Paracas, Ica & Nasca
First of all, the computers are slow in this part of Peru. When I try to respond to your e-mail messages they tell me the time to contact the server to send a message has ran out so I don't think you are getting my messages... I will look for faster connections in Cuzco. Rosana, I am going to Cuzco today at 5:00 pm. It will take me 15 hours to get there - I will try to e-mail you once I get there, or call you, if I am unsuccessful.
On Wednesday I went to Paracas National Park. I was supposed to go to Islas Ballestas but there was a strong wind and the waves were high so no ships were allowed to go out to the ocean that day. I took a tour to Paracas (because there's no other way to get there) and I went, with a few other tourists, to see beautiful beaches, long and sandy with beautiful rock formations called La Catedral. It's called the Cathedral because you can walk inside the cave and its like walking inside a church. To get to the beaches we had to drive in the desert. It was awfully hot there but very beautiful because there's absolutely nothing there except nature. No human intervention of any kind. One of the girls was laughing that we should find a skeleton like the ones seen in movies and we did! We saw a skull of a horse or a donkey, remains of a sea lion and a carcass of a bird being eaten by a bird belonging to the condor family. Later that day I went to St. Andres again since I liked it so much. I had an amazing dish in a local restaurant. It was right next to the mercado des pescadores so the cook said: "You wait here a minute, I will go get the fish you want and I will prepare it for you". I don't think it can get any more fresh than that! It was ready in 20 minutes. And very delicious. Steamed fish in ginger and onion broth with potatoes. Mniam, mniam.
On Thursday the weather was better and at 7:20 I went with the same guide to Islas Bollestas. The islands are called by the locals "The islands of bird poop" and it becomes obvious why when you get close to it - you can immediately smell it... There are so many birds sitting on the rocks (the islands are called "Little Galapagos" because there's a great variety of migrating birds and fish inhabitating it) that they produce incredible amounts of poop. The islands are then white. The only industry on the island is well, poop. People scrape it off the rock (literally with shovels) and sell it as fertilizers. We got to the islands by a speed boat (I know what you think Kura but there are no sailboats available...). The good thing about it was that we could get very close to the rocks. We saw thousands of birds: pelicans, various kinds of seagulls, Humboltd penguins, some kind of a hawk y mucho mas. Also, and most interestigly for me, we saw sealions. We saw "the nursery" - the beach where the young are born. The guide told us there were 1,500 sealions on that beach, babies and moms, and about 4,000 seagulls total on the islands. We saw how males were fighting for females, how the mothers were teaching their babies how to swim, how they were resting on the rocks scratching, sleeping, yawning... We also saw how the "teenagers" were playing in the water. It was amazing to see how great was their sense of humor! I couldn't take my eyes off them. I very much enjoyed that trip. On our way back I talked to the guide who is a professional ornitologist. We talked about nature preservation. He was telling me how the foreign companies who come to Pisco and Paracas and establish their plants pollute the waters by disposing caustic soda into the ocean and how it kills plankton and so there's less marine life around this area since the fish who feed on plankton, and then in turn the bigger fish feeding on the smaller, stay away from the shores. The fishermen have to go further out to the ocean (instad of 2 hours away, it takes them 6 hours) to find fish. We both decided that there's nothing wrong with profit the companies make but there's a huge problem with "maximum profit" which doesn't take into consideration the wellbeing of the native people. I told him about the non-governmental organizations and marine policy programs which deal exactly with finding solutions for foreign capital and local populations. In this case finding a safer way to clean the tanks used for fish processing than caustic soda (or disposing the chemicals away from the shore). Later that day I got on the bus to Ica, 2 hours away. I got there in the afternoon and took a taxi to Huacachina - a small resort in the middle of the desert. It is famous for a natural lake with sulphur waters which are supposed to have curative abilities. I asked the driver for an economic hostel and he drove me to Casita de Arena. I didn't like it much but I was so hot and so tired that I decided to stay there. I left my backpack and I went straight to the lake. It was very nice, with palm trees around it. I soaked in the warm green and muddy water for an hour. The lake and the few hotels and restaurants are in a small valley and around are the sand dunes. It is amazing that the valley is not swallowed by the desert. The owner of the hotel was organizing an outing to vineyards of Ica (famous in Peru) as it was the celebration of the end of the harvest and I decided to go with the group. And I regretter it very much afterwards. I would have much preferred to go alone. The tourists from the hostel were of the worst kind - a bunch of girls and boys in their 30s who acted as if they were let loose of the leash. Their behaviour was so horrible (they basically got drunk during the first half an hour of wine tasting and were acting incredibly stupid) that I slowly separated myself from them and went to explore the wine bodegas on my own. It was much better. I went to one where people were sitting at long tables, enjoying the various kinds of wine and picso and having dinner. There were also dances performed by kids and teenagers - very nice. I left the hostel today at 6:00 am, totally disgusted with the amount of broken bottles on the floors. I came to Nasca and more about it soon.
On Wednesday I went to Paracas National Park. I was supposed to go to Islas Ballestas but there was a strong wind and the waves were high so no ships were allowed to go out to the ocean that day. I took a tour to Paracas (because there's no other way to get there) and I went, with a few other tourists, to see beautiful beaches, long and sandy with beautiful rock formations called La Catedral. It's called the Cathedral because you can walk inside the cave and its like walking inside a church. To get to the beaches we had to drive in the desert. It was awfully hot there but very beautiful because there's absolutely nothing there except nature. No human intervention of any kind. One of the girls was laughing that we should find a skeleton like the ones seen in movies and we did! We saw a skull of a horse or a donkey, remains of a sea lion and a carcass of a bird being eaten by a bird belonging to the condor family. Later that day I went to St. Andres again since I liked it so much. I had an amazing dish in a local restaurant. It was right next to the mercado des pescadores so the cook said: "You wait here a minute, I will go get the fish you want and I will prepare it for you". I don't think it can get any more fresh than that! It was ready in 20 minutes. And very delicious. Steamed fish in ginger and onion broth with potatoes. Mniam, mniam.
On Thursday the weather was better and at 7:20 I went with the same guide to Islas Bollestas. The islands are called by the locals "The islands of bird poop" and it becomes obvious why when you get close to it - you can immediately smell it... There are so many birds sitting on the rocks (the islands are called "Little Galapagos" because there's a great variety of migrating birds and fish inhabitating it) that they produce incredible amounts of poop. The islands are then white. The only industry on the island is well, poop. People scrape it off the rock (literally with shovels) and sell it as fertilizers. We got to the islands by a speed boat (I know what you think Kura but there are no sailboats available...). The good thing about it was that we could get very close to the rocks. We saw thousands of birds: pelicans, various kinds of seagulls, Humboltd penguins, some kind of a hawk y mucho mas. Also, and most interestigly for me, we saw sealions. We saw "the nursery" - the beach where the young are born. The guide told us there were 1,500 sealions on that beach, babies and moms, and about 4,000 seagulls total on the islands. We saw how males were fighting for females, how the mothers were teaching their babies how to swim, how they were resting on the rocks scratching, sleeping, yawning... We also saw how the "teenagers" were playing in the water. It was amazing to see how great was their sense of humor! I couldn't take my eyes off them. I very much enjoyed that trip. On our way back I talked to the guide who is a professional ornitologist. We talked about nature preservation. He was telling me how the foreign companies who come to Pisco and Paracas and establish their plants pollute the waters by disposing caustic soda into the ocean and how it kills plankton and so there's less marine life around this area since the fish who feed on plankton, and then in turn the bigger fish feeding on the smaller, stay away from the shores. The fishermen have to go further out to the ocean (instad of 2 hours away, it takes them 6 hours) to find fish. We both decided that there's nothing wrong with profit the companies make but there's a huge problem with "maximum profit" which doesn't take into consideration the wellbeing of the native people. I told him about the non-governmental organizations and marine policy programs which deal exactly with finding solutions for foreign capital and local populations. In this case finding a safer way to clean the tanks used for fish processing than caustic soda (or disposing the chemicals away from the shore). Later that day I got on the bus to Ica, 2 hours away. I got there in the afternoon and took a taxi to Huacachina - a small resort in the middle of the desert. It is famous for a natural lake with sulphur waters which are supposed to have curative abilities. I asked the driver for an economic hostel and he drove me to Casita de Arena. I didn't like it much but I was so hot and so tired that I decided to stay there. I left my backpack and I went straight to the lake. It was very nice, with palm trees around it. I soaked in the warm green and muddy water for an hour. The lake and the few hotels and restaurants are in a small valley and around are the sand dunes. It is amazing that the valley is not swallowed by the desert. The owner of the hotel was organizing an outing to vineyards of Ica (famous in Peru) as it was the celebration of the end of the harvest and I decided to go with the group. And I regretter it very much afterwards. I would have much preferred to go alone. The tourists from the hostel were of the worst kind - a bunch of girls and boys in their 30s who acted as if they were let loose of the leash. Their behaviour was so horrible (they basically got drunk during the first half an hour of wine tasting and were acting incredibly stupid) that I slowly separated myself from them and went to explore the wine bodegas on my own. It was much better. I went to one where people were sitting at long tables, enjoying the various kinds of wine and picso and having dinner. There were also dances performed by kids and teenagers - very nice. I left the hostel today at 6:00 am, totally disgusted with the amount of broken bottles on the floors. I came to Nasca and more about it soon.
posted by Asia Kabat at 9:11 AM
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