Peru Part 6: Ica and Nazca

I got into Ica and we had a good result in the football. Fought back from 1-0 down to get a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa and could have won it by the end. I took a little motor taxi think out to Huacachina and the sand dunes. Got to the hotel to meet Andreia but my phone did not function there and we did not end up meeting up. I slept all afternoon as I was suffering and still am not quite recovering my sleep. I went out to meet Gina in Ica. I wrote in the margin that hair and bodies are better in Colombia. Not sure what prompted me to write that there and never mind. Probably a bit mental. We met in the square and headed to a house party. Was a bit of a weird party. Noone seemed to be able to communicate properly and everyone sat around in a circle drinking beer from one glass. It was like some Viking ritual, with grunting replacing conversation. Most of my time in Peru was spent in search of decent conversation and it would often prove highly elusive. Education was not their strong point. Then we eventually headed to a club and I think that the girls managed to skank a lot of things of all of the guys they were with. Reminded me of what the German guy said when we were in Peru. That a lot of Peruvian couchsurfers had contacted him to go out and for him to pay. The club was good and there were surprisingly a fair few good looking people there. It was only later that I found out the sanboarding competition was international and these girls were probably foreigners. I think they were disappointed I did not pay for anything, but then I could not drink so why would I. Going out and clubbing was turning into a very cheap night out for me. Of course, as the music was good we had to leave as noone was buying stuff and we went and joined their friends by a car outside. There we listened to shitty salsa music and they drank their friends mixer. By this point I was incredibly bored. Gina suggested I go back to her place, but I could not be bothered as I was lacking motivation from the dull conversation and just took a taxi back to Huacachina.

Andreia knocked on my door to wake me up. I had left her a message online with my room number and she had got it. We went and got breakfast and I bumped into Aussie Scott who I had known from Colombia. Then we met up with some other couchsurfers (a Canadian and a German) to watch the sandboarding finals. There was a lot of ramp jumping, but the sand seemed too slow to really do anything. Most people just dropped over the end. One guy managed to execute a pretty cool backflip and probably won the competition. Idiots with the ATM? If anyone can tell me what I am writing about, answers ona postcard. Liverpool had won and Arsenal lost. I decided to take a bus to Nazca. Huacachina is an expensive desert oasis by the way, but it was a cool place to hangout and very picturesque. I was greeted in Nazca by a guy who sorted me out with a hotel and a tour over the Nazca lines. I asked him if everything was included including the airport tax and he said yes it was. He lied. Bastard. Still he sorted me out with a nice place and I was too tired to go hunting myself. Ah I have remembered the ATM problem. These bastards in town kept sending me the wrong way to ATMs and when I eventually found the only one in town I had left my cards behind. I guess we were all idiots. I arranged to meet the Irish guy Graham in Cuzco and I went to bed and watched the Steelers v Ravens game which the Ravens won in overtime.

I got up for the flights. I had to pay the fucking tax that he assured me was included. The woman at the desk was asking why I was molesting her, but I was trying to assure her that I had been told it would be included in my ticket price. We flew over the Nazca lines and my plane had a French family for company. I hate little planes. Reminded me of the mental pilot in Angel Falls. The pilot was checking everything with a little manual. I was the co-pilot. I am not sure if that made me more nervous or more secure. He should know this stuff surely, but then again it was better to be thorough, no? He was banking a lot on the flight. I hate that. I keep thinking the plane is going to flip over and crash. I kept a close eye on all the gadgets. They seemed to be in the green so that was reassuring. Most of the time we were not high up enough to think you might die if it crashed, but the far end part was over a canyon and I was watching our banks to make sure we were out of the canyon and back in safe crashing territory. The hummingbird and the albatross were the two clearest, but I could not even see the dog and the astronaut was rubbish. The pilot was banking more with the dog so I could see, so i just nodded yes hoping he would right the damn plane. I did not die which was good and it was a worthwhile experience, though not as good as the French seemed to think it was. I had to kill a lot of time in town and really should have done some writing, but I had finished it the night before. The bus was changed from the one I was meant to have and so I lost the included dinner. That was annoying as I had deliberately not eaten dinner in the knowledge I had it on the bus. It was a ridiculously expensive tourist bus as locals don't use that route much, but I did get to watch the film 'Step Up' which I had always quite wanted to see. Was quality.