The plan for the day was to make our way at a fairly leisurely pace from Nasca to Pisco on the coast.
We first made a stop at the tower in Nasca to view a couple of the Nasca Lines from close up. The actual lines were only about the width of a car tyre and we could see where the highway had been built through the middle of the ‘Lizard’ before anyone realised that the Nasca Lines were there.
We then travelled for a couple of hours through the desert interspersed with lush valleys where water was available. The abrupt line between desert & farming land was incredible. The main crops in these areas were avocados, asparagus & paprika. Grapes, cotton, artichokes & cotton were also grown.
At the city of Ica we reached the sand dunes. This is the highest snd dune in the world at 2400m. We took up the offer of sand boarding & headed out to the sand dunes in a sand buggy. The driver was obviously very au fait with the dunes and gave us a thrilling ride to a vantage point which gave us great views of the dunes and the city of Ica. After photos, we headed to the sand boarding area where we were given boards and instructions about how to ride them without hurting ourselves. We slid down three separate dunes and had the luxury of the sand buggies picking us up at the bottom. It was a lot of fun. We then had another thrill ride in the buggies back down the dunes to the oasis where there was a swimming pool and restaurant. A refreshing swim to remove all the sand and lunch by the poolside surrounded by high sand dunes was a relaxing way to while away a couple of hours.
Further down the highway we arrived at the Pisco area. Here we visited a small winery and were shown around and had the process of making ‘pisco’ explained to us, followed by a tasting of the various piscos that are produced at the vineyard. The process of making the wine was very primitive, starting with stamping on the grapes. In contrast to the vineyards in Tasmania, verything here was covered with dust.
It was then back in the bus and we headed down the highway to the coast and the Pacific Ocean. It is strange being back by the sea again after nearly 6 weeks and even though the waves were small, it was nice to hear the sound of them breaking on the beach.
Everyone in the group is feeling a bit sad with only one more day left before we head in different directions.