Pisco, the land of stray dogs
Loading Map
Pisco,
Peru
Sunday, September 7, 2008
We got up early to meet all of our travel compatriots on the tour. We all met at the hotel and our new travel guide introduced himself and discussed our itinerary. I´ve had a couple days to try to learn them, though I don´t yet know everyone´s name by heart. There are 2 gentleman from Belgium, though they are not traveling together name Nicu and Freddy. They seem nice enough though I think the language barrier might be preventing some interaction because they often seem to be on the outskirts of the group.Next are 2 sisters from the UK. I think they´re both in college or perhaps one of them just graduated. I haven´t yet learned their names but I do know that they both start with the same letter. Ah well, soon enough. They are very cheery, both blond, and they have just finished visiting the Galapagos before traveling to Peru. Next is a pregnant woman traveling alone from UK. She left her boyfriend there to watch the dog while she got in one last trip before the baby comes. She won´t be coming with us on the Inca Trail or to the Amazon but she has a quirky sense of humor and she´s great fun. I adore the accent of course. There are a couple of Germans, a son with his mother (don´t get any ideas, ma :-D). He has actually lived here for the last 6 months but his mother came to visit and they decided to take this trip together. There is a couple from Montreal who are married and apparently looking for kids too. A couple of woman from New Zealand who are older but like to drink and have lots of fun and to round it off a married couple from UK who are here to celebrate their 50th birthdays together.
We travel today to a small village outside of Pisco. We are traveling by bus but first we have a bus that will take us down to the bus depot. We all collect our bags and board the bus on our great adventure. The tour guide warns us to be particularly careful at bus stations so we all end up with our bags piled up huddled against a wall. The guide gets our tickets and we all get these amazing little chorizos (deep fried things with gooey caramel in the middle and topped with sugar and perhaps some cinnamon).
The bus is rather boring, and we sit and try to sleep or watch bad movies in spanish with english subtitles. I watched out the window as I saw the shanty towns pass by, seeing what was wrought by the devestation of the earthquake. Many buildings are still under construction, roofs built with whatever material might keep out the cold and the rain for a while. The sadness is pervasive but I like to think there is still hope in these peoples eyes. Beau and I talked about taking time on our next trip to volunteer wherever we visit. There is just so much need and there must be more we can do than come and look at them and take pictures.
The small town outside of Pisco is not much to look at, but the hotel is quite nice. Beau and I have separate twin beds again... we´re still coming to terms with how best to interact with this culture and their stereotypes. On top of the hotel is a nice cabana like lounge area where we can drink and will take breakfast in the morning. It overlooks the Pacific and the Paracas National reserve. We walked along the beach, and though it was stinky it was interesting to see the different people manning their shops for the few tourists that were there or the fisherman bringing in their boats. We walked back along the road however to avoid the aroma.
We all ate together as a group for the first time and it was interesting. It was a restaurant along side the beach but it was not really anything to write home about. Beau and I were the most tired of the group I think and when we got back to the hotel we immediately went to bed. Apparently there was loud music from someone until the wee hours but I didn´t notice and I don´t think Beau did either.
