A year in the world: Paracas

Caught a very early bus out of Lima to Paracas. It was an interesting process as all passengers were scanned and videoed before departure. I had been worried about the quality of buses but was pleasantly surprised to be sitting on the luxury second floor with wifi access and a lunch served. There was also an onboard toilet which I’m going to be very happy about on my up coming 12 hour trip.

Hit Paracas in the morning and was asked by the bus company representative, Maria Elena, if I wanted to take a look at their new hotel (next door).

Brand new and only S/35 ($10) with a five minute walk to the downtown (note that downtown means the one street malecon). I would recommend Zarcillo Tourism after all their advice and help with everything in town. Walked around town and took in the sights. It’s mostly a fishing town with a sideline of tourism. I met a nice couple (Lara and Dominic) from Australia to hang out with and we all signed up for the next days’ tour.

This is the local specialty, cebiche (raw seafood marinated in lime) and chicharones (fried seafood). It was pretty good and some of the raw fish just melted in my mouth and bonus, it didn't kill me. A must try for the Peruvian coast. Started the next day out in a speed boat. This is the famous ‘candelabra’ which is probably a representation of a cactus or a tree, or a map to buried treasure or a landing pad for aliens. 184m tall and 50cm deep in the hard packed dirt. It’s been there for hundreds, if not thousands, of years due to the extreme lack of rain. Apparently Martians (the peruvian term for crazy people) have been walking on it so it's now a federal offence to go anywhere near it. Next, the Islas Ballastas (the crossbow islands) otherwise known as the Peruvian or poor mans' Galapagos. Tons of birds, including penguins, pelicans, vultures, boobies and seagulls but the sea lions were the best. We also saw dolphins hoping around while we waited for the boat. paracas 029

In the afternoon, we went on a tour of The Paracas National Reserve. The driest place on the earth (other than Antarctica), it was incredibly stark but beautiful.

The road you see going through the picture is made of salt which is found in great big chunks all over the place. Our guide, Luis, got us out of the bus to prove it, He smashed some rocks on the road and we could taste the pieces…I was just glad he didn’t make us lick the road.