Pisco and Paracas

Trip Start Jan 25, 2008

Trip End Jun 01, 2008

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Flag of Peru Paracas, Peru
Monday, May 5, 2008

In Arequipa we said a sad goodbye to Jess and Taro who were going straight to Lima and we took a bus to Pisco with Chloe. The bus was a nightmare stopping several times along the way, including once at a checkpoint where two national guard members boarded, ripped a bag from one of the Cholita women (who put up a struggle)and then left the bus with the bag, leaving the cholita on the bus. We looked at each other in astonishment but no one else on the bus seemed to bat an eyelid!

The bus didn�t take us directly to Pisco but left us on the side of the Panamerican highway where we were expected to take a taxi into the town. When we stated our destination the taxi driver tried to convince us to go to Paracas instead but we told him to head to Pisco anyway, when we got there it quickly became apparent why he�d said this. Pisco was hit by an earthquake it September and is still devestated by it, the hotel we had planned to stay in was full and when the taxi driver said that Pisco had become very dangerous for gringos at night we decided to take his advice and head to Paracas.

We were instantly glad we did, we managed to find a lovely hotel room with a breakfast terrace overlooking the beach and booked a tour to the Ballestas islands (dubbed the poor man�s galapogas) for the next morning. It was Neils birthday and he wanted to see the penguins. The two hour trip turned out to be better than expected and we also saw hundreds of birds and an enormous sealion colony. It was all over by eleven oclock and on the advice of some friends we bumped into in Paracas decided to do a Uturn and head towards Ica and Huacachina for some sandboarding birthday antics!