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Nazca lines, LOTS of water, sand and emotional revelations.


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The next morning we piled all of our belongings back into our vehicles and headed off to see the Nazca lines. The lines are a series of enormous geoglyphs in the desert. There is a representation of a monkey, a lizard, trees, birds, llamas and all kinds of shapes. They have been dated as far back as 400AD and it is a miracle that they have survived this long, and lay undiscovered until 1927!!

Anyhooooo, in the middle of the flat endless landscape runs the highway…right through the middle of the lizard! We climbed the viewing tower steps to have a look at the lines as we decided against a loop da loop in a tiny plane for a rediculous amount of money and boy were we please, you can barely see the shapes from the tower. Alex is a little pessimistic and I was maybe a little optimistic but they were a little disappointing to be totally honest! Maybe we are just spoiled with all of the things we have seen, who knows but I am glad we went nevertheless!

We skipped back down to Peggy who was sat waiting in the vast desert and we got back on the road towards Arequipa. We drove for about 20 minutes when Luis’s indicator blinked and we pulled up at the side of the road behind him and the gang. He ran to our window and said ‘lets go’ and I looked around to see a huge hill of purple slate. I looked at Luis and said ‘up there?’ and he said ‘yup’.

We parked up and got changed into our wedding clothes and squeezed me out of the van. I tried my best to make something of my hair…this is where I realised I should have never left Nando and Danitza in Lima…and we started to climb up the loose gravel hill. I had my ugly black walking flip flops on and Alex had on his wedding shoes so we scrambled up the hill as fast as we could. It was so hot up there, the sun scorched down on us and the passing lorries fed us the only breeze. We had lots of honking horns and waves as they passed and we stood, spun, ran and you guessed it, walked on the the top of this hill. We had a great laugh until it came to climbing back down, that part wasn’t so much fun but we made it back to the safety of Peggy and in no time we were back on the road….still in our wedding gear.

As we drove along we wondered what Luis and Freddy had in store for us next. We drove through astoundingly beautiful desert, the colours ever changing and the Ocean constantly lapping at its edge. We soon stopped at a road sign and Luis came to tell us that this place was special to him. We were in the middle of nowhere, it was beautiful for sure but special how? We took some pictures on the road edge, near the sign and around the area. we even had a picture with Luis in it! He later explained to us that he had been involved in a car crash at this spot and that this was where he had been given a second chance at life. He classes it as the place that he was reborn and I feel privelaged that he would share the story and the place with us.

 

As we shot away the wind blew hard across the sand and we were buffeted by the passing trucks, before too long Luis looked at us with his lightbulb face on and said ‘do you fancy getting wet?’ we looked at each ather and kind of knew it was coming and replied ‘of course, why not?!’.

Clearly we had no idea what he had in store for us. We imagined dancing along the tide and maybe getting wet upto our ankles. We skipped along the sand to the waters edge and did some walking, some strolling in the wash, some jelly fish watching and then things got serious! Luis asked us to go a little further in so we took a step. Further, he said…another step…FURTHER he said…another step…this carried on until we were in upto our waists. The water was cool to say the least but the hardest thing was staying upright! The tide was so strong the current pulled me around like a rag doll. With the weight of the dress
around my legs and the pull of the Ocean all I could do to stay stood up was to cling on to Alex. My legs were useless and totally wrapped in strands from the dress…the poor dress…I couldn’t even bear to think of the state it would be in when we had finished!

We laughed and laughed at me trying to withstand the strength of the ever pulling Ocean, it really didn’t want to let me go. Before too long Luis had ‘the shot’ and we staggered out of the crashing waves exhausted.

We caught our breath and thats when the big question came. Did we fancy
sitting in the water? Hahaha…Alex never fancies sitting in cold water but of course, never ones to say no…we said ‘sure’! We found a spot further along the sand and grudgingly laid in the wet sand where the waves finally gave up their plea for escape and returned to the roaring ocean. I HATE sand. of all the things that hate, I hate sand the most…but I love Luis and want to get the shots so I lay there and wait for the inevitable wave to crash into my face…as of course, I’m laid with my head towards the oncoming deluge of water!
I had a few shots on my own and then Alex joined me on the ground. By this time I was well and truly soaked and as the first wave hit us both together Alex screamed and sat bolt upright as the sandy water splashed into our ears. We laughed and shivered a bit and laid back down all the time joking that we couldn’t hear so many pictures being taken and did Freddy want us to do some walking yet. We took a few more waves and finally we were done. We did some walking and then shivering, wet to the bone and COVERED head to toe in sand we headed back to the van.

The sun that had been beaming on us earlier just wasn’t strong enough to warm us up through the cold wind and we didn’t even care about how much sand we were pulling into Peggy as we clambered in for the towels.
Alex helped me out of my once beautiful wedding skirt which weighed a tonne and was absolutely anhialated from the rough water. Strands of silks and lace hung from threads and parts just fell off! I was so sad to see such a beautiful gown so shredded! So sorry Fatima! It was soo beautiful!
We literally took a bottle of water we had, stripped down to our pants on the side of the highway and poured water on ourselves to try to get rid of some of the beach that clung to us so stubbornly. It worked a little and we rubbed ourselves raw and dryish on the towels and settled back into our seats for the next leg of the drive.

We soon warmed up as we covered more miles of desert and Alexs foot started to tingle, we examined it on the move and presume he had been stung by one of the jelly fish we had seen on the beach. We joked about whether we should wee on it to take the sting out but decided we had had enough of water for one day and put some bite cream on it instead and it did the trick thank goodness.

We drove all day and into the night and covered a whopping 600km caked in sand. We climbed from sea level to 2335m (7661 feet) and of course as we neared Arequipa Peggy had had enough and she made sure we knew about it. We drove the last part of the climb at a snails pace, stalling every so many miles and then the fog set in…well, fog or cloud, who knows but it was so thick we could barely see a hand in front of our face! Luis and gang crawled along behind us as we limped up the mountains and eventually at around midnight we arrived!

See Luis’ personal work inspired by his life experiences by clicking on this image.

We were so lucky to have somewhere to rest our heads when we arrived in Arequipa, we all piled into our rooms, washed the sand and salt out of our hair, ears and noses and climbed into bed with our pillows out of Peggy. I think we would have slept standing had we stood for much longer!

comments

  1. Jacquie says:

    What a wild adventure that was across a desert, with seaside as well….how brave to go up the slate mountain and wade into the current-filled water.

    Gotta love this with all your photos…I don’t even dare pick a favourite. Oh well…ok…twist my arm…my favourite…..oh can I have more than one???? The one with the waves crashing around you, the one where you are stood under the road sign that has special significance for Luis, and….(drum roll)…..the one where you, I think, are rubbing noses (looks like what we in Canada call ‘eskimo kisses’…..seriously all the pictures are a credit to Luis and his team.

    Again a great treat in writing and photos. Happy trails. xx

  2. Mother of the groom says:

    Top of the morning to you at what looks like the top of the world!!!!!!

  3. TR Rickey says:

    Absolutely LOVE these photos…especially the one of the tow of you contemplating the ocean while you hold up your skirt. It is a shame the dress got shredded, but the photos are absolutely worth it. The enormity of the world is clearly evident in Luis’ photos. Amazing. Terie

    1. Lisa & Alex says:

      Haha that was building up the courage to go in! x

  4. Karena says:

    I can see why you have so many photos: they are absulutely astounding!!!!! along with you two, of course!! Love it, love it, love it.
    Carry on, great narration et all! Warm hugs, K & J

  5. Nando Mesia says:

    ¨This is when I realized I should have never left NANDO and DANITZA in LIma…¨

    Means : Nando Mesia …TOP Make Up Artist http://www.nandomesia.pe
    Danitza Garcia…TOP Hair Dresser http://www.danitzagarcia.com

    1. Lisa & Alex says:

      You guys are the best! xxx

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