Lima, Ica, Haucachina....

Winding through Lima in a taxi was one of the most humbling experiences of my life. The shanty towns on the edge of town are shocking. Lima has a fantastic buzz about it, and by buzz i mean a kind of constant mania-the taxi rides are hairy to say the least and there is a constant thick smog similiar to a 50an hour cigarrette habit. Our hostel was in a bohemian arty part of town called ¨Barranco¨ which was a nice mix of colonial architechture and piss-drenched stairwells covered in graffiti, perfect! The colours of Peru are amazing and it is reflected in everyones mood. Perhaps English people are so glum because everything is grey, the buildings, the weather, the government etc etc etc etc etc. Nah I love England really.

After a walk down to the beach we headed for ¨Miraflores¨ about 25mins walk downtown. This really opened my eyes to the vast gulf between the rich and the poor in this country. Miraflores is gorgeous and clearly not for the 54% of the country below the poverty line, the many security guards make sure of this. For that reason it quite a sad place to be, knowing the squalour that so many people live in. Anyhoo Betty from our hostel let us out at 6am to catch our Bus 250km down the coast to ¨Ica¨.

There is a constant coastal fog that hugs the land in and around Lima, it is quite dull but haunting at the same time. The bus ride along the Panamerican Highway gives another insight into the poverty that exists in Peru.

This is when we came across the gem of ¨Huacachina¨ (see photo above). Words cannot describe this place, i mean i am not good with words anyway but this place is the shit. After 5 hours drive from Lima through barren desert we found the Oasis about 5km outside Ica. There are only about 25 houses in Huacachina that surround a cute little lagoon in complete isolation from the rest of the world, reachable only by one tiny road. We found a hostel at the foot of the sand dunes that surround the village. I took a walk to the top of the sand dunes which was unforgetable. I think i could see for about 20 miles or so in each direction taking in mountains, barren sand dunes, shanty towns and the lagoon below me. This is certainly closer to paradise than home. We are off to Nazca after a few more days at the oasis to fly over the land formations. Hope the pilot isnt as drunk as our Lima cabbies.

P.