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We arrived in Guayaquil after a short flight from the Galapagos Islands. This is the largest city in Ecuador and we found it far nicer and safer than Quito. We stayed in an area next to the University which was a real happening spot. Unfortunately every second building was either a photocopying shop or a take away and not a cheap student pub in sight. The next day we made our way down to the "Malecon" area which is a port area that has been redeveloped over the last few years.The area itself is nice and well patrolled by police but the water is absolutely filthy. The city itself seems to be thriving and is more a commercial than Quito.
We took a supposedly 24hr bus journey to Lima the next day that ended up being a grueling 27hrs. However, there were some really interesting towns along the way and a beautiful coastline, that made us want to jump off the bus and avoid any more cringy DVDs with crap english subtitles! We got to Lima and made our way to the bus station through some really poor areas. We had booked into a hostel in the Miraflores area based on our lonely planet guide and it turned out to be the upmarket, americanised area of Lima with Starbucks,Dominos etc..The hostel had cable TV and we ended up watching a Man Utd game on the Saturday morning (We are 6 hours behind!)The hostel owner gave us good advice about places to visit in central Lima and also places that you could end up being stripped of literally all your belongings including your clothes..!
We got off the bus in central Lima and were met by 13 busloads of abusive screaming supporters of a rival football team with a heavy police escort heading to the local stadium for a derby match. Needless to say the locals were well up for it for the banter with us adding all we could offer. We wandered around the city visiting the main sites (staying within the boundary areas highlighted by the hostel owner) and got back to our hostel safely, no thanks as usual to the crazy bus drivers. The hostel itself was quite nice with DVD players in the room but unfortunately due to plumbing issues we ended up with 2 basins of cold water to shower ourselves with!
Next morning we got the bus to Nazca to visit the world famous Nazca lines. Craving for a shower at this stage we were greeted with a concoction of electric wires everywhere that were connected to the water supply. If you did´t follow the instructions clearly you ended up with quite a shock to let you know. The Hostel had advertised a swimming pool and we were greeted with a 5 metre empty hole in the ground that the owners were "working on".
We took our flight up to see the Nazca Lines early the following morning which are ancient designs in the desert. These included designs of a monkey, astronaut and a spider. The journey on our 4 seater Cesna plane, including pilot, was rocky throughout and was also quite scary at times when the pilot kept turning around to point out the sites. Generally people can find these flights nauseous and it certainly tests your stomach when the plane is doing 180 degree turns. The designs themselves are impressive but 30 mins flying at every angle possible make it difficult to fully appreciate them. We were left with a day in Nazca and ended up having a few beers with a Belgian couple as that is about the only other thing to do in that town.We booked our bus to Cusco to our relief and said our goodbyes to Nazca.
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