Two weekends ago we took a trip to the southern coast. We took the bus on Friday night. After a bit of wine and some silliness, I fell asleep early and when I woke up 8 hours had passed and it was 4:30 in the morning. Unfortunately, with all of the winding mountain roads, my stomach was slightly topsy turvy
, but I did appreciate being able to look out of the windows at the black sky and see the outlines of mountains and tiny little towns with lights twinkling in the distance. Despite the motion sickness, the bus was pretty comfortable and the 17 hour ride passed relatively quickly. We arrived the next day in Ica and took a taxi to the little oasis town of Huacachina. Huacachina is by far one of the coolest places of seen. It is entirely surrounded by massive white sand dunes and a gorgeous blue sky. We found a nice hostal with a pool and swam for a while and then went to check out the laguna. We took pedal boats, which quickly descended into bumper boats, but with the intense desert heat, even the simple act of pedaling was exhausting. We decided we’d had enough fun, when Dan and I got our boat stuck in some reeds and some local kids had to help pull us out. That afternoon we returned to our hostal to go on a sandboarding tour. We all climbed into an open sand buggy and buckled up. Then we raced up into the dunes. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve seen a desert before, but never one like this. The vastness was beautiful and the time of day was perfect. Had we gone earlier in the day we would have perished in the heat, but late afternoon was surprisingly comfortable and we got to see the ho
rizon glow pink and orange as the sun went down. The buggy ride was terrifying, but so much fun. We were going so fast and dipping through the dunes as copious amounts of sand flung itself into our faces. The sandboarding itself was great too. We had the option of lying down on our stomachs on the boards or standing up with both feet strapped to the board. I tried both, though never successfully made it down the hill standing on a board. The last dune we rode was perfect. It was huge and the feeling of speeding down it on my stomach was such a rush. All in all, the entire experience of being in the desert that day is probably the neatest thing I’ve ever done.
The next day we left Huacachina in order to go to Paracas. We took the bus through the city of Pisco and then a cab to Paracas. Paracas is a touristy little beach town situated on the edge of the Paracas National Reserve. We decided to wait until the following morning to take a tour of the Ballestas Islands because that is the best time of day to see the different animals indigenous to the area. We drove into the reserve to go to Las Minas, a really nice, tranquil beach in the shadow of the cliff. The only way to the get there was by a small bridge carved into the side of the rock face. After lounging on the sand for a while, I decided that I wanted to swim despite the cold temperature of the water. I went with three of the boys and swam out to a rock, which we climbed on and jumped off of. Even though the rock wasn’t super far out, it felt adventurous especially because the rock was covered in sharp barnacles which cut my legs. I also almost climbed up on the rock where a sea urchin was lurking, but luckily was forewarned. The following morning we took our island tour early. On the way out to the islands we saw a giant candelabra in the surface of a cliff, which is possibly a relic from the Nazca culture. Once we made it to the islands, the first thing we saw were giant stone archways with waves slapping against the rocks and multitudes of different birds covering the surfaces. We saw penguins, pelicans, turkey vultures, boobies, and lots of others. Continuing around the island we found lounging sea lions with drool dripping from their mouths as they took in the sun from the rocks. There was even a triumphant moment reminiscent of Discovery Channel as a baby seal tried to climb a rock and kept slipping down until a wave came and boosted him up. Then we saw something pretty incredible: an entire beach covered with hundreds of barking sea lions, including coves where their sounds echoed.
After the island tour we had breakfast and then took another cab back to Pisco. We had thirty minutes to kill before out bus to Ica so we went to the Plaza de Armas. Two years ago in 2007, the area was badly damaged by an earthquake. The roads in Pisco are still debris covered and uneven and the beautifully painted cathedral has broken windows and other signs of devastation. That night in Ica we got dinner and then began to walk to the bus station to get our bus back to Cusco. I stepped off a curb and suddenly my left foot was stinging with pain. I’m not exactly sure how, but it turns out that I sprained it. I will try and put up some pictures from the trip when I can, but unfortunately my camera is currently out of commission after falling into the sand.
Last week was Semana Santa (Easter Week) here. Thursday and Friday were holidays so I had a four day weekend, which ended up being pretty mellow. On Thursday night, Kristina and I saw Marley and Me at the Danish film café that we frequent and discovered a really great jewelry shop. The next day we took a picnic and went to Moray where we sat around one of the smaller groups of terraces. It was really nice because it was so quiet and isolated. Afterwards we went to Salineras so Kristina could take pictures, but didn’t go in. Then we caught a bus back to Cuzco, but it was ridiculously full and we had to stand for an hour, which was not the most fun I’ve ever had. That night I got caught on one of the side streets of the plaza as a procession was going by and had to stand against the wall as a morose crowd walked by with candles and a glass casket with a replica of Jesus. The following I day I did lots of souvenir shopping and saw another procession with women with fun, shimmery skirts. I spent most of Sunday with Emily. We went to Jack’s Café for a delicious breakfast and then later met to get massages, brownies from the Coca Shop in San Blas and later juice and sandwiches from Yajuu.
This week I have volunteering in the morning and Peruvian history class in the afternoon. Tuesday our professor took us to the Inka Museum which is large and has a lot of nice artifacts including mummies.Yesterday and today I read some stories in Spanish to the girls at Buen Pastor while they knitted, which was kind of nice. Nada màs ahora.
Hasta luego,
Ashley
