A Little Bit of Everything...: Paracas

Posing in front of Red Beach - where the sand is ... RED.

Now that we're down to the end, there's no time to waste! We got back from Huanuco, went to church all weekend, then promptly headed out Monday morning for Paracas! Weeee!

The bus from Lima to Paracas was only about 3.5 hours. Very doable. Since we left at 7am, I basically slept through the whole ride. It was very bizarre to go to sleep while driving through the city and then waking up and seeing...NOTHING. We arrived in the middle of nowhere dessert. We got off the bus at the bus station, but from where we were standing, you couldn't see any other signs of civilization.

By the helpful people at the station, we were directed into town to find a place to stay in hopes of it being a little cheaper than at the bus station. As it turns out, everything is about the same price. How nice of them. We ended up staying at another place rather than by the bus station, and while not as nice of accomodations, it was way more conveniently located.

We were quickly shuttled from town on to see the national park. There were some ruins and rocks and the ocean. Cusco was the trip of taking pictures of lots of rocks, Paracas was the trip of taking pictures of lots of sand. While in the national park, we ate ceviche for lunch that was pretty tasty. It wasn't a terribly exciting place to visit, but we had a good time and it was good to get our bearings in this new place.

Ceviche

Salt

La Catedral (or 1/2 of it)

That evening, we wandered around the city a little more. We fed pelicans on the beach. A little Peruvian man walks around with a bucket of fish pieces and these 2 pelicans followed him, of course. For a tip, you could get some fish and toss it his friends. It is a bizarre experience watching them eat - kind of looks like they are gagging, but without the noise. So fun. We also lucked out with a really pretty sunset over the ocean. After a little more exploring, we found where more of the locals eat - instead of S/. 30 per plate, it was S/. 15 for dinner. It was fun to introduce Karlee, Rebecca, and Zach to the local routine. We watched Esto Es Guerra, had a cat trying to sit in our laps at the table, and enjoyed anis tea. Was a successful day!

Ol' Stinky and Meany Reporting for Duty

The next morning, we got up early to head out to see the Islas Bellestas, aka the poor man's Galapagos. As with everything Melissa and I do here, we missed all the good stuff by about 2 weeks, but it was still a good trip. You head out in about a 30 passenger speed boat and it takes 30 minutes to get to the islands. A couple came up and asked me to move so that they could have seats with a better view. I told them I didn't want to give up my view - we're on a sightSEEING trip and if I moved, I wouldn't be able to see as well. Melissa then chimed in that they could sit next to us. They didn't take her up on the offer. I felt kinda bad for saying no, but not too much. Does that make me a bad person? In the end, I think they actually had better seats for taking pictures, they just couldn't see anything while the boat was moving as they had to stay seated. Oh well. We joked that I was the mean one and that Melissa was the stinky one as no one sat next to us on the boat. Haha. Oh well. From the boat we saw the candelabra, which was created in the sand. On the islands, we saw more pelicans, other various types of birds, sea lions, and penguins! It was awesome. :)