was chilly!) with Kanuwa Rafting. Easily one of the kids' favorite experiences in South America so far. The river valley was just gorgeous and the rafting was Class II-IV so it was had just enough challenge to make it exciting, but at the same time wasn't terrifying. The kids even jumped off a rock into the river for a little extra fun! This is an activity that each of us has done before all over the world (in Malaysia, Washington state, West Virginia, Maine...) and each time we go it's like we remember all over again that we love it. Keeping this in mind for our travel options next year...
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| We had so much fun on the Chili River! It's beautiful! |
We did manage to get a good chunk of school and laundry (and eating) done while in Arequipa, so that was good, but after a week it was time to move on! Next stop--24 hours in Nazca! There was a ton of construction along the route (a theme that would be repeated several times this week) so we arrived there about three hours later than scheduled. I wasn't too crushed...we only had one activity planned so we rested up for our flight over the Nazca lines! We boarded our little six-passenger plane for a 30-minute flight around Nazca to view the images that have been there for over 500 years. Both the themes and the scale of these drawings is amazing. We saw the astronaut, spider, compass, triangles, monkey, hummingbird, condor, heron, hands, tree, lizard, and cat (and probably a few others I am forgetting) before flying over the aqueducts which are still used today by local farmers. The flight wasn't easy on the stomach (I had to close my eyes quite a few times and Katreina was in rough shape...didn't help that her first set of headphones had vomit on them!), but I'm glad we did it!
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| Worth the stomach-turning flight to see these spectacular images! |
With the construction issues holding up the "big bus," Peru Hop offered a shuttle from Nazca to our next stop, the oasis of Huacachina. Our shuttle stopped at the viewing tower for the Nazca lines and a roadside fruit stand before losing its transmission somewhere on a detour backroad in the mountains. We all piled out while our driver used some bits of trash from the side of the road to fashion a usable wire to someone fix the transmission! About an hour later the bus filled with smoke and fumes from (maybe?) some other issue, but we all opened the windows and it went away so we crossed our fingers and willed the shuttle along the last hour and a half of highway. We arrived after dark and decided to pass on the hotel pool, but had a great meal with our travel mate, Nic, at her hostel before crashing.
Our day in Huacachina was pretty nice! We had a wonderful breakfast on the roof of our hotel with amazing views of the dunes before heading off with the Peru Hop gang to Nietto, a pisco vineyard, for a little info on how they make pisco liquors and wines before a very generous tasting (which included some drinking games) of pisco, pisco wines, and pisco creams. And yes, our kids did sample a little. We had a surprisingly good lunch at the vineyard and met lots of interesting fellow travelers. We spent a little time just walking around the little oasis, surprised to learn it had been a tourist destination since the 1920's. You can rent little boats to paddle in the lake, walk the dunes, or just relax by the many pools. But finally, it was time for our next adventure--dune buggy rides and sand boarding! It was AWESOME! The buggy ride part was like being on a roller coaster that fishtailed a bunch and boarding down the dunes was a totally fun, new experience. And watching the sun go down over the dunes was beautiful. Totally recommend hitting this touristy are just for that experience. We barely dusted the sand off before boarding another bus for just a few hours to our next stop...
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| The oasis was definitely touristy, but peaceful. Didn't expect to be calling out "shot, shot, shot!" with my kids, but when in Peru at a Pisco vineyard... |
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| The videos of the buggy ride are way better than the stills! (On IG) |
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| We all managed to safely board down four slopes. The last one was super steep! |
Paracas! We only spent one night here but had a fun-filled day in this little seaside town. First up was a boat ride (yay!) out to Las Islas Ballestas, a.k.a. "The Poor Man's Galapagos." On our way we passed "The Candelabra," another pre-Incan line drawing with many theories as to when/who/why it was made. The islands themselves were clearly active bird rookeries and right away we saw Humboldt penguins! There was also a ton of Peruvian boobies, Inca terns, and gulls, and it was easy to see how these islands were important to the local guano trade. We also saw a few seals, including a baby! We had a nice cruise back to town where we dropped the kids with some complete strangers for paragliding! They both wanted to try it so we took advantage of a break in the day to let them go and fly over a beach. They liked it! After a quick lunch we rejoined the Peru Hop gang for a tour around the Paracas Nature Reserve, which took us to stunning seascapes and through Martian-esque terrain. Then we headed out for drinks and dinner at a seaside restaurant with Nic (she really is an awesome travel companion!), watching the sunset and swapping stories about life until we had to board our final bus.
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| Las Islas Ballestas were stunning! |
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| The kids got to try something the adults have never done. |
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| And of course, Katreina found a kitten in town before we went on the tour of the reserve. |
Our Peru Hop journey ended just before midnight in Lima. Overall, it was a pretty good experience. The busses (other than that one shuttle!) were cozy and the company includes some nice bonus tours and makes it pretty simple for even inexperienced travelers to make the trip. Our time in Lima was short (and I wasn't feeling awesome)--we walked around town a little but that was it. It seemed very "city."
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| A wee bit of Lima...and our cozy bus (which is great since we were on it forever). |
Saturday night we boarded a super cozy bus with lie-flat seats for a trip that was scheduled for 20 hours--it took 25.5. Why? Traffic around Lima, extensive construction projects, hour-long stops for food, life. My four hours of "fluff" before our next bus was gone so we cancelled our next bus, informed our AirBnB that we would be a day late, got a room in Tacna for the night, cancelled and rebooked our rental car, got bus tickets for the next night, and enjoyed a great dinner and comfy beds at a nice, clean, $38/night hostel. We have "lost" a day in the Atacama desert and incurred some more expenses, but it's not all that bad. Tonight's bus is only supposed to take seven hours and we don't have the fancy bed seats, but I think it's going to be ok. I think...
~Jo, Nomadic Momma
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