Down the coast - Bus, Islands, Paracas national Reserve

Wow. I'm behind on blogging. Lima was a week and a half ago in the time domain, but a long ways in the fun domain! There's a lot to tell, but I'll start from the top. Fortunately the first place I went out of Lima has proven to be my favorite in all Peru so far: Paracas.

The bus ride down was interesting. You slowly make your way out of the massive sprawl of Lima and get to see more and more what the climate of the area is. In Lima you know it's dry, but can't see how absolute the desert is without the benefit of a large river which has been used for irrigation for over a thousand years (Pre Inca).
The following 3 or 4 hour ride down the Panamerican Highway was very different than what I would have seen on Greyhound or anything in the US. We stopped at about 3 toll stations, a gas fillup, received a small meal and drink, had the option to buy food, and of course, watched dubbed American movies nonstop. Unfortunately the sound was not a headphones afair, so I spent more time trying to figure out what Jason Bateman was saying in the (well) dubbed Spanish version of Identity Thief than writing in my journal or looking at the desert. All but the most expensive coach buses here seem to do the same. And man, there are some LUXURY buses here (more on that later).

I made the uninformed, poor choice of staying in San Andres. Don't stay there. Or Pisco. In a few years when the airport is built, it might be a great recommendation, it has the potential to be a great mix of fishing village and cute tourist town. Now it's just very dirty, dangerous at night, smelly and the place I think I got food poisoning! There was also a 7.0 earthquake about 100km away right as I was walking to my room. I was strongly questioning the wisdom of not moving on to a different place by the time I set my things down.

San Andres. Maybe stay here a few years from now. But the sunset was beautiful

Gripes aside, my hotel manager was extremely gracious and helpful. He booked me for a tour of Paracas Reserve and Islas Ballestas the following day!

I took far, far too many photos to show here, but suffice it to say that the islands were beautiful. Also covered in birds and gguano So much so that they have been havesting the guano (most of a meter thick some places) for hundreds of years.

Interesting fact: the word guano actually comes from here. It was a Quechua word meaning "any form of dung used as an agricultural fertilizer" (Wikipedia, and the guides).


Need to run now! In Cuzco and need to meet a new friend from Belgum. Apparently everyone there is required to learn two languages of the three official languages! With luck I´ll add more to this post later.

At Paracas National Reserve

Fishing boat on the way back to Paracas from the islands

Baby sea lion and mom!

That's ALL birds