Nasca Pottery

Nasca, Peru



That's an authentic Nasca pottery! The guy at the shop showed us how the Nasca people made the pots before. The interesting part was how they put on the glaze for the pot... It's not varnish or anything... They used the oils from their faces and then wiped it on the pots to make it shiny, then it gets baked!!! They must be running around a lot before to get enough oils from their faces to glaze the pots... hehehe!

More Lines

Nasca, Peru

   

There were plenty of lines there in Nasca that in the beginning, I couldn't even figure out the carvings pointed out to us by the co-pilot of the plane!

Oh yeah, the exciting part about this excursion was we were on a small plane flying over the lines! Luckily, we were on a 12-person plane instead of the 5-person planes... The plane was tilting left and right so everybody could get a good view of the lines!!! If you're in Nasca, I think the flight over the lines is worth it!

Hmm... My favorite among the lines is the one of the monkey... Unfortunately I was not able to take a good photo of it! hee-hee!

Strange lines in the desert

Nasca, Peru



Up to this day, they haven't figured out what the lines in the desert are for... What's interesting is that those figures carved are ginormous! That down there they said is a hummingbird!

Here's the wikipedia entry for the Nasca lines: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazca_Lines

So, do you think the Candelabra on our way to Ballestas Island was carved by the same people who carved the Nasca Lines?

Yipee!

Ica, Peru



   
Guess what we're gonna do here!!! Hehehe! A dune buggy ride!!! If ever you're in Ica, Peru, you shouldn't miss going on a dune buggy ride.




   
We didn't just go on a dune buggy ride, we went sand boarding too!!! The sand boarding part was interesting, we were on these boards that looks like a surfboard, but we were put on our bellies (since we are no experts, they said accidents happen more often if we stood going down on a dune... hee-hee!) and then pushed down the dunes! It was quite a rush! The only thing is, you'll get sand everywhere, and I mean everywhere!

That night after we went sand boarding we were eating dinner, and I hear this crunch-crunch while eating... The weird thing is, my food is not crunchy at all... And I have taken a shower before dinner because of all the sand I ate while sand boarding! he-he-he! (I even had a sand beard on our third dune!)





Right after our dune buggy adventure, we went on a pedal boat ride around the Huacachina oasis. They told us that it is a natural oasis, and because Lima has started pumping water from underground, the water level at Huacachina has been going down too. Pretty nice view there, right?

At a winery... A pisco winery!

Pisco, Peru



See those jars there? Instead of oak barrels they use those earthenware to age? the pisco, a Peruvian spirit. Pisco itself is pretty strong... I guess their cocktail, called a pisco sour, just isn't suited to my taste buds... Maybe it's because of the egg mixed in it? hehehe! The pisco drink that looks like chocolate milk though, tastes really good! Hehehe!




Here you can you see all the different pisco products you can get from the winery... Quite a selection there, right? =)

Guano, anyone?

Ballestas Island, Peru



Guess how we knew we were getting close to the islands... No, it's not because we started catching a glimpse of the islands... It was because of the smell (of all the bird poop on the islands!)! The smell of money they said... hehehe! Do you see the white stuff on the islands? Those are bird poop, or guano, which they say they collect and sells for a pretty sum! Well, the islands are still pretty cool despite the smell because of how many birds/sea lions, etc there is! The birds look like mosquitoes from afar, they are that many!!! Look at the sea lions too! There's plenty of them there and very playful!



This has got to be my favorite there on the islands... The humboldt penguins! Very cute, don't you think so too? =) (Although, I think we only saw them on some of the islands... I wonder why? Hmm...)

Candelabra

Ballestas Island, Peru



Here we were on our way to see Ballestas Islands to see some penguins and sea lions and what nots... Interesting carving on the hill right? I guess it's a pretty good introduction for us on what we saw in Nasca! I think until now, they don't know the reason why that candelabra is carved there...

Does it look like a cathedral?

Paracas, Peru



They said that rock used to look like a cathedral until the earthquake... Must have been huge before!

Peruvian birds!

Paracas, Peru



We don't know if those birds are condors or vultures... They did tell us that those birds are babies since they didn't fly away when we got a little bit too close to it... Pretty cool we saw the birds up close!

Can you believe...

Paracas, Peru



...the road in that photo is packed salt? It's brown/black only because of all the vehicles that drives there. Otherwise, they said it looks as white as snow!