La Hosteria del Monasterio Pisco

it was another early rise for lisa and i today. after a light breakfast, we said goodbye to huacachina and took a taxi out to the city of ica - located a mere four kilometers away to catch the bus to pisco. pisco is a small town famed for the local peruvian drink, pisco sour. however, more recently the town is famous for being the epicentre of the august 2007 earthquake killing hundreds. the bus disembarked the two of us off at the panamericana highway rather than the town itself. once lisa a...

off the peruvian coast south of lima lies the ballestas islands. yesterday lisa and i made a trip to see them on a speedboat. on the way to the ballestas islands we passed by the branch candle stick pattern known as the candelara etched into the sand and rock of a island not too far off the island... like the nazca lines there are many theories as to its origin. moving out further past the candelara, it wasn't long before we arrived to the sight and sounds of the thousands of birds - seabirds...

We were back on a layman´s bus... full of smelly people, cramming god knows what into god knows where and then getting on a bus... great.... the bus ride was supposed to be 3 hrs... it took much longer. Peru has always seemed a secure country. We´ve had random traffic stops, a very visible police presence, and quite a few security check points. It took 5 hrs to go 230k. I was crabby. Eventually, the bus pushed past a large crowd, and we got off -- we could go no further, we were told. We´d ne...

We woke up early to take the bus to Pisco. It took about an hour and you will have to take a taxi to get to the city. We originally wanted to stay at the Hostal Posada Hispana but we could only book for one night as it was booked solid. Looking at it, I saw tours booking the place including GAP. They directed us to La Hosteria del Monasterio which was a block away and it is sooo cute. The decore is medieval yet modern. I believe it is family owned and omg ... the best part that almost mad me ...

We woke up at around 6 am to start our tour at the Ballestas Islands in Paracus. It's about a 20 minute drive out of Pisco. We thought of staying in Paracus at first but Pisco was cheaper and not that far. Again, we had a simple continental breakfast here at the hostel with the addition of eggs. I think I am addicted to this breakfast as I am already looking forward to tomorrows! Always thinking with my stomach I tell ya! I was a bit tired today. I am noticing I am getting a bit tired the mor...

So we woke up bright and early today to have breakfast and make our way to "Pisco Sin Fronteras - Pisco without Borders" We met everyone there. There was about 15 people there - pretty much a full table. We all had a meeting while eating breakfast (we ate ours earlier so we sat, listened and chatted). It's pretty casual there. And everyone was very nice and friendly. There was another Canadian in the house named Dominic from Ontario. It was nice to hear someone who knew where Edmonton was. We...