Rare Pictures of Machu Picchu in Park of Fountains

We headed to the Park of Fountains, which contained 13 different fountains and supposedly have a Guinness World Record for either the largest number of fountains or biggest musical fountain. 

It was definitely an extremely huge park and there were some rather interesting fountains here, including a really enchanting laser show using the fountain’s water as a backdrop.

Lima Downtown

Downtown Lima is way much much bigger than I expected!  Marco and I must have walked for about 4 hours and only covered part of the city! 

It is definitely not as clean and modern as San Borja or Surco (where Marco’s place is located), but it does have some beautiful buildings with the Spanish architecture and balconies.

Where’s my Appetite!

Seems like I am down with a stomach bug.  Been feeling strange about 3 days ago (after a Russian couple prepared a pizza and Pablo cooking Papas Huancaichina), but it seemed to have gotten worse over the last 1.5 days with effects of queasiness, some bowel runs and loss of appetite.  On self-medication, though seems to be taking some time to get better.

Not great, especially when Lima is said to have a wide range of food offer. 

Trip to the Nation Museum

Having about 5 hours free, before moving over to Marco’s place, I decided to take the chance to explore San Borja area. 

San Borja is a rather pleasant neighbourhood, with a large park separating San Borja North and South region.  Lots of casinos and also Chifas in this area.

There is also a train that runs through here but is not yet open to the public.  I subsequently heard that the tracks has been built for many years, but was never in operation (It was recently completed, and is now in the testing phase, with expected opening early next year). 

Hostel–less in Lima

Having covered all I needed to see in Ica, I decided to leave a day earlier and head into Lima.  So after a 5 hour bus ride, I caught a taxi and headed to San Borja to a hostel address for “Happy Up Here Hostel” (without a booking), which I had taken off one of the famous hostel booking website, in the hope that there would be a bed available.  And if not, availability of other hostels in the area.

When I arrived in the area, I was surprised to find that it was a residential area, and the address brought me to the doorstep of a house!  There was no hostel name on the front, and so I decided to try my luck and ring the bell.

Day 148 : Earthquake 9.0 in Ica

I was staying around the outskirts of Ica in a place called La Tinguina, and the best way to travel from La Tinguina to Ica town centre is via “Collectivos”, where a taxi will ply on a certain route between down town and another suburb, and any passenger can hop on and “share” the taxi with other passengers. Definitely a cheap and affordable way to travel.

There are also motor taxis (tuk tuks), and the vehicles apparently came from India!  They are supposedly cheaper than taxis, but routes are usually limited within a suburb. 

So I hopped into a Collectivo and headed to the downtown of Ica to explore.  I was faced with a pile of chaotic traffic on the roads and putting it together with the stifling heat within the city centre, I didn’t quite enjoy being in the centre for too long.  So after just visiting Plaza de Armas, the main square of Ica, I wanted to escape the city centre. 

Winery Vista Alegre, Ica

Ica is the wine capital of Peru, with a number of vineyards scattered across the huge region of Ica.  Pablo knew of a fairly good vineyard near his place and brought me there to have a look.

Pablo shared that the locals seem to prefer the sweeter variety of wines such as Rose and Vino Dulce.  Vista Alegre does a really good job in producing a wide variety of wines including the sweet ones, as well as the traditional whites and reds, Vermouth and even Pisco! 

Day 147 : Huacachina

Ever seen a real oasis in the middle of the desert?  This is what Huacachina boasts to have. 

So after walking 5km from Ica to Huacachina, we (Pablo, Krissia, Aleksi, Nathalie) found ourselves surrounded by sand dunes, and it certainly felt like we were in the desert as we continued walking under the hot sun, and soon came to a place with shaded trees and water in a distance.  What a relief! 

Day 145 – 146 : Colca Canyon

Located about 3 hours from Arequipa, this is a tour that is commonly promoted in Arequipa with one of the main attraction : to see the Andean Condors.  I had originally wanted to do this trip free and easy, but with a sprained ankle, I felt it was best to do it via a tour. 

The Colca Canyon can be done either on a 1 or 2 days tour, with exactly the same stops for both.  The only difference is that in a 1 day tour, it departs at 3am, while it is at 8.30am for a 2 day tour. 

Not wanting to have a rushed tour, I opted for the 2 day option.  My tour group comprised of a total of 12 people (including me), and most of them were South American married couples, thus I felt rather out of place with minimal communication.  I had the tour guide’s personal attention though as he had to translate everything to me in English personally. 

Day 143 – 144 : Arequipa

Arequipa is promoted as a white city, reason being is that there are a number of buildings in the city which is made of the white volcanic stones.  However I personally felt that the whiteness was not the kind of whiteness I experienced in Sucre, Bolivia.  The whiteness was more off cream with greyish specks.

It was also a huge city just like Cusco, but I felt Cusco was much prettier as compared to Arequipa.  Just the main square alone, it was more pleasant in Cusco than in Arequipa.

Peruvian Wine

I had my first taste of Peruvian wine today.  We had ordered a pizza from Morengo’s and asked for a bottle of wine to be delivered together with the pizza. 

Not knowing anything about Peruvian wines, Percy said that Gran Tinto is one of the better Peruvian wines, and being a 2009 variety, it wasn’t too bad. 

It is produced in Ica (which is where I am going next!), the wine region of Peru located about 300km from Lima.