This past weekend me and several people (from my house/ university) and I went on a trip to the southern coast of Peru. We went to Paracas, Pisco, Huacachina, and Ica. Here is a map to show you where we were:
We left Lima Friday after classes at about 3:30 pm. We went by bus, but not the tourist buses that I have taken in the past. We went with a company that middle to low income Peruvians ride. The upside: it is way cheaper. Downside: it makes frequent unauthorized stops to pick up people from the side of the road so it takes a lot longer to get to your destination. It was quite an adventure: people were constantly getting on and off, many of them without official tickets - they just paid the driver to take them from one small town to the other. There were also salespeople getting on and off at every stop, selling sodas, sweet potato chips, banana chips, slices of cake, jello, and many other snacks, all for SUPER CHEAP.
Once again I was struck by the abject poverty that one sees once you leave Lima proper. On the outskirts of Lima, where the watered trees and lawns disappear and the desert appears, there are huge "pueblos jovenes", or shantytowns that have been built up over the years as poor migrants come to Lima seeking work. Some of these towns have structures that resemble normal houses: made of brick, with doors and windows. However, others are merely closet-sized structures made of palm leaves or thin wood without doors, windows, or sometimes even a roof. The nicer ones have water tanks outside the house that provide water to the people. However, the poorest settlements have no electricity and no running water. It is painful to see how these people live, when in Lima there are people who water their lawns every day, wash their cars every day, and live in houses with water and a bathroom. The people in the pueblos jovenes have no services and often don't officially have permission to live there - they build their flimsy houses at night so that they can't be seen by the authorities.
Even in the "towns" outside of Lima, such as Chincha and Pisco, the level of poverty is astounding. In Chincha, you can't escape the smell of sewage as there is no system for dealing with it. I actually got nauseous from our short stop in Chincha because of the smell. The houses in these towns are run-down and flimsy. In fact, Pisco was mostly destroyed in an earthquake in 2009.
Moving on from this depressing topic....
We finally arrived to Pisco at around 8:30pm. We got off the bus and were immediately accosted by about 5 different taxi drivers wanting to drive us. We found one that looked legit and got in. We had planned to stay in Pisco for the night, but the taxi driver told us we would be better off staying in Paracas for the night rather than staying in Pisco and then driving to Paracas in the morning to see las Islas Ballestas. So we drove about 20 km to Paracas and found a cheap hostel - we only had 3 beds for 5 people so we shared.
By the time we had found a room it was pretty late. We headed out in search of food. The only place that was still open in the town was clearly just for tourists: there were no Peruvians there, only European backpacker-looking types. We were the only ones talking in Spanish as well. We shared a pizza and then went straight to bed as we needed to get up early for an 8am tour of the islands.
The next morning (after an adventure with getting the water turned on for us to shower), we went to the dock to get a boat to see las Islas Ballestas. Las Islas Ballestas are islands off the coast of Paracas where various species of birds (blue footed boobies, guanay guano birds, and the HUNBOLDT PENGUIN) and seals (sea lions and fur seals) live.
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| boats in the harbor |
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| our boat....the life vests were SO stylish... |
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| me and Christianah taking a windy selfie |
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| some boats...possibly military? |
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| Pelicans! They were REALLY BIG... |
The coastline was really beautiful as you can see in these photos:
On the way to the islands is the famous "El Candelabro" (The Candelabra) geoglyph. No one knows the origins/purpose of this geoglyph. Pottery nearby has been dated to around 200 B.C. which is the time of the Paracas culture, but it is not knowns whether they were the creators. There are many theories about what it means - local tradition says it represents the lightning rod/staff of Viracocha, a god worshipped throughout pre-hispanic South America. Others believe it represents a hallucinogenic plant (Jimson Weed), or that it was a sign for sailors. I had seen pictures of it, but pictures do not do it justice. The sheer scale of it is amazing - it is HUGE (595 feet tall to be exact!).
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| El Candelabro |
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| El Candelabro |
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| El Candelabro |
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| El Candelabro |
The five of us were seated in the very back row of the boat so we got a bit wet in the waves, especially out by the islands where the water got really rough. It was entertaining though.
We finally reached the islands and it was definitely worth it. They are COVERED in thousands of birds. All the black dots on top of the rocks in these pictures are birds:
There were blue-footed boobies which I had always wanted to see:
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| blue-footed boobies |
Under the rocks in the arch there were Sea Lions (or Lobos del Mar in Spanish). They were making a lot of noise and a few swan very close to the boat!
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| sea lions! |
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| sea lions! |
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| sea lions! |
There was a scuba diver in the water as well!
It was then that I spotted it....a PENGUIN!! The penguins that live on these islands are tiny, not like the large emperor penguins. They are called Humboldt Penguins and they only live along the Pacific coast of Peru and Chile! They are SO CUTE. I wanted to take one home with me...
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| you can see the penguin if you look closely at the top center of the rocks...it was very small |
The sheer number of birds was amazing:
There were also some local fishermen out fishing and diving at the Islands:
There is a rock formation called The Jesus Rock because it is said to look like the silhouette of Jesus....I mean it does look like a face but it doesn't really scream Jesus to me....
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| the Jesus Rock |
We saw some crabs as well. They were pretty big:
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| crab |
There were so many little caves and gaps in the rocks:
Seal taking a nap in the sunshine:
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| seal napping in the sunshine |
On the other side of the island is the abandoned buildings and docks from the guano era. These islands became famous during the "Guano Era" in Peru during the mid-19th century just after independence. The birds that live on this island produce vast amounts of guano (poop) which was harvested for export from the 1840's-1860's. This brought a period of economic prosperity and stability that ended when alternatives for the guano were found and the islands became depleted.
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| old dock |
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| old dock |
There was a cool rock arch:
Around another corner we found more sea lions. The babies were playing in the waves close to the beach, and the adults were making so much noise!
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| lone seal on a rock |
There were seals EVERYWHERE!! It was so cool!!
This one waved at our boat!!
More penguins (in the center):
More seals!! The fat grey one close to the water was my favorite!!
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| my favorite is looking at me! |
"Elephant Rock":
More structures from the Guano Era:
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| houses for guano workers |
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| dock |
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| dock |
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| dock |
The beach with the most sea lions:
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| you can see the tiny baby sea lions playing in the surf |
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| babies! |
And so ended our tour!
Coming up next: Pisco and sandboarding in Huacachina!
