The Worst Laid Plans

In hindsight, arriving to Lima at 5:30 am with no idea of accommodation, no transportation knowledge and no sense of direction, armed with little more than a vague idea of where the surf is, was probably not the best idea. Hazy from the 8 hour overnight bus, my cab driver hurriedly threw me out on the side of the freeway to catch my connecting bus, which dropped me off on the side of the freeway in the beach suburb of Punta Hermosa. After an hour of looking at a flat ocean and unable to find internet, I found myself walking the one and a half miles back to the side of the freeway. Long story short, I ended up in Paracas, about 150 miles south of Lima via three buses, one cab, five miles walking and a bit of hitch hiking.

Paracas is a small port town adjacent to the national park of the same name. The national park juts out into the Pacific on a large peninsula where the northern flowing Humboldt Current brings cold Antarctic waters to mix with the warmer waters near the equator, creating an abundance of marine life. According to a marine biologist I met there, 15% of the world's anchovies are fished off the coast here (didn't verify that fact so take it as you will). The sand dunes, steep cliffs and offshore islands that comprise the park are refuge to many birds, including penguins and flamingos, and also seals, foxes and a few other hardy animals.

Miles of dunes with literally no signs of life.

Ummm, that way... I think... Forgoing a guide, I figured out the park on my own with a rented mountain bike.

At the far end of the park, this little bay was home to a couple dozen fishing boats and a handful of restaurants serving fresh seafood and ceviche.

It's a bit hard to tell, but the sand on this beach is bright red from the volcanic rocks that comprise the cliffs in the bay.

Kokopelli Hostel, my beachfront home away from home in Paracas. I'm pretty sure I woke up to see a drunk girl peeing on our dorm room floor in the middle of the night but that's another story...

My time in Paracas was capped off by tasting several types of pisco, Peru's most famous alcohol, and good conversation with an awesome local old bartender, sans drunk idiots stumbling around.

Cheers!