Paracas National Reserve

Arriving in Paracas was a refreshing experience.

Sitting in a bay on the Pacific ocean, Paracas is a small village with very little, although has a few tourist attractions such as the Ballestas Islands and the National Reserve (not be mistaken with National Park, this is a serious dessert of about 335,000 hectares). Tourists usually stop here for 1 night alone. Upon arrival at the bus station I immediately decided I did not want to arrive in larger places late in the evening and have since changed my bus tickets to the morning and has been working well since.

I immediately made friends with one of the employees at the bus station who was glad to see me whenever we ran into each other for the rest of my time in Paracas. Amazing how friends can be made from practically nothing but simply from friendliness and being open-minded as a tourist and not turning every local down because of fear or suspicion.

At the gates of the bus station there was a man calling me, standing on the threshold of the property, ¨my friend! my friend! how are you my friend!?¨ I was unsure, although this man proved to be the competition and full of cheaper prices. He directed me to a different hostel than where I was planning for a cheap 15 soles per night, which is around 6 dollares. I was unsure upon entry through a wooden fence although as soon as I saw three bodies sitting around a shitty plastic table drinking and smoking I knew it was going to be a good time. There turned out to be three girls, two from Norway, one from Holland who had all just begun their travels and one guy from Sweden who had been travelling for the last 14 months! He was an interesting character, he had long hair tied back in bun with a lazy eye which I had to focus on not focusing on if you know what I mean. They were a fun group although we did not last nearly long enough, We all split up the next day after a long night of learning the salsa in an empty bar with enthusiastic men. Seeing a fat man dance the salsa is quite an interesting sight.

The next day I was up early to take the boat ride into the ocean to see the Ballestas Islands where thousands of birds flock, why? I am not completely sure? The only reason I saw was to couple up with other birds and shit on the rocks... The ¨guano¨that is produced there is one of the major exports for Peru, for what? Again, I don´t know exactly. The smell was overwhelming...
Never have I see so many birds in one place, just sitting, doing nothing. Also there were penguins and sea lions, also doing nothing. It was more interesting seeing the people working and collecting the guano to ship it off, poor souls.

After that I rushed off to go to the national reserve, a 4 hour tour into the desert to see the landscape and fossils. Many beautiful beaches and cliffs dropping away into the waves below. The desert was harder base, less comprised of sand. This is from millions of years of solidifying then breaking again from earthquakes (which are the most common natural disaster around this area). Paracas is located directly next to a fault line, so they experience some of the worst earthquakes in the world, the nearby city of Pisco was left in pieces after the last earthquake last year. When driving through this was very evident. People working to rebuild structures that may have broken several times over and may yet break down again next year, just after they finish building it. Pisco was a sad looking town.

The Paracas area is one of the best to experience fresh sea-food straight from the ocean. It was fantastic!

When coming back to the hostel, I was not looking forward to being alone after the great times made the evening before. I arrived and there was a boring german man travelling Peru, and I assumed it would be better than nothing. An hour latter, while still down about the evening and the lack of social interaction, a short columbian woman came in strutting in and we connected immediately. Another good night came along with more salsa lessons in a different bar, and cool connections made with both gringos and locals.

All in all, Paracas was an awesome stop