Nazca lines

Today was a very funny day for us.

It started out at 0700 when we were picked up at our hotel. We expected the driver to take us to a central location where we would get on a bus with other people going to the airport at Pisco but it became apparent after 20 minutes that this driver was taking us, and only us the 3 hours to Pisco  . Wow our own personal car and driver!!!

OK so after getting to the airport we got in a 12 passenger Cessna and proceeded to fly about 35 minutes to the Nazca plains. Now I know from seeing photos of the figures on the ground that there are numerous other lines criss crossing the Nazca figures (because no one knew they were there originally) and it CAN be difficult to make out the figures so......Caro is on the right side and I am on the left. The plane banks to the right and the pilot tells us the first  figure is "right there". I see it as I look through Caro's window but she can't make it out.......IS SHE BLIND?...GEE'S it is right there!!!.....

10 seconds later the plane does a hard bank to the left and those of us on the left side get a chance to see and photograph it and .......I.......CAN'T .........SEE.........IT........Caro looks from her side through my window and says she see's it.  AAARGHHHH. I fumble with the camera and snap a shot at "whatever".

Five seconds later the plane heads to another figure. It is completely hit and miss if we see it or not. Caro decides not to take photos but just "enjoy " the moment. I end up getting photos of about 4 of them. Ten  minutes later we are on our way back to Pisco. $500 US dollars spent.  Ha ha. Oh well , the joys of travel!

Ok so it wasn't all for almost nothing .We enjoyed looking at the sparse desert scenery and the talking to Jose (our driver) as he careened through traffic at up to 140 km/hr. This place is exactly like Mexico! Jose lets us off near all the restaurants in Miraflores and he appears extremely happy with our tip.

Tonight we ate at Mango's restaurant and had a super meal with Chilean wine . Muy sabroso! We talked to the waiter and find out that when we see a 10 % service charge on a bill it is not a pre-paid tip but a charge for helping pay for the heating etc. The tip is extra!  Yikes how many restaurants workers have we not actually tipped? I immediately blame this mixup on my favourite Mexican  but  somehow she  shifts the blame to me (she's good at that you know...ha ha).. so the GST , the service charge AND the tip add 43% to the bill but it still OK compared a fancy restaurant at home.

We laugh about everything that happened today which is easy to do when you both feel healthy and happily we walk the streets for 45 minutes before heading back  to the hotel.