Nazca, Peru...

The night bus from Arrequipa to Nazca took about 9 hours. I arrived at around 7:30 a.m. and was able to leave my bag at the bus station. I hopped in a taxi to the Nazca airport. My main purpose for going to Nazca was to take a small plane tour to see the Nazca lines. The tour that Nino was going to charge me $85 for, I was able to secure at the airport for $55 - ha!

This was my first time in a small plane. I was a bit nervous, but excited too. The plane sat 4 people total, including the pilot. I was in the front with the pilot and a couple from Argentina sat in the back. My nerves were quickly forgotten when we were up in the air. I LOVED it! The whole point of the tour is to fly over and see the ancient figures in the desert. Peru had quickly changed landscape and from Arrequipa to Nazca, it was all desert. The figures are believed to have been created by the Nazca culture between 200 BC and 700 AD. There is dispute as to interrpreting what they mean but religion is a primary theme. The figures range from a hummingbird, tree, condor, spider and monkey to an astronaut. I was not particularly impressed with the figures, but the tour was so worth it, if only for the exhilarating 40 minute plane ride!

After the tour, I took a taxi back into town with the couple from Argentina. I was due for another injection of antibiotics...waaa! I asked at the farmacia where I could get the injection and she directed me to the local hospital a few blocks away. I walked into the hospital and thought "whoa, this place is not as clean as the clinic in Arrequipa..." and it smelled a little like urine...oh boy, again not cool! I asked the admissions lady about getting an injection and she yelled down the hall and then had me follow her. I went into a room with a nurse that was not happy to be there. She grunted at me, took the needle and the medicine I gave her, loaded the needle (again, watching like a hawk, i was...) and stabbed me in the butt. She was not gentle or talkative and it was not unpainful. Ouch lady! The good thing was, I was outta there in about 10 minutes total and it was free...nice! After the hospital run, since my feet and legs still didn't look better, I broke down and bought the pills the Doc had perscribed.

I still had plenty of time before my bus to Lima so, I sought out a hair salon and got my hair done for $11 -big splurge on a day of beauty! I just had to shoot a picture of the white can of aqua net super hold...scary, it brought back bad memories of the hair bear days! I think it's outlawed in the U.S. now. My beautician was very chatty about Obama and something about Nostradamus' prophecies. I think there are some very superstitious people here in South America. I had lunch and limped my way back to the bus station where I took the 1:30 p.m. bus to Lima and arrived at the airport around 8:30 p.m.. My flight to Santiago, Chile was not until 12:30 a.m and it was late leaving. I was drained when I arrived in Santiago at 6:30 a.m.!