So as i mentioned in my last blog we had hoped to go out and see traditional music and dance but we got something quite different. Fisrt we found a stage where a guy was singing but most of the songs were well known english songs but he was singing them in spanaish. So we carried on through the marketplace and came across a small circular grandstand which was packed with people. We could hear some kind of performance going on so Jill and i tried to get a closer look. We founda gap in the crowd and could see a man with a microphone, and he saw us too. As i may have mentioned before being white gets us plenty of attention in South America and so this man wanted to talk to us. He seemed to be doing a comedy act and he asked us a few questions in spanish like wher are we from etc and then he would crack spanish jokes to the crowd and they would crack up laughing. So he wanted us to come into the circle so Jill and I went in together. It ws intimidating being surrounded by so many people and being asked things in spanish but together we guessed our way through. Then he told us to take a seat in the audience so we assumed our part of the show was over. Next thing he÷s asking us to come back over and Jill pushes me out into the middle cos she doesn`t want to do it. The next part i managed to complete purely from watching what he was doing and copying. I had to turn my back to the other volunteer then look over my shoulder, wave to him, blow him a kiss, slowly walk over to him, then we had to hug and then dance together. All through this the comedian was making so many jokes but i felt lucky that i couldn`t understand what he was saying it would have been worse if i had. So then i had to dance with the comedian and he gave me his belt and i had to whip him on the butt. It was all completely ridiculous and i was just wondering how long it would go on for. I would occasionally look to jill as if to say what the hell am i doing and she looked just as liost but we had no idea how to get out of it. Finally he told me to sit on a box then he handed me a strawberry wafer bar and said i can eat it and then started handing them out to the crowd. So i was sitting in the middle of the stage on a box, eating my candy bar and jill points to a gap in the crowd and we just went for it, i mimed to the go we have to go and he didn`t seem to mind. A few of our group had seen the show but apparently once we became part of the show the crowd size doubled so the others couldn`t see much. And then once we left half the crowd dispersed again.
After that we just wandered around the market and then got some icecream.
My last day in Lima was so uneventful that its not worth mentioning, just did general chores, internet, supermarket, checked out sat around, and then left at 4.30 for Pisco.
We didn`t really see any of Pisco because we arrived at 10pm and then left the next morning 7am for Paracas where we were going on a boat ride. The boat ride took us around the Ballesta Island, nicknamed the mini Galapagos. On the way we passed a massive image of what they think is a candalabra carved into the cliff side. It was 77m long and 54m wide, it was apparently 2 metres deep when it was first discovered but now is only 10cm deep. There are many theories on how it got there but no one really knows for sure. Then we saw the island and it was covered with so many birds and sea lions. There were pelicans, penguins, different types of gulls, boobies (which are birds!) as well as red crabs. We couldn`t believe how many birds were covering this island and flying overhead, it was madness. The main beach for sea lions was incredible. Hundreds of male, female and young sea lions were barking at different tones so loudly which sounded awful and there was a pungent fishy smell in the air that i wasn`t too fond of. The entire boat trip took 1.5hours then we were back on the bus again heading to Nasca, home of the lines. We arrived at about 4pm yesterday and our hotel was beautiful, there was a large pool out the back surrounded by a garden with cactus and mango trees and even a live tortoise.
We went for a wander around the town to find a laundromat because our clothing situation a getting a bit deperate and a few of us have resorted to using togs as underwear because we have none left (too much information?).
I headed back to the hotel after that because i was keen to get in the pool. I was the only one who got in and i couldn`t stay in for too long because it was shady and the water was a bit cold. We then had dinner which was delicious for 18soles (10NZ) we got a bottle of water, a pisco sour an entree, which for me was an avocado stuffed with veges, a main, spaghetti bolognase and fruit salad for dessert. So we were very happy with that.
Today we got up early because we were taking a scenic flight of the Nazca lines. Originally i wasn`t going to do the lines because i thought it would be expensive but i decdied i could go to nazca and not do it. We were in a small 6seat place and the trip was very impressive. The pilot would always fly past each image twice so that both sides of the plane could get a good view. The lines were very cool to see but i think i enjoyed to surrounding scenery even more. We saw the whale, astonaut, monkey, dog, condor, spider, hummingbird, flamingo, parrot, tree and hands plus a few others i don`t remember.
Then we headed back to the hotel where we went for a swim and attempted to do synchonised swimming, it was a poor attempt but alot of fun. We now have the afternoon free and then this evening Claire and I are going out to some ruins to watch the sunset over the desert and then a bunch of us are going to the observatory.
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