Leslie was her name! We met our new guide bright and early in the morning. We were off to Pisco and Nazca. Leslie is an interesting woman orginally from So Africa and who now lives in Cusco, Peru. She ownes several businesses such as a restaurant, a hostal, a travel agency, a store and also does San Pedro Ceremonies. San Pedro is a cactus that creates spritual journeys through hallucinations.

We were off to Pisco. Pisco is a little town of minimal beauty. We got to our hotel and had dinner together. Late into the evening we again found ourselves playing cards but our card group included Tatum and Tony and Roy. We sat on the rooftop sharing stories, drinking beer and playing black jack.

The next morning we went to the Ballestas Islands. These islands have an interesting background as well as many inhabitants such as sea lions, boobies, mussells etc. The tour lasted about 2 hours on a boat.

We had hired a private van to take us to Nazca and on the way we stopped at HUGE sand dunes! A couple of dune buggies raced up and down the sand dunes like rollar coasters. We stopped a couple of times to try sand boarding. Roy and Kevin had some great wipe outs...wished we got them on film. One guy, Ray, got sand burns on his foot. When they smiled their mouths were covered in sand and they were spitting sand as they spoke!

The dunes were incredible...they looked like mountains. We stopped for lunch at a Pisco factory. The winery was amazing as the equipment was so old.

Our final destination was Nazca, home of the mysterious lines. Our flight was scheduled for the next day. Our hotel was situated in a rural area surrounded by a farm with cows, horses chickens etc. We even had a pool to relax by. When we got there it was raining...Nazca gets only 5 hours of rain per year...how ironic!

In the morning we ate light as we prepared for our flight in a very small plane. Since it was a hot day we decided to go the Nazca cemetary in the desert first. This was so incredible! The graves are all over the desert and are over 2000 years old. The markings are long gone, but there are hundreds of Nazca mummies buried there. Many locals try to dig up the graves for gold and antiques, but now the desert is somewhat protected. The mummies are completely preserved because the desert is so dry. Simply amazing to imagine these mummies are thousands of years old and they are right out in the open.

We headed to our flight over the Nazca lines. The plane was a 4 seater including the driver. The Nazca lines are mysterious and no one really knows why they are there or what they represent. The plane ride was both thrilling and a bit scary as we desended in a circular fasion to get a good look at the drawings. Todd almost lost his lunch in the extreme heat and constant swirling. After about 30 minutes we were both glad to be on the ground safe and sound!