I am writing on July 4th (without internet) from a very small town between Nazca and Cuzco but much closer to Nazca.  Leo and I were getting cold and it was pretty dark so we took the first place we could find — Finca de Pachan.  It is definitely a place not often inhabited by foreigners.  We brought the bikes into the disco floor, had our dinner and are heading to bed early as we have a long day tomorrow.

Today was spent taking some photos around Ica of sand dunes and going to look at the Nasca lines.  There are large scale markings made in the stone desert by removing the dark surface stones and revealing white earth.  I beleive that this were created by Incan people years ago and consist of both lines and figures.  It is speculated that they were created as a matter of worship. We also passed the highest sand dune in the world.

The previous night we stayed in an oasis neary Ica.  By this I mean there are some pretty massive sand dunes surrounding the hotel and a lake or lagoon in the middle of town.  Leo and I arrived pretty late and celebrated our first real ride together with a beer at the local HI hostal, and after settling in and showering, we headed out for a bite to eat and to find a bar or two.  We hit one bar but it wasn’t so exciting.

We then ended up at a bar with an open campfire and spent some time here.  We had a lot of funny chatting with people around the fire, drinking beer, talking the bar into a two-for-one Cuba Libres when they ran out of beer.  We also collected 3 litre pop bottles for use as gas contanainers.  We are traveling in some relatively remote areas of the Andres.  Leo’s older model of KLR has a much smaller gas tank than my bike.

Following the campfire bar, we hung out with Colombian woman and her son talking about law for quite some time.  She, being a judge, and Leo spent quite some time talking due to differing opinions.  We woke up a little later than planned and headed out.

My bike is very loaded right now.  I have my full gear, one spare rear tire that I purchased as my present one isn’t quite done but probably won’t make it to La Paz, four three litres bottles of gas, and five litres of water.  That is about 17 extra kilos of liquid in addition to a tire.  It looks like I am carrying around a freaking birds nest.