I cannot find much time to update the blog as we start traveling more and more...Our last day in Lima was a beautiful day. It was a Sunday, people had risen up early, got their surfing boards, some got their parachutes for flying...We walked around Miraflores, there was a marathone and people looked pretty tired while trying to finish the circuit. We came to a park, it looked great, very steep down to Costa Verde...I felt like lying down on the grass and feel the wind...Then some people appeared
in the park with parachutes, a girl and a guy wore the necessary flight equipment and just disappeared in the sky!!! It looked so tempting to me, I asked the other guy if it was possible to do it too. He said ok and I did it too..It is some sort of paragliding but takes about 15 mins and called a tandem flight. The pilot was called Marco, he had a good sense of humor and we had a great flight. You jump over a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and fly right around the high rises and wave hand to the people having breakfast at their balconies!!! It was really fantastic. In the beginning, I felt a little nervous but it disappeared in one minute almost...
It was a terrific experience. I think I should do it in Babadag, Fethiye too...I had the great ice cream of Gelato for the last time,after all we felt a little hungry, we went to the supermarket "Metro", and bought some yummy looking ready made salads. We had them at our hotel. After a short nap, I went out and saw Piril on the street. We came across with some sort of dancing contest, there was a man there who danced with almost 6 different women!!!
We appreciated him and decided to go to a casino!!! I have very little gambling culture, I have no idea about poker or any other card game. When we entered, we were asked to leave our backpacks to the cloakroom. We chose to play poker and just 1 dollar was enough to let us play...For a dollar, it gives you 90 credits...While we played with 90 credits, Piril taught me a little bit about poker, a girl brought us a Christmas cake (which we had as breakfast in Pisco), so after all we profited from this gambling experience!!! We came back to our hostel, mingled a little with the other tourists, watched "Desperate Housewives" on cable TV and went to bed early...On Monday,we had our last breakfast at the same place, packed up and headed to Ormeño´s terminal to find a bus for Pisco. They told us that there was a bus at 1:30 pm which we did not like, as it was 10:30 am when we were there. Then a cab driver at the terminal told us about another company called "Soyuz" which has buses every half an hour to Pisco and Ica. We bought our tickets for 18 soles(6 USD) for 11:06(!)
bus and found the two best seats that we could stretch our legs before anyone else got on the bus!!! The bus was always but always full, people got off, people got on...it took 4 hours to Pisco and it dropped us right on the Panamericana Sur highway. When we arrived there, a guy approached to us and started telling us about the Islas Ballestas, hotels etc...He was very nice, very sympathetic guy (Persy). We were tired, just asked the taxi guy to take us to the hotel for 7 soles. When we came to the center of Pisco, we were shocked because the city was almost totally devastated by the recent earthquake of August. Everywhere was dust, we could hardly breathe, all sellers on the street...He told us that 300 people in the church died of which 50 was from the same family!!! I also saw the prefabricated houses which were donated by the Turkish Government, I was proud of my country again!!!
Well, we dealt with the hotel for 70 soles (24 USD) a nite, the room had cable TV and private bath with hot water...The girl at the desk was a cutie, she was called "Sylvia" and was just 28, though she looked 38!!! Probably I also liked her because she tought I looked 25, he he!!!! After we checked in, we went out to take a look around and find something to eat. Just the main square was around, the old fashionable street was totally devastated...Monday was their market day, so went to the market, they were selling fresh mangos, papayas, water melons, cooked chicken,beef with potatoes and rice, ice cream, different types of bread!!!
The whole thing was under a thick layer of dust however...I bought some bread and mango and we headed to the only clean looking restaurant around, El Dorado. Diego who is the waiter gave us the menu del dia for 8 soles, we had beef with lentils with mixed salad. I like the salads here, because they are served with avocados which I really love...We looked for a travel agency to book a tour for Islas Ballestas to see the Candelabrum figure but there were only touts around. Then we decided to buy our ticket from Ormeño to Nazca, bypassing Ica, as Ica was only famous for its sand dunes for sandboarders (like us, huh!!!)...After all, we decided to buy the Islas Ballestas tour from our sweet Sylvia, as she made the price down from 60 to 50 soles!!! Then our lovely "dombili" Persy came along to promote us his Nazca package. We had beer and something to nibble and listened to Persy, later came back to the room and watched a movie...Persy´s offer looked good but we had to work on the price!!!
In the morning, we had some coffee, I had the mango with the cake from the casino, Piril had her banana with the cake and they picked us up at 7:20. The minibus that we took was a crumbling one but it worked fine!!! They drove us with 3 slovenians, 2 Americans from Seattle and 2 Dutch from Pisco to Paracas to take the boat. It was a speed boat which had about 30 people in it. When the boat moved, I realized that I had forgotten my wind jacket!!! I was sooo cold that all my hair on my arms was up!!! We had a guide, Juan who explained and showed us the candelebra figure. It is a huge candle figure which did not disappear over the years due to dry weather.
There are various rumors about the story of the candelebra, according to some people, it was a masonic sign because San Martin was a Mason etc etc...Nobody knows what it actually is...Then we went to the Islas Ballestas, which is also referred as "Poor Man´s Galapagos"...We saw the sea lions, guanco birds and pinguins there...The kids on the boat were soo happy to see them that close...On the way back, the strong wind almost froze me, well I made it and did not get sick after all!!!
When we came back, Persy was there, waiting for us. We dealt with him for the transfer from the bus to the hotel,room and the flight over the Nazca lines for 60 USD per person...He seemed happy, he must be having a lot of profit over this deal but it really did not bother me, because he was a honest and sweet guy...They drove us back, we packed our stuff,
paid Sylvia, paid Persy, bid farewell to our hostel friends and came to Ormeño to take the 1 pm bus to Nazca. The bus came at 2 pm, it was stinking, it was smelling livestock and urine terribly and it seemed like breaking down any minute!!! I went to the very back of the bus, Piril sat somewhere near the ventilation and we hit the road!!! Then at some point, a guy with a turkey jumped in to the bus. It was very weird, the turkey was "wheek wheek" some times and he was patting the head of the animal!!! Then he put his fellow in a Galatasaray colored (red-yellow) bag which had holes around its two sides and he probably fainted in the bag, as I never heard from it later!!!
He wore some perfume, guess Calvin Klein´s One and the smell felt good after the turkey smell!!! Finally we came to Nazca, bought our tickets for Arequipa from Cruz del Sur for 130 soles and Luis drove us to the hotel with his brand new Hyundai...The minibus was brand new, there was a mild music playing and we were the only people on the bus!!! What a treat...The hotel was called "El Mirador", it was right at the main square and from there, the city looked like a small scale Anatolian city (with the illuminated fountain etc)..We went out to find dinner, we ate at Plaza Mayor Restaurant which was very nice,
withdrew some money from the cash machine and took a walk around the tiny tiny town...I fell to sleep at 9 pm as I was probably shaken by the strong wind from the morning...There was a movie on TV, "Crash" but I missed it!!
In the morning, after the shower and breakfast, Luis drove us to the airodrome at Nazca for the flight. There was a Mexican family with us on the plane, the plane was a bumpy Cessna and the pilot was pretty nice. When we start flying, Piril´s blood pressure went down and she felt sick during the entire flight. It happened to me too but less then her, I just felt like I was not feeling my legs but could not look at the Nasca Lines too much as
I was getting sick too. I was able to catch several shots but it is hard to take pictures from the plane. I am totally convinced that people from outer space came and did the lines. Either aliens or some other creatures but it is not likely and logical that a human being can create such shapes in that time frame. The lines could only be appreciated by flying above and how come a human being at 900 BC-600 AD could think about it??? They were giving a message by creating those shapes there and we still deny their existence..Weird...There was a German lady who devoted her whole life
to Nasca Lines, called Maria Reiche whom I really appreciate as she lived here 50 years and died here... The flight took about 30 minutes, we came back and our handsome pilot signed our certificates, like the ones at Cappadocia!!! Piril took some rest when we were back, we waited for the other people to come back and came back to the hotel...It was an interesting experience though...Weird..
Finally, we arrived in Cusco at 6:30 in the morning with a back and neck pain...The altitude had struck me this time, I had not slept well either, so coca tea was my cure!!! My backpack came out from the bus the latest so I was very pissed off!!! As soon as we jumped out of the bus in Cusco, taxi drivers surrounded us. I was not in a good mood, got the taxi for 5 soles (with a frowning face!!!). The cab driver tried to sell us hotel, tours etc..We just ignored him, in this case being a tourism person helps!!! 
Our hotel was on a steep hill, it´s called "Samay Wasi"...The people had a very warm greeting, got us a room by the time the room was ready and gave us coca tea to relax and to get rid of the "sorroche"(altitude sickness). Though at some point, I liked it, it is a little like being drunk, except for the trouble in respiration...We decided to prepare our little backpack to spend the night at Aguas Calientes which is the closest town to Machu Picchu and take the famous Machu Picchu train from Ollantantaybo in the afternoon. We had listened lots of stories from the other gringos like the long lines at the train station, problems for buying entrances etc...Therefore, we were a little uneasy to get a train ticket and entrance tickets to Machu Picchu. We decided to take our chance, prepared our overnite backpacks and hit the road towards the San Pedro Train Station. 
Cusco is a colorful city, has many squares and different markets. The first thing we did was to go to the station to ask for the tickets. We actually were waiting a long line and other gringos queued up to get train tickets but there was nobody else!!! We could not believe that but we got the return tickets to/from Ollaytantaybo to Aguas Calientes for 77 USD! Relieved and relaxed, we had a good breakfast and had some coca tea at a small cafe and jumped on a minibus to Urubamba to get to Ollaytantambo...
It was a nice trip, took 1 hour 40 mins and we changed to a small minibus at Urubamba. At Ollaytantambo, Piril got a little disappointed because there was just a little tiny square and some ruins, that was it!!! We found some salad at a little cafe. The village definitely had more dog population than human!!! They were everywhere, barking and peeing all around, well the men here are not any different though...We took our train, there were maybe 20 people on the train, no more!!! We were even offered a sandwich and juice on the train, which was another surprise..The train passed from beautiful green areas, 
I tried to take some pics...It was such an amazing nature but all of a sudden, it started raining cats and dogs!!! As soon as we arrived in Aguas Calientes, a boy approached us and offered a hotel room with cable TV and private bath for 50 soles. We followed him and found out that the TV was local. After some hard bargaining (Piril is the absolute bargainer!!!), we got the room for 40 soles...
After dropping our bag, we went to buy our Machu Picchu ticket and the bus to go up to the Machu Picchu Sanctuary. It was raining like crazy, we looked around the handicraft market, got some small souvenirs and had grilled alpaca at a restaurant. It tastes like chicken and meat together, but nice!!! We went to bed early tonite ...The next morning, 
we woke up at 5 and caught the first bus climbing up to the Machu Picchu. We were there at 6 am!!! As soon as we got there, we met Iswet and some people quietly having breakfast. Iswet was a certified tour guide and the guys having breakfast were the Colombian motorcyclists who were traveling the continent on the bike!!! Could you imagine how happy I could be, I was at Machu Picchu and touring with bikers!!! 
It was a dream and I liked every minute of it...We dealt with Iswed for 10 soles per head for the 3 hour tour. She told us about the Inka People, how the place was found by Hiram Birgham in 1911 and the customs/traditions of the Inka people...It was so peaceful and one could easily feel the super high energy at the terraces of the hidden city...Our new friends were all friends and relatives, traveling 10 guys and 2 girls on Suzuki Freewind and Honda Transalp . 
They asked my opinion and I of course voted for Honda as a Honda owner! After our tour finished, Iswed offered us to have breakfast at the restaurant of the workers. Our handsome and friendly Colombian friends decided to go to Huayna Picchu which was much higher and offered some great views of Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu means the youth mountain and the actual summit is more than 3000 mts. 
While they left for Huayna Picchu, we followed Iswed to have huevos con arroz(eggs with rice) at 10:30 am! She was 26, guiding for 7 years , married with a 22 month old baby girl,Libertad. We decided to buy a bus tour to Puno and a city tour of Cusco from her as she was very nice...We had a deal for the bus and city tour for 110 soles and for Puno tour, hostel, Copacabana Isla del Sol excursion and bus ticket to La Paz for 72 USD..After the deal, we went back to Aguas 
Calientes, took our train back to Ollaytantambo and took the minibus for Urubamba. We took a minibus from Urubamba but the minibus we took did not follow the same route as the previous one,it went through unpaved village roads and collected everyone on the road...It took almost 2,5 hours for us to come back to Cusco. We just took a taxi back home and crashed... We were sooo tired but we were happy as we had done the most important part of our 
tour and had become pilgrims of Machu Picchu!!!The next day, we woke up early, enjoyed the beautiful handicraft market which moved to Plaza de Armas just for Xmas, had coffee and returned back home for our city tour. We had a city tour which covered some Inca Sites and a cathedral in the city. It was a nice tour, we met an Indian couple living in Santiago,Chile and decided to meet up one day for coffee or a drink...After our tour has finished, we went to eat at Jack's, which is a friend of Ricardo, the owner of Honda Transalp and the salad there was pretty good... We had a quiet Xmas nite and went to bed early to start the day at 6:30!!! Happy pilgrims...Happy me...Met bikers from Colombia...The most handsome ones...Woo, must have been a dream...
