The Last Stop

Well, I am on the last stop here in Peru. I´m ready to come home, and I expect the last two days to drag. Just one more sleep here in Lima! After the Nasca Lines I hopped onto an Ormeño bus. It was the only one I could find that went directly to Pisco...exactamente! When I boarded I discovered I´d entered some parallel universe where things are super-fancy! I was the only passenger on the bus, the seats were double-wide, it actually had functional bathroom (with toilet paper) and air conditioning. As the bus departed a movie started on the usually black tv screens, and low and behold...the movie was in english! All this, and then they brought me a snack! So posh. When I arrived in Pisco my newly found posh lifestyle continued as I checked into the Hostal Villa Manuelita. My room had TV, my own bathroom (with toilet paper), a fan, and a painting...in addition to the beautiful and comf0rtable beds. Turns out that was the only nice thing about Pisco. It was definitely the dodgiest place I visited in Peru. Most buildings were unfinished or in ruins, and the Plaza de Armas was not a place to hang out in alone. I booked my tour to the Ballastas Islands, then immediately booked my bus from Pisco to Lima. I mostly stayed safe within the walls of my hotel until my tour departed at 7.15 the following morning.
The tour of the islands was probably the least informative of all my tours. The guide spoke very little English, which was more of a mix between English and Spanish. The sights were worth the tour cost, though, as we saw sea lions and lots and lots of birds. The setting was a bit reminiscent of the Alfred Hitchcock movie ¨The Birds¨as thousands upon thousands swarmed around our boats. The birds of the islands are famous for their rich guano, which is harvested every 6 years and sold to farms as a fertilizer...I only got a little guano on me, which was to be expected, I suppose. The tour was the first time it has been rainy during any tour I´ve had here in Peru, and even at that it was just a slight mist.
When my tour returned to Pisco I planned to check my e-mail and surf the web inexpensively until my bus departed, as there was nothing else to do in Pisco and I had long since finished my only book. Unfortunately my plans were foiled as there was no electricity in Pisco at that time. So I waited impatiently for the bus departure, listening to a gentleman from California recount all the terrifying news he´d heard about people traveling alone in Peru....thanks dude! After all was said and done I made it onto the bus in Pisco, and the four hour journey seemed brief. I was in Lima where I got a taxi to Loki Hostal. The taxi drivers in the bus station tried to convince me it was 15 soles to get across lima ($3). I scoffed, and told them it should be 8 soles, but saw no alternative, so I agreed to go with them. As I stepped out of the bus station I asked another taxi driver how much and he told me 8 soles...ha! So I went with him for a lower price. I am tempted to stay in the Loki Hostal until my plane leaves tomorrow night, but I may force myself to get out a little bit and perhaps check out a museum or two.
I am looking forward to seeing everybody when I come home. I´ll be there in a the blink of an eye!