From Lima to Paracas

Day 2 to Pisco/Paracas

With a tiny bit of nervousness I went down to the reception to get my luggage. And yes it was there, and in good condition. Even the "priority" label was still there unharmed! 😊 Not sure I like the "Flying Blue" kind of Priority service that much... Anyway, my luggage arrived and my travels could start. 

After a chilled morning packing up and doing some shopping for the road we were packed in to a min bus that took us to Lima bus station. Here we boarded a bus and started our travels, going south along the coast.

I learnt that Lima has grown from 8.5 to almost 10 million inhabitants in the last few years, mostly being people moving in to the city from the country side. However the city doesn't grow on height it constantly spreads out. So it took a good hour on the high way before we reached the outskirts of the city.

Apparently parts of Peru is the driest desert on earth. The coastline, between each the Pacific and the Andes is just sand, and very very dry. We traveled along the dunes for hours. This is also the area for chicken farming.

Every here and there there are green valleys where farming is possible. This due to the water coming down from the melting glaciers. 

Today Peru is a self contained country when it comes to food. All they have to import because they are not able to grow enough themselves is soya beans for making oil, sugar and wheat, however due to the melting glaciers it is a question of time before they cannot anymore. They have already lost 47% of the glaciers.

After a good 4 hours on the road we reached the town of Pisco. In 2007 there was a big earthquake in the area (7.7 on the Scale, lasted for just over a minute) most of the area was destroyed, and is still today an area of construction. Due to this we didn't stop in Pisco but got in to a small mini bus on the bumpy road to Paracas just down the road on the cost. 

A small village where fishing and producing fish oil is the main business, which is easy told by the smell. 

It has also always been a resort village for wealthy people from Lima. And today, after the earthquake it is even more so. This little village has 5, 5 star hotels.

Ours is not one of them, but it is a very nice place.

We arrived just in time to miss the sunset. I managed to, from the balcony outside my door see the top of the sun disappearing behind an island.

So instead of watching the sun go down I took a stroll along the beach front, where we short after had our dinner. Seafood of course. 

Part of the group ended the evening with a Pisco cocktail in a local bar...

I am doing my best to try and get some photos uploaded, but it is difficult. I will keep trying and hopefully share some with you while I'm still here.