Homeward bound

Latam flight between Lima and Santiago.  A minimalist airline with zip/zilch/zero in-flight info.  However they did get us there in one piece.   Sunset over the Pacific.

Santiago to Auckland with Latam was my first trip on a Dreamliner.  They have electrochromatic  windows - there are no shades.  This is the windows as normal

And darkened.  They are never completely opaque though..

Cabin view, with darkened windows to keep out the morning sun.

A long flight to Auckland

Much of it in the middle of nowhere.

Dreamliner on the ground at Auckland

Ahh.... home at last.

Earthquakes

Earthquakes are a fact of life here.  So far, we have only knowingly experienced one.  But warnings are everywhere.  From not using the lifts

to secure zones marked in buildings.

There were also tsunami warnings near the coast.

Faces in the street

Faces in the street are interesting.  Peruvians can also be glued to their little screens.

It is winter.  The temperature isn't cold as far as numbers go, but it is overcast and gloomy.  We have not seen much sun, certainly not in Lima.

Back to Lima - and chifa

A couple of pics of the beach in front of our hotel.

 

Today we drove back to Lima.  Lunch was at Hacienda San Jose.  The food was pretty good, and there was Cajun music and Afro dancing, a legacy from the times of slaves.  But Kin Mun pointed out the wool press.  Pic here, together with the resulting bale.  It looked like a very small press, compared to what we grew up with.

 

We have been interested by Chinese Restaurants here in Peru (and to some extent in Chile).  They are called Chifa, a corruption of chow fan or fried rice.  An example:

Tonight we had to find our own dinner so wandered down to a first chifa we could find.  The menu was all in Spanish, but we managed, and wondered what would turn up! Good old wonton was there, but it was wantan frites (fried).  Oh well, you can get fried wontons in Singapore and Sydney, but therese were something else again!  It was the fried pastry.  Tasted quite good, with no meat in them and and some sweet sauce to dip them into.

The bowl of soup had one familiar looking wonton in it, some noodles and some chicken.
Kin Mun ordered fried rice.

I was curious about something called aeropeurto - which translates as airport!  I opted for "con carne" - with meat - and this came along. All tasted good, so long as you weren't expecting the familiar Cantonese variety.  It was a good change of flavour.

Nazca Lines

The Nazca lines are lines/drawings in the countryside around Nasca.  They were made by removing the top layer of reddish-brown stones to reveal the yellow-grey subsoil. (Thanks to Wikipedia for that).  No one knows exactly who was responsible nor why.  However seeing them was the raison d'etre of our 3 day extension.

We drove to Ica airport.  It is a full-on international airport with only Aerodiana using it for flights over the Nazca lines.  It is the emergency airport for Lima though.

We were in a 12 seater Cessna Caravan.  We were weighed, carrying our bags etc and were seated according to our weight.  We were two across so every seat had a window.

 

 

KM and I were put on this plane at the last minute and were right down the back.  I guess it is the exit row.  Not sure what, if anything, it says about our weight.

The pilots before take-off.

Headphones on

And they do have checklists.  Fortunately, no frantic turning of the pages though.

Some shots of the countryside.

 

We were told that the pilots would do a turn around all the figures so they would be clearly visible from both sides of the plane.  We were told to keep our orientation by looking at the horizon and not to focus too much on our cameras, or we would be ill.

My pic of the Spiral is the one that came out best.

 The Astronaut

The hummingbird

Here are the last two according to Google:



Then it was all over and we flew back to Ica.  One hour, 40 minutes total.  A good flight in a real plane was a bonus.

Leaving Lima

Today we began our 3 day extension to see the Nazca Lines.  We travelled 247km south from Lima.

On the way we saw Pachacamac, an archaeological dig and restoration of pre-Incan ruins.

Unrestored section

Restored

As usual, on leaving Lima, traffic was a problem. Some vehicles went off-road to get by.

There were poor areas.  We were told that the poorer the family, the higher up the hill they lived.

We saw coastal desert

Mobile phone towers need somewhere.

Coastal developments began to appear.

And greenery, due to irrigation.

We passed on boarding down the sand dunes and came straight to our hotel - a huge and sprawling  Hilton seaside resort, the same chain as we stayed in at Lima.  It looks grand, but it is off-season so it is quite empty except for us.  I still think there is nothing so miserable as a seaside resort in winter!  And there bird sounds are fake, I am sure.  But some pics.  

 

However, our rooms are comfortable.

Tomorrow we go to Ica airport.  It is an international "ghost" airport.  Only one airline flies there, and it is the emergency airport for Lima.  Weather permitting, we board a Cessna Caravan to try to see the Nazca Lines.  It is a 12 seater aircraft, each one has a window, but I think only one engine.