Paracas

Paracas was a wonderful little town. We arrived after about 1.5hour bus ride, quickly check into our hotel which was lovely and clean and then headed for breakfast. It was a beautiful cafe, right along the foreshore. Oh i forgot, Paracas is not part of the desert, its a town right on the peruvian coast. Back in 2007, Paracas and its neighbouring town, Pisco were absolutely flattened by an earthquake that rocked the region. Unfortunately Pisco has not rebuilt and it resembles a shanty town, however Paracas has rebuilt, obviously with the money that the tourism brings in and has some beautiful cafes, hostels and even a Hilton owned hotel!

So after breakfast we headed off on a boat to visit an island off the coast of paracas called Isla Ballistas. On the way out there, we saw dolphins and birds etc and the sea was flat calm, it was beautiful! And probably good for the girls who get motion sickness, that it was not rough. But it felt fantastic to have the wind in my hair and breathe in the salty air in the sun. It was great.

On the way out to the island there is a natural phenomenon called the 'candelabra' because it resembles some candles. To me it looked like Poseideon's trident, but nonetheless it was amazing. Its carved into the sand dunes and its completely natural. It has been there for over 500 years and like the Nazca Lines (more of these carvings but in the ground) noone knows how or why they are there. Beautiful in real life though.

After passing by this we headed on the the Islas Ballistas, which is part of the Paracas Natural Reserve, because it has so much sea life around it. We saw thousands of sea lions, penguins, vultures, and other birds. It was fantastic. Vikki and I were both seated on the right side of the boat which was great because we got a great view of the islands and all of the animals. Apparently there used to be a lot of poachers going out to kill the sea lions for their skin, so now the Peruvian government lets a family live there for 3 months for free with free food. But there is nothing on these islands, and there is nothing to do, so its a long time of solitary confinement actually!! But apparently its quite a good deal so every 3 months they send a new family out there!!

So it was wonderful visiting the islands and seeing the marine life, it was great! After we got off the boat, we toured around the little shops and bought lots of jewellery and had lunch in another little cafe. Then we headed off for a long walk along the coast. I think we walked for about 3 hours or so and about 6km!! So it was a lovely afternoon walking in the sun and at the end of the journey we found a beautiful hotel called "La Hacienda". It was amazing, one of the most poshest hotels i have ever seen and in a small run down town like Paracas?? Amazing. But obviously its quite a big tourist destination in Peruvian summer months.

So after spending the afternoon walking we spent our last night at another restaurant on the water and i tried their fish, called Linguardo. I have no idea what this fish is, but it was delicious! So at the end of our weekend, we had a wonderful time. We just had the 8 hour journey back to Ayachucho to look forward to!! Luckily we were in first class, and i mean it was fantastic. Definately the way to travel in south america, it was comfy and the seats were like beds, so it was nice and relaxing heading back home to Ayacucho.

xoxo millie