After leaving the bodegas and Ica, we took a bus to Pisco, where we were picked up by the sister of the travel agent we had been working with in Huacachina. She took us to our “hotel” which turned out to be just a random door with no sign which let into a house that smelled kind of bad that had rooms with bunk beds of dubious cleanliness and random children running around and screaming outside our room. Pisco was totally destroyed by an earthquake and was extremely third world and depressing to look at. Rubble and debris still litter many streets to the point that you cannot drive down them and the houses are dilapidated or destroyed. Our arrangement with the travel agent had been to stay in hotel Zarcillo in Paracas so I felt taken advantage of since we had already paid only to find that we were staying in less than favorable conditions and in a different city. After long discussion and argument with the travel agent in Pisco (the sister) we agreed to stay in the crappy “hotel” if they transported us to Paracas to explore at our leisure and then to the Plaza de Armas in Pisco to eat and explore and then back again. There wasn’t much to do in Paracas but we found a cool shop which also had a private collection of pre-Incan artifacts bought by the owner on the black market. He was really friendly and we talked with him for a while about archaeology and travel in Peru before heading back to Pisco for a delicious meal. We called it an early night after playing cards and listening to some live music and went back to the hostal to rest for the tour of the reserve the next day. By the way, Paracas and Pisco smell pretty terrible. Aside from the other random awful smells such as rotten egg and cat litter, there are also actual fish powder factories located along the drive from Pisco to Paracas which smell so strongly of fish you can taste it.
The next morning we rose early to go on a tour of the Islas Ballestas, also known as the “Galapagos of Peru” due to the diverse species of wildlife that live there. The ride out there was bumpy in a fun way and the first stop was the awe-inspiring “candelabra”. Only visible from the air or sea, it is a 173 by 72 meter large drawing on the side of a sandy hill in the shape of what is believed to be a cactus with hallucinogenic properties used in shamanistic rituals. Because of the lack of organic evidence, it is impossible to pinpoint its age, but it was believed to be thousands of years old, made by the ancient Paracas culture that was influenced by the Nazca culture further to the south, who drew the famous Nazca lines in the earth.
Next we went arrived at the Islas Ballestas where we found swarms of thousands upon thousands of birds, including the zarcillo, which has a black body and red beak, all flying or sitting on the rocky islands. It was almost creepy in a Hitchcockesque way to be surrounded by so many winged creatures. We couldn’t go onto the land but we were able to come fairly close to the wildlife, especially to the sea lions who were sunbathing and napping on rocks where we passed by. We even saw a few cute little penguins who where sitting on the rocks almost blending in with the other birds. There was one beach where over 500 hundred sea lions congregated and you could hear them all making their noises, especially the males who seemed to be doing a lot of fighting for dominance. It smelled like bird feces and for good reason since there are so many birds. Apparently every 7 years people come to the island from the mainland to harvest the meter plus layer of guano that has accumulated in the past 7 years. There is only one man who lives on the island – the guardian of the island who lives alone in a run-down old shack without electricity or any worldly comforts.
After the Islas Ballestas we headed to the Paracas National Reserve. The reserve presented a primordial landscape, seemingly devoid of life, where desolate hills of sand meet the Pacific Ocean in cliffs. I thought it was strangely beautiful but it was somewhat unimpressive after being out in the desert of Huacachina. We saw where “the catedral” a famous rock formation used to be before the earthquake, a red sand beach, and some fox footprints, but nothing too noteworthy. We ate a really good seafood meal at a little beach on the reserve but it was too cold to lie out in our bathing suits and the water was absolutely freezing. During the trip we made acquaintances of other travelers from all over the world (people from Oregon, Spain, Montreal, and New Zealand) which was a fun part of traveling. After the reserve we were transported to the Peru Bus station and caught a ride home to Lima. All in all, it was a worthwhile and inexpensive trip. It’s strange how being in the desert made me feel like I experienced a lifetime in only a few days. Although I loved the feeling of sleeping out under the stars, it still feels good to be back in Lima and have my clean bed to come home to, though. Until my next entry…
