First, allow me to apologize for the delay in writing this. I think it’s the eternal downfall of vacations that when one returns, she finds herself with an overwhelming to do list. Adding to this problem was the fact that I had 2 exams this week because both of my classes are wrapping up and I was working on the ever-important task of finding work for the summer.

But anyway, enough with my excuses. I suggest getting comfy with a blanket and a cup of tea because this is a long one.

Friday February 11^th, 2011

The first leg of the journey was an overnight bus ride to a city called Ica. We (Sarah and I) left directly after class at around 5:30pm and hustled it to the bus station for our 6:00pm departure. Having decided to travel with the most reliable and secure (but also most expensive) bus company Cruz del Sur, we enjoyed a reasonably restful and entertaining bus ride. In this particular bus, all of the seats converted into what was almost a bed.

Saturday February 12^th, 2011

We arrived in Ica at about 10:00am and immediately started shedding layers. We left the chilly/rainy weather of Cusco wearing jackets and multiple layers of pants, so upon stepping off the bus in Ica into the sunshine and warmth of the desert climate, wearing less clothing became an immediate priority.

Both of our travel books and a friend of Sarah’s had recommended that we stay in Huacachina, not in the actual city of Ica. Huacachina is a small oasis with a lagoon at its center. There is no denying that it’s a place that exists for tourists (both Peruvian and foreign), but there’s also no denying that it’s a beautiful place in a wonderful climate. The oasis is surrounded by huge sand dunes—these pictures will give you an idea of the setting.

This is Haucachina seen from the top of the huge dune surrounding it. Our hostel is in the lower right-hand corner of the picture.

After finding a hostel, changing our clothes, and wandering around Huacachina a bit, we took a taxi back in to Ica to visit a bodega, which is a place where they make and sell wine and in this case, pisco as well. Ica is well-known for its bodegas and has an annual wine-making festival. We took a tour of the vineyard and wine/pisco making equipment and then enjoyed a sampling session. I wanted to take photos of the whole process—it’s pretty neat—but my camera died early in the tour, so we’ll just have to be content with these.

Note the vines and grapes around the sign J

This is part of the giant press they use to get the juice out of the grapes after stomping them with their feet. I don’t remember the exact year it was built, but I remember being impressed when he told us how long this press has been used for.

The de-juiced grapes are then used (if I remember correctly) as animal feed and as a pleasantly aromatic sort of gravel, as shown in this picture.

The rest of the wine and pisco processes are a little complicated and very interesting, the more interesting of the two being the pisco process. Maybe a quick google search would give you an idea of the process, but basically pisco is hard liquor made from the vapor produced by boiling fermented grape juice. What I want to know is who had the idea to do that in the first place… in the case of national claim to the idea, Peruvians say it was theirs, but the Chileans tell a different story.

Sunday February 13^th, 2011

Today we spent some quality time lounging by the pool (yes, all of the other hostels had pools, too—like I said, tourist trap) enjoying the heat and the sun. We both inevitably obtained a certain degree of sunburn due to our extreme whiteness despite sunscreen and spending a good amount of time in the shade.

After this relaxing morning and early afternoon, we left for our sandboarding excursion at 4:30pm. I was pretty excited to try sandboarding, thinking it would be much like snowboarding, but wearing a t-shirt instead of a parka. The sand-filled landscape of pure dunes did not disappoint, but I didn’t really enjoy the sandboarding. In my opinion it is like snowboarding but about ten times worse. Maybe the problem was that our ‘boards’ were pretty much just that—boards. They make professional sandboards, but these were essentially hunks of plywood with straps. This plus the fact that it’s much more difficult to turn in sand made it barely enjoyable to try it standing up. The best way to enjoy it was lying on my stomach as if it were a sled. Here are a couple photos to give you an idea of the scenery.

Me and Sarah

This is the vehicle that took us out in the dunes. Apart from being quite noisy and a little rough at times, the ride was quite enjoyable.

The sunset on the way back was pretty spectacular. Of course, this picture hardly does it justice.

Monday February 14^th, 2011

We woke up around 6:00am today to catch our bus to Paracas. We had bought our tickets yesterday, which included a boat tour of Las Islas Bellestas, too. The boats leave every day at 10:00am for the two hour tour because the ocean is calmest in the morning. Unfortunately it was foggy for the whole tour (apparently it’s weather Peru hasn’t seen for 22 years—go figure, how lucky it arrived with us), but here’s a taste of the islands. Essentially they’re a biologist’s haven, absolutely teeming with seabirds and sea lions.

Birds everywhere! Every 10 years (ish?) they actually harvest the guano using shovels and buckets to use as fertilizer for agriculture.

Featured in this photo are the one-and-only Humboldt penguins, which are endemic and named after the Humboldt ocean current, which has great importance for the weather and fisheries of South America.

This beach is where the sea lions go specifically to give birth, so it’s full of moms and babies. They’re also quite vocal and it’s a bit eerie to hear them. It sounds like a ton of people yelling and moaning. The guide joked that they were the voices of the people lost from yesterday’s tour. Also interesting is the Spanish term for the animal. What we call lions of the sea they call wolves of the sea, hence they are ‘lobos del mar.’

This is the Candelabra, which was made by some ancient people or according to some, made by aliens. The theories for the how and why of this image in the sand are much like the theories put forth to explain the Nazca lines (google image it—pretty cool stuff).

  

According to a taxi driver in Ica (they can be very helpful sometimes) after the tours are over around noon Paracas becomes a sort of ghost town. All the shops close and the only thing to do is hang out on the beach. Considering that we were still sunburned that didn’t sound appealing, so right after the tour of the islands we had the bus driver take us to the Panamericana where we caught a less-than-luxurious but pleasantly cheap bus to Lima, which is about 4 hours north of Paracas.

In Lima we had a very late lunch with some other travelers we met on the bus (from the US and England) and then met up with a friend of Sarah’s who is currently living in Lima. He and two others are part of an organization called ‘Tablistas para Christo’ which means ‘Surfers for Christ.’ It’s a pretty interesting arrangement. They live with a family in Lima while doing missionary work and teaching surf lessons to young Limeños.

They were kind enough to let us stay with them in Chorrillos our first night in Lima. Now, let me back up and explain Lima a bit. As the country’s capital it’s, for lack of a better word, ginormous; therefore it’s divided into sections, which might as well be cities themselves by size as far as I’m concerned. So, Chorrillos is the name of the section in the southern part of Lima where we stayed our first night.

This is the view at night from the roof of the house in Chorrillos.

This is the same view in the morning. If there wasn’t a huge fog bank in the way, you’d be able to see the ocean in this picture.

Tuesday February 15^th, 2011

The afternoon today was spent on the beach. We brought a surf board to the beach with us in case the waves were good for beginner surfers. We were in luck, so Sarah practiced her surfing skillz while her friend stayed in the water helping her. Of course after a good chunk of time treading water while Sarah rocked at surfing (she got up several times!) he was too tired to give me a lesson as well, but I was content relaxing on the beach anyway.

In the evening we packed up again and checked in to a hostel in Miraflores (another section of Lima). This area is quite pleasant being situated right on the coast and is a popular spot for tourists.

I didn’t edit these colors—this is really what it looked like when we came in to Miraflores.

Wednesday February 16^th, 2011

Today was mostly spend wandering around Miraflores, buying bus tickets for traveling tonight, eating delicious things, and shopping for needed items (Sarah:  camera charger since hers starting smoking when she tried to use it in Cusco and me:  tennis shoes because I oh-so-brilliantly left mine at the hostel in Haucachina L)

This was the most delicious of delicious things. As you probably know I’m kind of a fan of ice cream, but this delicacy was a combination of gelatos made with different tropical fruits and was on a whole other level. It was an experience to remember, eating this brilliantly crafted and almost overwhelmingly flavorful desert creation. The only downside is that no other frozen desert I eat in my lifetime will ever compare to this…

And to make the desert experience even better, this is the view from the table we sat at while eating our treats.

This is an upscale outdoor mall in the part of MIraflores called Larcomar. Note the Chili’s restaurant. And behind me while taking this picture was a Starbucks. In Lima there are quite a few North American chains, which was a big surprise to us coming from Cucso. In Cusco there is one McDonald’s, and that’s it. In Lima, there’s a good number of McDonald’s, Starbucks, etc. So, even though Cusco and Lima are both Peruvian cities, they have little else in common. Due to a combination of differences in climate, geography, level of development, North American influence, population size, and culture, Lima is a world apart from Cusco. To be honest it made me miss Cusco (apart from the cold and rain, of course).

Us being tourists :D She bought the jersey and when wearing it the next day we were both very entertained by the approving comments of almost every Peruvian we saw. South Americans love their futbol (translation:  soccer) and Peruvians love their home team.

At 11:00pm our bus departed from Lima headed for our last destination 9 hours to the north, Trujillo.

Thursday February 17^th, 2011

As in Ica, we followed the suggestions of our books/friend and didn’t stay in the actual city of Trujillo. Instead we went north along the coast for a few more miles to Huanchaco. This town was all beach, with a touristy/surfy/hippie/beach bum atmosphere—I loved it. The sidewalk along the beach was lined with people selling hand-crafted jewelry and doing hair wraps, and on the other side of the street surf shops rented out surf boards and wetsuits. We took advantage of the super cheap all day surfboard/wetsuit rental and hit the beach. We opted not to pay for a lesson (as previously mentioned, Sarah knows her way around a surfboard), but I still ended up getting tips and a push now and then from the instructors and other hobbyists. This experience finally brought me to a realization about tourism in Peru. Compared to my other travel experiences (mostly Europe and Australia), being a tourist in Peru is much more personal than being a tourist in the other places. Maybe it’s because the tourism industry is still growing and developing, or maybe it’s just the Peruvian personality. Either way, I much prefer it J

  

These are called ‘caballitos’ which means ‘little horses.’ These were traditionally used by fisherman, but now are mostly used to give rides in the ocean to tourists. They’re unique to the northern coast of Peru (as far as I know) and they say all tourists should take a ride, but we opted not to since we’d already ridden in the water for quite some time on our surfboards! Although in my case I should say ‘attempted to ride’ since surfing was not any sort of grand success for me. But of course, it was enjoyable to play around in the ocean for the afternoon J

This is the courtyard-ish area of the hostel we stayed at. Our room was just off to the right. This hostel is probably my favorite of all the hostels I’ve ever stayed at. For 15 soles (approx. $6) per night in the dormitories we had a hot shower, towel, access to a public telephone, cheap internet access and an on-site café/restaurant. What more could a person want?? The people we met there were really cool and there were several who told this story:  “Yeah, I’m basically traveling South America until I run out of money. I was planning to stay in Huanchaco for a couple days, but I’ve been here for a month now.” The place really does have a draw—I myself wouldn’t have minded spending some more time there.

This was taken just outside the entrance to our hostel. Yeah.

Caballitos again.

First, let me confirm that I did buy a tie-dye dress there (remember, if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all ;)). Next, I’ll explain that we came across this group playing on the beach sidewalk on the way back from eating dinner (at a place that had 6 different types of veggie burgers!!!) Later on they performed in a bar, but we were happy with just listening to them in the street for a bit. We then reconfirmed our status as tourists by asking for photos with them. Notice the guy with the giant set of pipes also holding a guitar—yeah, he wasn’t the only band member who played two instruments at the same time. Needless to say, we were impressed. Also needless to say, I didn’t actually play the flute…

Friday February 18^th, 2011

We spent this morning more thoroughly exploring Huanchaco and visiting the church, which is apparently the second oldest church in Peru.

This was the cemetery next to the church.

The view of Huanchaco from the church (it was perched a ways above the city).

Next to the dock.

In the afternoon we rode caballos de paso, which is a special breed of horses, to the ruins of Chan Chan. The wall on the left in this picture is part of the extensive ruins site. Caballos de paso are special because they are a cross between the Spanish and Arab horses brought to South America bred specifically to trot in a side-to-side instead of up-and-down motion. It looks funny when they trot because their front feet go out to the sides, but they say they are the smoothest riding horses in the whole world. For my part I noticed that along with a relatively smooth side-to-side trot, they also have a lot of energy. My horse, Nela, in particular was a go-to girl. I would have actually preferred it if she’d walked more, but she always insisted on trotting ahead of Sarah and our guide.

We toured one of the palaces of the ruin site on foot, but only learned as much as the sparse signs would tell us because we’d opted not to pay the extra for a guide. It was also a little disappointing because much of the ‘ruins’ were actually reconstructions of the originals. As an all adobe (essentially mud) city it took a lot of damage in the torrential rains of the last El Niño, so they are attempting to reconstruct certain parts. In this photo, the little sign that you can’t read indicates that the entire section is a replicate, not original.

But of course we still had fun touring it. Plus we got to wear the awesome hats our horse guide let us wear :D

Our guide in front of me is wearing all white because tradition dictates that when one rides a caballo de paso white clothes and a hat must be worn. Of course, he said we were pardoned from the white clothes because we’re foreigners, which was a huge relieve because on principle I don’t really own white clothes…

To top it all off, on the way back from the ruins we got to ride along the beach with these adorable little crabs scuttling out of the way of our horses hooves J

Saturday February 19^th, 2011

Our last morning in Trujillo was an attempted whirlwind tour of the ruins on the other side of the city. We wanted to visit both the Huaca (pronounced wa-ka and means temple) de la Luna and the Huaca del Sol, but only ended up with enough time to do a partial tour of the Hauca de la Luna.

At the base of this mountain you can see the Huaca de la Luna.

This is the view of the Huaca del Sol as seen from the Huaca de la Luna. The area in between the two temples used to be the town. As you can see the ruins of the town have been buried and only a small portion has been unearthed to date.

Unfortunately we had to leave the site mid-tour to get to the bus station for our noon bus departure. We then spent the next 9 hours on the bus en route to Lima once again.

The sunset we saw from the bus was absolutely breathtaking.

We decided to spend the night in Central Lima so we could experience a different part of this immense city. To be honest, it was a little more, ummm, sketchy, for lack of a better word, but I guess that‘s to be expected in the central part of a big city away from the touristy locations.

Sunday February 20^th, 2011

The hostel we had chosen was very close to the Plaza de Armas, so in the morning before heading to the airport we were able to take some photos.

Plaza de Armas

After dealing with the pleasantries of the Lima airport (those of you who’ve read my previous posts will recognize my sarcasm here) we were off to home sweet Cusco once again.

A view from the plane.

Upon arriving back in Cusco, I immediately became aware that I was underdressed and that my real jacket was buried in my backpack—no easy access. The weather now is notably rainier and colder than before we left for our trip. Like I said, I missed Cusco but I sure did enjoy the weather of the coast.

When trying to find a taxi to get home from the airport, we learned how badly tourists/gringos can get ripped off if they don’t know better. During my first month in Cusco I never once paid more than 5 soles for a taxi to go anywhere in the city. There were many taxi drivers waiting outside the airport offering their services, so we started asking for prices and were completely astounded. One had the nerve to name the price of 25 soles, while most of the others where in the teens. I was absolutely indignant. We continued walking until we were just outside the airport parking lot where we got a taxi for 5 soles. I truly feel sorry that tourists who are offered a taxi for 25 soles might accept it without knowing better.

Reflecting on the whole trip I’d have to say there’s one thing that really surprised me. Before traveling I thought the trip would offer  lots of opportunities to practice my Spanish, but the reality is that I spoke very little Spanish during the trip. This was partially the fault of Sarah and my bad habit of speaking in English with each other, but moreso due to the fact that virtually every other travel we met spoke English. Even those who had been traveling in South/Central America for months preferred to speak in English over Spanish. At first it seemed convenient, but later I started to loath the fact that every traveler spoke English. First, because it meant that I wasn’t practicing my Spanish, second because it made me envious/feel lazy that these people grew up learning two languages and were already on to their third whereas I’m still struggling to obtain the second, and third because it made me feel transparent. For example, a group of travelers from Germany can probably carry on a conversation in English or Spanish just fine, but if they want to have a private conversation all they have to do is speak in German. Sarah and I, however, only had the options of Spanish and English, which almost everyone seemed to understand to some degree. Hence, I felt transparent and also found it somewhat pretentious that every traveler spoke MY language and never vice versa.

Week of February 21^st, 2011

My time since returning from vacation has been spent washing clothes (and then waiting for 4 days for them to dry—yes, it’s that rainy), going to class, doing homework, studying, going to salsa class, and preparing for Carolyn’s visit and the upcoming trip to Machu Picchu.

On Friday of this week we went to the Chino y Nacho concert. We’d been planning to do this for quite some time and it was a pretty cool gig. I doubt you’ve heard of Chino y Nacho, but they have a few songs that are very popular here. The genre is reggaeton and I have to admit that I’m a huge fan. I’m a sucker for good dance music and I’m pretty sure that’s what reggaeton was invented for :D