Peru Part Five.... On The Road Again....
In this blog we travel...
At last,,,the day came to leave Lima....and in answer to the end of the last blog 'Can I ride my bike?'.......the answer is....'Yes......in a fashion.' It's boiled down to us having to shift our bikes' bags round according to weight to reduce what's on the Sportster.....why?......I can't lift my bike up.....I can't 'push up' with the left ankle so for the time being I have to mount my bike from the right side, Chris pushes me up and then I can ride. Emergency stops could be an issue, so we're going to ride steady. The other thing is , I can't get my left bike boot on because the ankle is still swelling....so......I'm riding with a bike boot on my right foot and a trainer on my left.....thankfully once we're out of Lima, the road is pretty much straight along the 1S to the next destination.
Issues aside......'Where To Next?'...….
It's now the 22nd of December 2018, with Christmas upon us, I've booked ahead to a hotel in Huacachina. Looking forwards to this one, an oasis in the Peruvian sand dunes with dune buggies and sand boarding, should be fun. We rode the 188 miles to Huacachina like we'd said....steady away and made it there with no problems apart from having to pause at a garage to tighten the terminals on my battery. On arrival, I went to lie down...oh dear......not because I wanted to but the ride has caused swelling. Once the leg was propped up and Chris had got some ice from the hotel, he got on with the unpacking.
Huacachina
Once settled and swelling gone down we went for our tea and Chris had a Peruvian Piso Sour for a 'Welcome' drink. After that....back resting for me....gawd I'm sick of it.....and Chris went for a quick walk round and got tickets for the dune buggies.
During the day on the 23rd December we lazed around by the pool. It was 'baking hot' here and the dune buggy ride wasn't until later for the sunset. Having somewhere with a pool meant I could get on with some hydrotherapy exercises and work on strengthening the ankle.For Chris it meant a cold beer in the sun 😎.
That's our bikes in the background, the staff covered them up to protect them from the sun.
Time to get dressed and wander over to PERUVIAN SAND ADVENTURES for the dune buggy.
To find Peruvian Sand Adventures to get your tickets, unless you're staying there, you will just have to walk round to the Ecocamp Huacachina where they have an office. The tickets were 60 sols each plus 3.60 sols each for entrance to the desert and if you want to hire a sandboard that's extra.Included in your ride is the hire of some standard baords that you can sit or lie down on. Chris hired a sandboard (I think that was about 30 sols extra) and had a lesson when we arrived and then, I think it was Gerson, walked up to the dune buggies with us, along with several other travellers who'd also booked.Walking on the dunes was hard work for me and I lagged behind, getting there eventually. The buggy we were in was for 8 people and the driver. Luckily we weren't full, only 6 of us plus the driver. What a cracking ride, so much fun with lots of whooping from us 'tourists'. The sunset was beautiful. If you come to Peru, visit Huacachina.....this is a 'must do' 😊
We enjoyed it so much, we booked another go...more of that in a minute. After hobbling down from the buggies we passed a man who was making and designing the boards they let you use.
Tea out and back to the hotel. Next day we're up and about. Chris's morning job is to take my Sportster to a welder for the side stand sorting out yet again. I'll have to have an 'add up' how many time since Mexico it's been off on the 'topes'. The guys in the hotel reception were very helpful with this and 'a friend of a friend' was working down the road and had a welder.
Job done......time for an hour round the pool before our second go on the dune buggies. We're not doing the 'tourist ride' again. This time we have booked a private ride through Peruvian Sand Adventures but using Huacachina Atv's,Utv's Tours. Roberto is coming to pick us up,take us back to his yard and drive us out into the dunes, showing us part of where the 2019 DAKAR Rally will be coming through. Can't wait.....
Time flies by and soon we were dressed and ready for Roberto. The fun that followed.....priceless.
And another dune buggy video.....ha,ha...sorry, not sorry.......ya don't have to watch it but it was sooooo much fun 😊😂
And just like that....it was Christmas Day 🎄
The sun's 'cracking the flagstones', nothing to do, inviting pool, meal at the hotel later. That was our day. Tomorrow is Boxing Day and we're moving on to Nazca.
Steady away again, only about 90 miles down to Nazca. There's something special to see when we get there....anybody remember the book 'The Chariots of the Gods'......I read that when I was a lot younger and was fascinated by it.I think today some of the stuff that's in it has been disproven/proven type thing. Anyways....in that book were the Nazca Lines....they're still there....in the Nazca Desert, Peru....I'll show you them....
As we neared Nazca we pulled in for an obligatory photo by the signs....
A bit further along the road are two towers looking across the desert. We could only go up one. It looked like the newer, slightly taller one wasn't open for business. At the top you can see 'some' of the lines but to be honest the view is ok but not brilliant and you just get 'the drift' of the things. Look.....
We came down, a little disappointed just as another traveller on a bike pulled in and ha,ha….like you do....started 'chatting travel'. He was called Michael and from Switzerland, doing a similar trip to us but quite quickly as he didn't have the same time frame as us.I digress...the lines...the photos from the tower....there's around 300 figures that you can actually see....not from the tower....imagine them from the air......time to catch a flight.
We checked into to our lodgings and right across the road was a shop selling tickets for flights over the lines. Straight away Chris went over and booked us a flight which at the time he paid $60 per person and then 'whoosh', we got changed, walked back across the road, got in a van and were driven to the small airport for a late afternoon flight......was it worth it?.....I think so.....watch...
Much better than the tower, don't you think?
That wrapped up Nazca for us. We'd seen what we came to see.Tomorrow we leave to cross the Peruvian Andes and head for Ollantaytambo for our visit to one of Peru's most famous landmarks.
For more photos from Peru, click here 🎞
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Want advice, more information? Contact me here 💌
J
