We woke up early in Paracas...It was my worst night of this trip. The hotel was exceptionally loud. I think the way it worked was that the family lived on the main floor and housed guests on the second and third levels. Now I usually consider myself a flexible person and open to most circumstances, but I think I snapped last night.
There was soooooo much noise coming from the first level. I couldn't quite make out through the the constant yelling, banging and screaming if the kid (2-5-ish?) was being bad or the woman in charge of the kid was being abusive. The ruckus went on for hours. followed by banging, clanging and knocking, and peppered with a battery of BLARING Spanish television. When I asked the owner if we could switch rooms, his reply: they are all like this and you are only here for one night, so it's not so bad. OK then.
So we got up and headed to the Marina to make our to visit the Ballena islands, part of the Paracas Reserve and home to sea lions, whales, Humboldt Penguins (the small ones), and more birds than I have ever seen in one place in my entire life. It was sort or beautiful and also a lot creepy (you know how I feel about being up close and personal with nature). I mean, all those winged creatures are the descendants of dinosaurs...so I am pretty sure if they could have, they would have snatched us out of the boat and eaten us up. Just saying.
The penguins were cute, we saw a Humpback whale (or at least it's tale) and cruised around the island. The Peruvian government collects the bird poop, called guano, every 7 years and sells it as fertilizer. I am not sure where they are in their 7 year cycle, but the island was very pungent. There was a lot of bird poo. In fact, the guide said that the parts of the Island that looked like sand, were actually covered in guano.
On the marina waiting to board the board. I bought the hats last minute to avoid any nasty bird-poop in the hair incidents.
Can you spot the 3 penguins?
Sea lions
So after a cruise around the islands in a speed boat (add that to our list of vehicles), we headed back to the "hotel" to pick up our luggage...which we now need 2 taxis to port about. So while James and the big luggage went to the bus station, the boys and I stayed at the hotel. Diego went to buy snacks (this has been an important part of our survival strategy--always having snacks available). So I have him the equivalent of $30 CDN and sent him to the store. He did not come back.
After a long-ish time, I sent Mateo to get him. Mateo returned saying Diego was not in the store. I started to get worried. I was pretty sure Diego was around, but the taxi was coming....we had a bus to catch and NO KID.
So I was wondering the streets of Paracas yelling "Diego, Diego." Still no kid. I overhear a cute American tourist in the streets say to her friend that it sounds like some one is calling their dog. I wanted to punch her in the face because by this time I was actually getting worried.
Of course, as these things go, Diego shows up a little while later. He went to a different store, they didn't understand him and he had to wait a very long time for change...so another crisis diverted. We head to the bus station and board the most LUXURIOUS bus I have ever been in. Ever. First class service, the seats reclined 160 degrees, leg supports, TV monitor with movies, games, etc and a waiter. When we took the "normal" bus to Ica I had been impressed with bus travel in Peru. Now I was blown away. I have never in my life seen that level of comfort in land (or any kind of) travel. Wow.
On the bus
We arrive in Lima by 3:30, find a taxi and head for our last hotel this trip. We had made the decision several days ago to upgrade from our pre booked economy class hotel to a more fancy hotel for our last days of this trip. That was a very good decision. I am writing this post sitting at a breakfast table that has been set with fancy plates and silver and is lighted with a crystal chandelier.
When the boys get up they are going to LOVE this breakfast- eggs (not going to be a hit), bacon and sausage (will be a hit), plain white bread (hit), American coffee (hit with James), yogurt, cornflakes (hit)...you get the picture.
Of course, the taxi driver had an exceptionally hard time locating out fancy hotel. He had to stop 4 times to ask the police for directions. Police are stationed at almost every 4-5 blocks on the streets in Lima--men and women. I have heard from several people that the police are all corrupt here. THe Peruvian government started to employ women police because they were thought to be less corrupt...that plan sort of worked, I hear. All though I heard some outrage in Ica from a taxi driver that even the women were corrupt. Anyhow, 4 policemen/police women later, we arrived at the fancy hotel.
Everything good. My only regret: not punching the American in the face.
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