Ballestas Islands, Nasca Lines and Huacachina Desert.

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Pisco and Ballestas Islands.

  
Ballestas Islands are located at Paracas National Reserve, 260 Km. south of Lima, next to Pisco town. To get here you have to take  the local bus from Lima the excursions starts everyday at 8 am. You can also spend a night in Pisco and do the tour next day. To do the tour to Ballestas Islands you have to hire a local tour operator in Pisco or in El Chaco pier in Paracas,  the tour to Ballestas Islands takes 2 hours in a speedboat and you can see sea lions, penguins and pelicans.  There are not many good hotels in Pisco, the one I recommend is Posada Hispana, is good, safe and has a great restaurant, its just at 2 blocks from the main square. There was an earthquake in this town on 2007 and its not totally rebuilt yet, be careful to walk on your own at night.

Sea Lion at Ballestas Islands

 

Huacachina desert.

The Huacachina Sand dune desert its located 5 south of Lima, next to Ica city, at the Km 303 of Panamericana Highway, it’s a big desert with huge sand dunes.This place is located just 1 hour south of Pisco and Ballestas Island. Huacachina has a little oasis and beautiful huge sand dunes; here you can take a dune buggy excursion and also sand boarding. There are many local tour operators in Huacachina  is an amazing adventure, there are also some hostels and restaurants here, some tour companies can organize a 2 days and 1 night dune buggy excursion with camping in the desert.



Huacachina

Sand Boarding at Huacachina

Nasca. 

Nasca is a little town located 8 hrs. south of Lima, KM 444 or 9 hours north of Arequipa, here you can visit the Nasca Lines, one of the theories is that it  was an astronomical calendar made by the Nasca civilization, it has more  than 30 drawings on the sand, you can olny see this from the air so will have to take the flight.The Nascas were a pre Inca civilization that lived on this desert between 100 - 800 after Crist. 

Pottery, textiles, geoglyphs of Nasca Lines are drawings of animals figures, theory says it was an astronomical calendar made by the Nasca Civilization.

Nasca is a place to stay one night and see the lines, from here you can continue your trip to Arequipa or to the north and visit Ica and Lima.

Nasca Lines, the hummingbird

Lima.

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Lima.

Lima is the capital city of Perú, its located on the coast,  next to the Pacific Ocean and about 10 million people, it was founded on January 18th of 1535 by the spaniards. Before the spaniards arrive there were some old civilizations here, now you can see their temples called Huacas around the city.

Lima its a modern city, where you can find everything you need, it has old churches, good restaurants and some museums about peruvian history. Lima its also a good place for surfing and is the place to start your trip around Perú. From Lima you can take domestic and international flights as here is the only international airport in Perú.

The historical center is a nice place to see, it has old buildings from the spaniards time and the begining of the republic. There are some interesting places to see as the Main Square, the Cathedral, the Government and the change of guard, every day at midday. Other places to visit are San Martín main square and San Francisco Church and its catcombs. There really good museums around Lima like Archaeologic Museum Larco Herrera, Gold Museum and the Lima Art Museum. In Lima you must try the local food, like Ceviche, Lomo Saltado, Anticuchos and also Pisco Sour, our local main drink. There are great restaurants of typical food, most of them in Miraflores, a very populat district. 


Lima is located at 500 meters above sea level , doesnt rain too much and the weahter is hot between december and April and cold and humid the rest of the year. During summer you can visit the beaches close to the city like Punta Hermosa, San Bartolo and El Silencio, this beaches are at 40 minutes south of Lima going through the Panamaricana Highway. You can get there by bus. 

One of the nicest areas of Lima is Miraflores, this is a modern district next to the ocean,, here you can find good restaurants, bars, nightclubs and hotels. Is where all the tourists stay and a good place to go out. A nice place is Larcomar, a shopping mall in front of the ocean, good for a good dinner.

Trek to Markahuasi, Lima, Perú.

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A trek to Lima Highlands, 4000 mts above sea level, cold weather, good friends and the best landscape ever. 

View from the cliffs

We started this trip in Lima, with a couple of friends, we departed at 07.30 am from this city and drove for 01 hour to the east, at 08.30 we stopped in a town called Chosica to buy something to eat and then we continued in direction to Santa Eulalia town, the road was not the best, just a dirty and dusty road but  there were signs that we can follow, at about 10.00 am we got to Huinco town and took the road that goes up and kept driving, after a 30 minutes we got to 2 roads, one up and other to the right, we found a local old guy who told us to take the right and also asked for a lift, why not, its always nice to help somebody on the road!. After 30 minutes more we had to turn right after a sign to get to the town we were looking for, San Pedro de Casta.

San Pedro de Casta town

We got to San Pedro de Casta town around 11.30 and found something to eat, there are a few restaurants there, then we went to the tourist office, pay the 5 soles fee and hired a couple of donkeys to carry the equipment like tents, sleeping bags, wood, food etc. We left the car in front the City Hall and started the walk.

The walk wasnt difficult, steep at the begining then wasnt that bad, only 4 Km trek. We start trekking at 12.30 and took us about 2 1/2 hours to get to Markahuasi, the trail has signs to let you know where to go and its very easy, there are 2 roads, long and short, we took the longer one because its less steep and goes straight to the Anfiteatro, a place sorrounded with rock formations where everybody camp. The shorter road is steeper and take you to the Monumento a la Humanidad, a big rock formation that look like human faces. 

Markahuasi, far away

Our campsite

We got to the top at 15.00 hrs, Marcahuasi is located at 4000 mts. above sea level, it has rock formations and cliffs with amazing views, the afternoon and sunset were amazing from the cliffs, there were huge rocks there were you can walk, take a look and a few pictures!.

We got back to the campsite after 18.00 hrs and the weather started to be cold, so we made a fire and ate something. There were about 30 tents there and people were starting to eat and have a drinks. 

At night We had some food and wine, check our pictures and talked for a bit, was good fun, some locals set fire works and got drunk, but the night was cold, then we went to sleep after a had some more wine.

Munumento a la Humanidad

We woke up about 07.00 am,  had some breakfast and packed our stuff, we went for a walk to see the rock formations, then, at 09.30 , decided to walk with all the stuff to a rock formation called Monumento a la Humanidad and then took the short trail back to San Pedro de Casta. Took us about 1 1/2 hours to get to San Pedro, had some coffee and drive back to Lima, was a great adventure, very close to Lima, walking through our amazing highlands and watching the best landscapes.  

Some recomendations to plan this trip: You can drive to San Pedro de Casta, starting in Lima and going to the east throught Central Highway until get to Chosica, Santa Eulalia, Huinco and then to San Pedro, takes about 4 hours.

You can also take a bus to Chosica from Lima and then the local bus to San Pedro, the bus departs at 09.00 am and 11.00 am, be ther early.

You can have lunch at San Pedro de Casta and buy food, hire a donkey to carry your stuff up the mountain, buy food, water etc. You have to pay 5 soles at the tourism office, they will give you a map. You can carry your stuff on the way down, sometimes people offer donkeys to hire. There are not shops up there and there is 1 toilet but not the best.  

Take a good tent, could rain between November and April, sunblock, water, some food, toilet paper, torch, a good sleeping bag, warm clothes, hat, gloves, its very cold at night!. No Wi Fi.