The Last Trip

We got back to Lima on Monday, June 27 and after a late dinner at Luis' friends' house until 2:30 am we got up at 6 and left for Ica and the planes to fly over the Nazca Lines. We took Gretta and Flaco with us and had a wonderful time. On our way, we stopped at an artisanal Pisco winery. It was really neat to see the old way of making pisco. The grapes are stomped and then an old wooden press squeezes the last drops out of the grape skins. We tasted pisco and bought some. (This was only the beginning. Friends kept giving us their favorite pisco and we ended up just barely making our maximum to bring in to the US-We can make Pisco Sours for years!!).

Old Wooden Grape Press

We really thought the winery was interesting after years of visiting Napa wineries, this was so different. The whole process is very low-tech and pisco is produced in small batches. It's fermented in these clay pots.

A photo of all of us and the tasting table.

The five of us with Gretta and Flaco

Tasting table

The pisco was all really good. We tasted very little because we were on our way to the Nazca flights and we were afraid we'd get sick. We bought enough to taste later though.

The amazing Gretta and Flaco

We headed to the air field. We had to take 2 planes because only 4 of us could go in a plane. The new regulations require a pilot and a co-pilot now. I hate little planes and flying in general so I was ok with the two pilot regulation. Luis and Marcio went together and the girls and I went on the other plane. The flight was great in that we saw a lot. The pilots really showed us everything and from both sides of the plane. That involved a lot of banking in the plane...queasy stomachs all around. The Nazca lines are really neat. The dunes protect them so winds do little damage. You can really see how immense the dunes are. The sand dunes go along the coast for miles. Nothing grows there. Very desolate.

The dues go all the way to the ocean.

It is dry and not too pretty

Marcio started out well, but did get queasy

We had a map of the lines....about 20 drawings in all. We were told that not all flights are good and it's better to get a recommendation.

condor

spider

Hummingbird

The hummingbird is the clearest, but many of the others are good too. I think they were not as big as I thought they'd be. It was Gillian's choice of what she wanted to do. I think she was happy and I was glad to see them.
After we landed, we headed to another winery. It was a regular winery and bigger than the first one, but still a much smaller scale than we are used to in California. This one is beautiful although it was hit rather hard in the 2007 earthquake that was centered in Ica and Pisco.

Tacama Winery

There were horses and a very nice tasting room. We drank more wine since we didn't have a plane to catch. Peruvian wines aren't the best...a decent white and a light red...ok and drinkable. Off to our hotel where we had pisco sours and a bit of food before going off the next day to Paracas. There was a weird lagoon there and it sort of smelled like a sewer, but we weren't there long and it was ok.

In the morning we went to Paracas to catch the boat to the Ballestas Islands. I was dying to see the penguins that live out there and the other birds. The Ballestas are a prime guano collecting site. There are 2 guards who live there for 2 months and then rotate out. They keep enterprising Peruvians from harvesting their own guano. We had to take them a huge tank of water as there is none on the islands. We saw amazing birds, penguins, and seals. A great boat trip....I got a little sea sick, unusual for me, but it didn't go away after we got off the boat. Turns out I was having my second bout of traveler's tummy and I was pretty sick that night. A real shame because we had a fantastic hotel and I missed dinner and drinks.

On our way to the Ballestas

Girls in life jackets

tons of birds and penguins

more penguins

candelabra-another sand drawing,
not related to Nazca

So cute. Loved these guys!!

Our hotel was wonderful. We had ocean views and a great pool and hot tub. There was only one other guest...it's low season, winter and we got the best service. I think the employees were bored. Even though I was sick, I was sick in a huge white bed...cool and comfortable and great for sleeping.

Luis on our balcony

Beautiful pool

The waiters brought us drinks

Paracas itself is a great beach town. We loved the harbor area and there were tons of jewelry sellers, very reasonable stuff made of stones. We bought a lot of gifts. The girls were able to buy the remaining gifts they needed to take home with them.

Marcio still loves a good pool

I felt better the next morning and was able to eat a little breakfast. Had to. It was the last morning of fresh papaya juice...breakfast was included and instead of the usual buffet, we were able to order whatever we wanted. The waiter kept bringing us more coffee and fruit and omelets...We stayed until the 12 noon check out time. We weren't about to leave a minute sooner. Then a return trip to town for more shopping and home to Lima. three days and 2 nights with our dear friends. What a wonderful way to end our Peru trip....It was going to be hard to leave.