Originally Posted by
jackal
Nazca was less interesting than I thought it would be. I didn't do one of the aerial tours, just climbed to the top of an overlook tower to see a few of the drawings, but it wasn't worth going way out of the way for. Puno was a "meh" town itself, but going out on the floating islands was nice, and I had the best grilled trout (trucha a la parilla) I've ever had out on one of the islands (next door to the only floating post office in the world). Arequipa was a beautiful city, though--one of my favorites. Clean, well-kept, and neat architecture and a nice central square with a beautiful view of a perfectly conical volcano (Misti) looming large over the city. Well worth a visit there, IMHO.
Arequipa or Ica were going to be the next places I was considering, but work over the last month or so has been completely out of hand, so I never made it to either.
A few people here at work are from Arequipa and speak of it longingly.
I ran into some tourists who did the Nazca aerial tour and said it was really rough. Dramamine and closed eyes rough.
I know Lima gets a bad rep, but it does have some beautiful places to visit, and overall it's not a bad city. Winter here is grim and depressing (gloomy, foggy, misty and 60 all the time), but the bits I've seen of spring/summer/fall aren't bad.
Oh well, 6 months here has been enough - I am ready to be back in the US for a while!