Well, after the panoramic views of Colca Canyon, our next adventure was an all night bus ride that would put us in Nasca at 7am so that we could get an early start on seeing the ever popular Nasca lines.
I should note that we were still ever in debt to our designated guides, Alberto and Yvone and her 1 year old baby and our driver Pedro, who had made all of our arrangements from Cuzco to the hostels and reservations for Colca Canyon also booked our bus to Nasca and set us up with plane tickets to see the Nasca Lines. We wouldn't have made it without them.
Well they had taken us as far as they could go, but kind as they are, they set us up with bus tickets to Nasca and arranged to have a guide meet us at the bus station to take us to the airport where our plane tickets to see the Nasca lines would be awaiting our arrival. We paid our wonderful guides the money and threw in a large tip for all their trouble and were on our way.
All was according to plan as we slept well on the bus and even arrived a little early in Nasca. We grabbed our stuff and immediately began looking for the EMILY CARLSEN sign held by an unknown guide that we had become so accustomed to seeing. Nothing. Given that we were a bit early, nothing seemed to amiss, so we waited. 7am...nothing...730 nothing...8am nothing...830 nothing...
At this point the light bulb began to go off in a few of our heads, but it was a brief flicker. We had Alberto's card so we figured, lets give him a jingle. After figuring out how to work the public phones, thanks to a taxi driver who was overly anxious to help, we finally got through to Alberto's cell...a disconnected number. So we tried the number of an agency that Alberto worked for but they did not seem to understand what was going on.
The light bulb was beginning to glow a bit brighter. Still, wanting to believe the best, Mandy and I departed with the cabby who drove us to a square where you could rent cell phones. He rented one for us and tried the calls again. Still no luck. he then took us to his friends hostel because his friend was fluent in English and may be able to help. The friend got through to the agency and explained the problem. The agency told us to go back to the bus station and someone would be there soon. PROBLEM SOLVED!
Another hour at the bus station and the same taxi driver stopped by again to find us all standing, eagerly awaiting a guide that we all now knew, would never show. Our last chance was to have him take us to the airport and maybe we would find something booked in our name....no luck. So back to the bus station where he found a woman, Rosa and her husband George (of the jungle...literally) and their baby dominicke. All three were quite helpful. After an hour of haggling with the agency it became final...We had been had! A bunch of American suckers had been taken down by the oldest con in the book.
Fortunately, Rosa helped us book new tickets to see the lines and her husband and the cabby became our guides. We saw the Nasca Lines, which were unbelievable, the local cemetery and even got special instructions on how to make pottery and mine for minerals.
Bus Trip from Arequipa to Nasca....60 Soles...we paid 180
Plane ticket to see the Nasca Lines....80 US dollars
Second plane ticket to see the Nasca Lines...80 US dollars
Getting taken by a woman and her one year old baby in Peru....Priceless
After that we headed off to Huachachina (sp) for some sand boaring and dune buggy riding. Our driver was a bit loco and took us for a pretty exciting ride. The dunes were amazing and we had so much fun that we forgot all about the fact that we had been played just a day earlier.
We are now in Lima for our final stint...heading to the black market to see what kind of goods we can smuggle back for you all! Home at midnight...see you all soon!
Mike
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