Day
1. Journey South along the Panamerican Highway, through the
coastal desert to Ica, passing small asparagus fields breaking up the
desert. It is hard to believe that the desert is in fact very fertile.
When the El Niño phenomenon occurs, the desert transforms, blossoms
and the sand becomes covered by a blanket of green.
Continue
in the afternoon to Nasca for your flight over the Nasca Lines, an incredibly
precise collection of figures and lines, as yet unexplained. Maria Reiche
spent most of her life studying, protecting and clearing the lines,
arriving at her theory of them representing an astronomical calendar.
The images include that of a monkey, hummingbird, whale and astronaut.
ICA - Overnight at the Hotel Mossone in Ica.
The
Hotel Mossone has an ideal location, surrounded by sand dunes on the
shores of the Huacachina lagoon. It is a colonial style hotel in a century-old
mansion with rooms built around an interior garden patio. Each of the
53 rooms features cable TV, telephones and safe. The hotel has a pleasant
outdoor pool, interior garden patio and dining is on a veranda that
overlooks the Huacachina Lagoon
Day
2 .An early morning start to Paracas to take a boat ride out
to the Ballestas Islands, a National Reserve that boasts the highest
concentration of marine birds in the world, including some very rare
species. The islands lie off the coast, and are a hive of activity throughout
the year. Birds vie for positions and many nests are perched precariously
on tiny ledges high above the water. The islands themselves are beautiful,
with eroded caves and inlets, and sea lions frolicking around in our
wake. We will see gannets, pelicans, and maybe the elusive Humboldt
Penguins.
(Please be aware that if the weather is not good enough for the flight
over the Nazca lines the previous day, you will stay in Nazca and the
flight will be done early morning the next day, therefore permitting
a visit to the Paracas Peninsula and not the Ballestas Islands)
Return
to the mainland and back to Lima.
