ICA
We left for Ica very early Friday morning. We were taking the bus to Ica, then meeting a private driver and tour guide there for the duration of our trip. We rode on a double-decker luxury bus, and we had the very front seats on the top level. We had a great view! The drive was about 4 hours from Lima and along the way we passed small beaches and many "boxes" spread out across the desert--Pedro told me that they were people´s homes. I couldn´t believe people lived way out here, in the middle of nowhere, in such bare bones conditions. It made me incredibly thankful for my life. We passed Cañete, Pisco, and Paracas before arriving in Ica. Driving through these small towns, we could see lots of evidence of destruction from the quake. It´s been 8 months since then and these towns are either just beginning to rebuild, or still haven´t finished clearing away the debris. We also encountered some things that you don´t see everyday back home--a naked man huddled on the side of the road, several dogs as road kill, and a cow who didn´t let a giant bus or semi-truck stop it from crossing the road.When we arrived in Ica, we were dropped off at a hotel, met by our driver, Paul, and tour guide, Abelardo, and then driven to our hotel, called El Villa Jazmin Hotel. It didn´t even look like a hotel from the front, or have any sign, so we guessed that it was going to be very nice and we were right. It was built only one year ago. Our room was very nice, the bathroom was huge, and the pool area was beautiful. Pedro enjoyed a quick dip in the pool before we met our guide again for our city tour.
First, we went to a winery. This area is well-known for growing grapes and there seemed to be several wineries in every town. Despite the terrible smell (I don´t drink wine), it was interesting to see the process. There were huge containers filled with grapes, and then large piles of dried, already-pressed grape skins. Abelardo told us how they pressed the grapes, both with the "I Love Lucy" method, and with a wooden press. We tried some of the wine they made there, along with their national liquor, Pisco. Our next stop was a museum. It was okay--nothing much different from the other museums I´ve visited in Lima, but they did have a very interesting mummy display. Since they are in the desert, mummification is a natural process.
Finally, we headed to the highlight of the entire trip--Las Dunas de Huacachina! I had never been on sand dunes before, or in a dune buggy for that matter, but when in Peru... I really had no idea how thrilling it would be! The scenery was absolutely gorgeous--dunes as far as the eye could see. Our driver drove like a maniac, but that made it even more exciting. We drove straight ahead, up and over dunes, and made several sharp drops, just like on a roller coaster. Finally, we came to quite a large hill and the driver stopped sharply right at the edge. In Spanish he said, okay, you guys ride down alone and I´ll walk. He got out of the car and I was so scared that he was serious, but fortunately he wasn´t. Another buggy had stopped along side us and their driver was passing out what looked like snowboards. Here´s where we were going to sandboard! Pedro had done it once before, but not up in the dunes, only on a small hill near the lake. This looked like quite a steep hill to both of us, as well as the other people in our buggy--a man from Germany, a man from Ireland, and a man and woman from Peru. The driver told us there are two options, standing up or laying down head-first! Both sounded scary to me. The German guy offered to go first and opted for standing up. He didn´t go very far before having to sit down and slide down the mountain. After that, the rest of us decided to go head-first. I went second-to-last, and by the time all the guys had gone, it didn´t seem as scary. When I was finally sailing down the dune, I was so glad that I had tried it--it was so much fun! When everyone was at the bottom, our driver picked us up, and we headed off to another hill, a bit higher. In all, we did four runs, each one a little taller and definitely faster. The last one was the only one that actually hurt because there were so many people gathered there and therefore, a lot of bumps in the sand from people walking around. Those bumps really made the board bounce, and now I have some major bruises along my forearms and hips, but all worth it. We watched the sunset from the top of the dunes and then headed back to town. It was a really great day!
PARACAS
The second day, we left early again, even though we only had an hour´s drive. We needed to catch a boat in Paracas that would take us to Las Islas Ballestas--a national reserve for Humbolt Penguins and thousands of other birds, bottlenosed dolphins, and sea lions. Our boat took us on a two-hour ride out to the islands where I couldn´t believe how many birds sat on the rocks. I also couldn´t believe how many sea lions lived in this area. They were so loud as they only recognize their babies by their voices and were all calling at once on the beach. There´s also an ancient marking in the hills on the way to the rocks--it´s called El Candelabro.Back on land, we drove around the other part of the reserve. It was a strange, but beautiful combination of desert and sea. There were some amazing vistas! We saw a lot of evidence from the quake here. A very famous rock formation, called the Cathedral, is now destroyed. Huge cracks opened up the ground along the cliffs and there were rocks strewn across the land from the tsunami.
After such a long morning, we took a nap back at our hotel, El Mirador (not nearly as nice as Villa Jazmin), then walked around the tiny fishing town to look for some lunch. The rest of the day we spent by the pool, which had an interesting hidden feature that you´ll see in the picture, tried to watch TV (only two channels came in well), tried to order dinner (the pizza I wanted was only served at lunch and Pedro´s alfredo came with plastic in it), and then killed a rather large spider before going to sleep.
LUNAHUANA
The third and final day of our trip wasn´t as early as the others. We had a quiet breakfast and then we were greeted by a new driver. He drove us to the end of the road leading to Paracas where we met Abelardo. From there, we drove about two hours to Cañete. We got out to "see the town", but it was really more to stretch our legs as there wasn´t much to see there. The next stop was Lunahuana, another 45 minutes from Cañete. Lunahuana is a river valley that is home to Incahuasi, an ancient Inca archeological site considered "The New Cuzco" of the coast, as well as many wineries and river rafting tour companies. As we drove into town, we were bombarded by people shouting "canotaje!" (rafting), but that´s not what we were there to do. We continued along a winding, two-lane road, following the river and often stopped by donkeys pulling wide-loaded carts, herds of cattle, and double-parked river raft transports. We stopped at a suspension foot bridge and crossed the river. On the other side were several horses available for rent to ride into a small village, but we chose to walk because it wasn´t far. We visited another winery and a bee colony where we bought some organic honey. It was just about time to head back to Lima, but we wanted to stop for lunch before leaving. We asked a man on the side of the road for a recommendation and he said, "El Buen Sabor" (The Good Taste)--how appropriate! He was right though! It was delicious and affordable. I had arroz con pato--rice with duck. I´d never had duck in my life, but it was the most tempting item on their menu and I really enjoyed it. Besides, when else am I going to have the chance to pay $3 for duck? After lunch we left Abelardo in Cañete, and we were driven all the way home.I had so much fun on this trip and not only was I happy to spend so much time with Pedro, but I was also excited to see another part of the country outside of Lima. Enjoy the pictures!
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