Ica y Nasca (In its entirety)

Where do I even start?!  I guess I'll start by saying that I'm really sorry that this is going to be a long post, but I hope that you don't get bored at all and I understand if you have to read part of it now and then come back (or not come back) to read the rest later!

Day 1 (of an amazing weekend):  Again, where do I even start!  I guess I'll start with Thursday night!  Thursday night we all went out on a mission for food and water for our 3:45 a.m. bus.  We then taxi-ed to the bus station and waited for our insuperable seats!  And guess what?!  They weren't bad seats at all!  The bus rides were literally better than my plane ride to Perú!!  When I got on the bus there was a pillow and blanket sitting on my seat and my feet and back reclined!  It was great..see doesn't that look cozy!!

It was literally better than the plane ride.  Not only did I get a drink, but I got an apple and sandwich for breakfast and they played the movie "The Ugly Truth."  Also, on the way home from Ica, we got a full meal (chicken, rice, potatoes, chocolate-covered strawberries, and drink) and then later on we got an apple and sandwich again!  Also, we watched two movies on that ride ("Never Let Me Go," "The Adjustment Bureau," and the beginning of "Red").  It was incredible.  I think the only reason they are the cheap seats is because they are by the bathroom and the food, but that didn't bother me at all!!  Cruz del Sur buses definitely rock!  Oh and they have the lowest records of breaking down and falling off cliffs.  (Bus ride = survival #1 of the weekend)

Once, we arrived to Ica, around 9 a.m., we found our hostel, which was pretty home-y and then we decided to walk around and get to know Ica a little bit.  We decided we wanted to go check out the airport in Ica since supposedly it is safer than the Nasca airport (which we have dubbed the 'crashport').  Once seeing the Ica airport we were convinced to fly over the lines and not from Ica, but the 'crashport.'  Ica was just too expensive and we were so close to Nasca we could taste it.  Plus, after seeing the Ica airport we definitely knew that there was NO way that Nasca's was that much worse.  We then went and found the Plaza del Armas (main square) and found a nice Peruvian place to eat.  I ate lomo saltado which is one of my favorite meals here so far (the one with the french fries).  I'm sorry that I haven't been taking pictures of my food.  I'll start doing that so you can see how delicious things are (or aren't :)).  We then went to our hostel and signed up for the Nasca lines flight tour and bought bus tickets to Nasca!  There was no turning back after that!  I was still very nervous about the whole thing and yet extremely excited!!  One of our goals for the weekend was to take a mototaxi so rather than take one for a couple of blocks we decided to take one to Huacachina for our sandboarding and buggy tour.  If you don't know what a mototaxi is...

...four people stuffed in that..not the most comforable thing and we definitely weighed it down (fun though).  (Mototaxi ride with four people to the next town over = survival #2)

Okay survival #3 and 4 coming up...

I really have no idea how to put the sandbuggy and boarding tour into words...let's just say I wouldn't do it again tomorrow.  Maybe ten years from now I would do it again.  The sandboarding wasn't even the most exciting part..it was the dune buggy.  I don't even know how to describe it.  Picture the longest, fastest, scariest rollercoaster you've ever been on, then add a driver rather than a person who pushes the Go button, then make it longer, faster, and scarier and you have the dune buggy!  I had no idea what I was really expecting getting on the buggy, but I seriously have never been so exhilerated and scared out of my mind all at the same time!  Here's a video of our first ride...

Now although this video doesn't look scary at all you have to remember that this was our first time getting on it and I think our driver was just warming up.  We stopped several different times to actually do the sandboarding part and we were all scared to get on that buggy for the last time.  I wish that we had video of the last time through, but honestly that would have been impossible.  We all were holding on for dear life and we definitely caught air in the buggy!!  It was scary and towards the end I could've cried!  The actual sandboarding part was fun too and honestly it was a nice break from the buggy!  I thought our guide was crazy at first though when he said we were going down head first, but it turned out okay.  I was definitely too scared to try standing though, considering I've never snowboarded or anything and I saw two other girls topple over trying it.  Also, we met two girls from London and they were definitely entertaining during the tour!  More about the sandboarding...I'm pretty sure I am going to be finding sand everywhere for weeks!  My shoes are definitely still full of sand!  And the 6th and last time going down was super-fast and scary and I definitely got bruised up a little!

Oh, also, I should mention there was sun!!!!

After the amazing tour (dune buggy & sandboarding = survivals #3 & 4), we of course were craving pizza and ice cream.  Lucky for us, in Ica, we found a place that sold only pizza by the slice and ice cream!  And of course they had the good ole pizza americana.  We then went to sleep in our cozy hostel beds, ready to get up at 5:30 a.m. in order to catch our bus to Nasca.

Day #2:  Of course the Nasca bus was on Peruvian time so our 6:30 bus didn't leave until 7:20 and let's just say that the ride to Nasca and back from Nasca was survival #5 & 6.  We didn't take the Cruz del Sur bus, just a normal, uncomfortable, and hot bus that for some reason played movies from their "Black Comedy collection" (that's really what it was called), which included "Little Man," "College Road trip," and "Roscoe Jenkins."  I definitely didn't watch any of these and wouldn't recommended them. :)

We got to the airport and had to wait until around 12 p.m. to take our flight, but that was okay we just sat around, shopped, and watched plane after plane take off and land safely.  Honestly Nasca airport made me feel a lot better than Ica's.  There were so many people there (versus the completely deserted Ica airport) and they had one security metal detector. :)  Also, the London girls from the sandboarding tour told us they had just done the flight the day before out of Nasca and it was fine so that put me at ease too.  And clearly I'm still living so it's all good.  The flight was a little less than a half hour and good thing because I started feeling ill after about 10 minutes of it.  I had to close my eyes and breath in my nose and out my mouth and then I would just open my eyes to look and snap a picture. :)  I didn't get sick at all, but it definitely felt like I was on the octopus fair ride and for those that know me, I hate that ride!  I will say I've never been so happy to feel the ground again!  Here's a scene from "The Pacifier," watch the first 15 seconds of this..that's how I felt!

Also, after the flight, I was sooooo happy that we didn't fly from the "safer" airport of Ica!  That flight is an hour and a half!  By the time we would have gotten to Nasca, I wouldn't have even wanted to see the lines!!!  (Flight over the lines = survival #7)  Now for actual pictures of some of the lines!  Again, I probably wouldn't do this again tomorrow (give me another 10 years), but it was fun and I'm so happy we did it!  The lines we saw were the whale, parrot, monkey, trapezoids, triangles, astronaut, hummingbird, condor, dog, hands, tree, heron, and spider.

Astronaut

Hummingbird

I made this one huge so you could see it better.  The hands and tree along with the lame observation tower you can do rather than flying over them.

Monkey

After surviving the flight!

 Okay, so that was Saturday!  Again I had lomo saltado at a pretty sketchy place in Nasca (survival #8) and we also had the same pizza in Ica that we had on Friday!  It was delicious and cheap!  We also went to a famous chocolate place in Ica on Saturday night called Helena Chocolate & Tejas.  We bought some chocolates, which were delicious, but unfortunately we didn't get to see the process of the chocolate being made because it was pretty late, but come to find out there's a Helena's right here in Miraflores (where I live) so we can always go back!

Day #3:  This day is boring and short, but in the morning in Ica, we did go on a mission for bread and oranges (our cheap breakfast/lunch because we were realizing that we spent too much money on the weekend).  I bought bread, oranges, water, and a chocolate bar for 3 soles ($1.10).  I'd say that's a pretty good deal!  And come to find out, we really didn't have to spend that money since we got fed twice on the bus, but oh well it was worth it!  Anyway, now I'm home after this amazing weekend!  I have class tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. which may be a little rough, but Tuesday is a holiday so no class!  I'm so happy with this past weekend and this weekend from the 1st to the 4th our whole group is going to Cusco and Machu Picchu!  This has been such an adventure so far and I'm definitely not missing out!  Again, sorry that this post was so long, but thanks for sticking through it and reading it.  Hopefully you enjoyed reading about my weekend, but I will tell you that it was hard to put into words and if you ever get the chance to do any of this that I have explained..DO IT!! Buenas!