This day started way too early. We had to be up and packed and ready to hop on a bus at 4:00 am. We did have a full-size bus for the 7 of us, and there was a toilet, so that part was good. We had what was claimed to be 7 hours of total road time to get to Nasca, with several stops along the way.
About 2 hours into the trip, we got a flat tire. Since the bus had double tires, we were able to continue until we reached a place to get the tire fixed. So it was still dark, we were parked in a hard dirt area near a gas station while several locals crawled under the bus to remove the tire. The removal technique involved lots of metal tools and banging on items.
The delay meant that we were about an hour late for a boat ride, with about 25 other people waiting for us on the boat. (We felt a little guilty that we made them wait.)
This boat trip was to the Ballestas Islands, that they referred to as the "poor man's Gilapagos." That was a bit of overbilling. The island had some sea lions, but about 1 million birds. The bird poop for fetilizer. They only collect it once every 5 years. Any more frequently and it might cause the birds to leave. So the smell, even from a boat, was a bit pungent.
The next stop was at a winery. This was a nice stop. They let us sample wines and buy some. One interesting product that they have is called "pisco." It is a distilled wine with about 45% alcohol content. You can drink it straight, but the most popular form is in pisco sours. This is available in almost all Peruvian restaurants.
Our third stop was at the Huacachina Oasis. This was a lake in the middle of a desert. The Nasca area is the driest area in the world. Once it had only 5 minutes during a 3 year period.
We finally arrived at our hotel at about 8:00 pm. So we had been "engaged" for 16 hours, and the 7-hour ride took over 9 hours on the road.
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