Buenos días friends!
I’m reporting in this week after an
eventful weekend on the south coast of Peru. This past weekend my housemates
and I traveled to Paracas and Ica. We saw and did a lot, and all returned
THOUROUGHLY exhausted.
We started our trip early on Friday
morning, catching a bus from Lima to Paracas at 3:45AM. The bus ride was
considerably shorter (4 ½ hours) and easier than the ride to Paracas so I slept
and prepared myself for the busy day ahead.
The tour agency picked us all up from the bus stop so we were on our
way! Unfortunately, due to strong waves, tours to view the Islas Ballestas were
not embarking on Friday (which threw a wrench in our original plans), so we
took an extra long tour of the Paracas National Reserve.
Ready to go!
PARACAS
RESERVA NACIONAL
Before getting on our own private tour bus,
we caught a not-so-quick cup of coffee with the world’s most unfortunate
looking dog:
Our tour was led by Edguardo: an
ornithologist/archaeologist/amateur photographer/nicest guy I’ve met. He showed
us buried tombs and explained the ancient burial rituals of the Inca and
pre-Inca civilizations that inhabited the south coast of Peru. I didn’t get any
cool pictures because they were pretty hard to see—it so windy and sandy that
any attempt to unearth the site would be for naught because in a few days it
would be filled with sand again. Next we walked down to the red-sand beach (the
sand was red because of iron oxidation). It was really pretty—despite being
littered with rotting seal corpses.
Big thank you to Paracas Overland! We had the greatest experience with them!
Super windy: as evidenced by our hairstyles
There were probably 50 dead seals in the half mile walk down the beach
What a good looking bunch!
What everyone else ordered
my shrimp salad
The last stop in the reserve was a seafood
restaurant that served food caught only a few hundred feet away. The walls of
the restaurant were lined with photos of the Nazca lines, las Islas Ballestas,
and various sites within the Paracas reserve, all taken by none other than our
guide: Edguardo! After lunch we explored the area a bit and nearly were blown
off the cliffs into the sea by the stiff wind that followed us the entire day.
Me: up pretty high
I'm sure one of these boats caught my lunch
The tour bus took us back to Paracas where
we had a few hours to relax and enjoy the warmth before catching our 5:15 bus
to Ica.
Chilluns all tuckered out. Napping on the beach
ICA/HUACACHINA
Ica is a short hour and a half ride away
from Paracas so we had plenty of time to settle in to our youth hostel, share a
pizza and cocktails and rest up for the next day’s events.
The hostel was situated in Huacachina—a
lagoon surrounded by vast sand dunes about 15 minutes from Ica. There was a
large courtyard with lots of hammocks and a big tortoise that wandered about to
check out the happenings.
The tour service picked us up on Saturday
morning for tour of Ica. The big attraction was a Pisco vineyard where we got
to see how Pisco is made. For those who may be unfamiliar, pisco is a grape
based whisky that is very popular in Peru; just about every restaurant has a
“pisco sour” on its menu. After the tour, the guide showed us how to properly
drink pisco and we got to taste the various varieties produced at the vineyard
(this was a bit ambitious for some of us at 10 AM, but we rolled with it)
We are all crouching under the grape press which is operated by four men turning the mechanism on the left
I don't remember what this stuff is for
Some sort of really sweet wine. We tasted a wine to celebrate marriage and then one to celebrate divorce. The "divorce" wine wasn't as sweet
After the Pisco tour our guide drove us
around Ica and showed us the various historical sites before stopping off at a
chocolate shop where he told us about Ica’s specialty sweet: Tejas and
Chocotejas. I didn’t get any but I tried some other great chocolate. Many
buildings were destroyed in 2007 when an earthquake registering a magnitude of
7.7 hit Ica. Many buildings are being refurbished but others will continue to
lay in ruin.
Plaza de Armas and the Cathedral in Ica
These were gone about 48 seconds after this photo was taken
Later on Saturday we headed out for the
thrill-seeker’s attraction in Huacachina: a dune buggy ride through the dunes
followed by sand boarding (which is like snowboarding but on sand, obviously)
A blast for sure! And the last attraction
we would see. So, naturally I got hit with the traveller’s diarrhea and spent
the rest of the day in bed! It was miserable, but that is about all there is to
say about it. Don’t drink the water.
We had a good deal of time to kill the next
day before our bus left at 5 PM so we spent most of it lazing around the hostel
or in Huacachina proper. Pati and Nicole took a paddle boat ride, and we had
some lunch at “Huacaf***ingchina” and headed back to Ica to catch our 4 ½ hour
bus ride home.
Huacachina Lagoon
Nicole and Pati paddling around
So much fun! I hope you all enjoy the
pictures!
Presumptuous birds on the beach, advisable not to put your hands too close to their beaks
"Proyecto de recuperación de textiles Paracas"
Some men and women sat at these looms and created tapestries in the style of their ancestors
On the shore in Paracas
I tried Inca Kola for the first time on the national reserve
Some seal vertebrae I found on the beach
In the Paracas National Reserve
Not sure where the rest of him went (Paracas National Reserve)
Huacachina
