Was that a Mac Truck?

Somewhere between leaving Lima and the 16 hour bus ride to the Peru/Chile border, we may have been run over by a semi.  Or at least that's how I feel.



I imagine that's how TJ feels too, since he's totally passed out.  



We left Lima on Thursday, which seems like 2 years ago, not two days.  Of course, the time is ahead  2 hours here, so it's been much longer than two days by now anyway...



After Lima, we headed down to Paracas, where we were taken to Isla Ballestas, which had some cool stuff and some stuff that stunk.  First the cool stuff: sea lions, penguins, boobies, and we got to ride in a speed boat.  Stuff that stunk: gasoline fumes from the boat and guano - lots of it.  Apparently, there's a bit of an industry in harvesting and selling it as fertilizer.  It's not the industry that it used to be, but poo used to be a large part of the Peruvian economy.  



After finishing our tour, we hopped in a bus for Ica, where we stored our bags while we "enjoyed" a "nine hour" layover before heading to Tacna.  Of course, our 9:30 bus was late and I was pretty anxious by the time it showed up close to 11.  



I don't know why I thought we'd get to Tacna early in the morning.  Perhaps wishful thinking.  We got there after 2 pm.  Perhaps if our bus had been on time...  Anyway, after a very late lunch (I was starving!) we got into a collectivo and headed to the border.  When all was said and done, we were checking into our hostel in Arica around 6:30, which was really 8:30 local time.  A long chat with the owner later and we headed down to the beach to get a late dinner.



Now I'm updating the website, complete with pictures, and TJ has passed out, unable to contain his joy about our 15 hour bus ride and long haul plans for travel.