Thursday, May 19, 2011

This date will go down in history. Best day of my life, by far. Where do I begin?

We woke up today at 6am, drove to Paracas to take a boat tour of Las Islas Ballestas, protected islands off of the cost of Paracas. We all filed into a small speedboat named Pinguino IV (I love boat rides!) and strapped on our life vests. After about ten minutes we arrived at an enormous island sand dune with an ancient engraving in the sand of a candelabra that points toward Nazca. No one knows how or why its there but it acts as a symbol of Peru’s ancient, mysterious history.

About fifteen minutes later, we arrived at a seemingly desolate and uninhabited cluster of islands. This observation could not have been more inaccurate! Thousands, maybe even millions of birds (piqueros, guanay y pelicanos) live on these islands. The islands are protected because, although the amount of birds seems endless, they are all in danger of becomingextinct. They are important to Peruvians because of their guano, which is exported to other countries for use as fertilizer and is very, very expensive. Guano is exported from these islands once every six years because it takes this amount of time for the birds to produce enough for exportation. The rocks appear to be white, but upon closer inspection, they are actually covered in bird poo! My favorite bird by far was the flightless Humboldt Penguin.I have loved penguins since I was a little girl and was so excited to see them in theirnatural habitat (instead of the Boston Aquarium)! Overhead, there flew an endless flock of big, black birds. Our boat floated underneath them and everyone covered their heads for fear of incoming presents. It was an incredibly peaceful scene to watch.

Lastly, we sailed close to a rocky beach covered in sea lions, or lobos. Our tour guide told us that it was approaching mating season for the lobos, which is why we saw many seals fighting one another to win the affections of a mate. In a few months, he told us, the island would be full of baby seals. There were, however, some younger, smaller sea lions that I wished I could have taken home (so cute!). I could keep one in the bathtub, no? After our tour of Las Islas Ballestas, we sailed back to the harbor to eat lunch and I was able to purchase some souvenirs for my mother and oldest sister.

Next on our tour of the Ica region, we went to an old pisco distillery to see the process of making pisco and most importantly, to try some! The pisco distilling process is very similar to the making of wine in that pisco is also made from grapes. The grapes are stomped by feet and then by machine and then it ferments for two weeks in ceramic jugs. This information, however, may or may not be correct. Our tour guides spoke very quickly and I had some trouble following the process. The tasting was fantastic! I enjoyed the first two piscos, but the second two were much too strong! Gloria, our second tour guide suggested we swish the pisco in our mouths. That was the worst ever. My mouth was on fire! At least I know now not to ever order pisco straight up…

Next stop… SAND DUNING!!! What a thrill! I am always up for an adventure and THIS, my friend, was it! (The ONLY thing I would have changed about this was the fact that my camera battery died! Que horrible!) We arrived at Huacachina, Peru and immediately boarded the sand boogies and took off! Our driver, Jesus, was EL HOMBRE. We sped through the desert, up and over sand dunes and around in circles; it was like a roller coaster in the desert! Our first stop was for picture taking (boo, my camera!) and the views were fantastic. It was late afternoon, just an hour or so before the sun would start to set. We kicked off our shoes and climbed to the top of the nearest sand dune for the most opportune views. Sand duning tip: take off your sneakers because they will quickly fill with sand. On second thought, just prepare to be covered in sand. After a photo shoot, we arrived at our first dune. It was very high and had quite a slant (little did I know, the dunes only got bigger and steeper). There are two ways to boogie down a sand dune: first, with your feet as if snowboarding and second, on your belly. Since I’ve never been snowboarding (successfully) I decided to fly down on my stomach. This proved to be much easier, faster, and more thrilling than standing. We went to two more dunes and in between each one, Jesus took us on another sand boogie roller coaster ride. At our last dune, the tallest and steepest of them all, we watched the sunset and it was breathtaking. Jesus took us for one more ride around the desert before we returned to our bus. Upon exiting Huacachina, we stopped to relax at a beautiful desert oasis that was located in the center of the sand dunes.

We boarded the bus and ended our tour at La Pueblo de Brujas. In all honestly, I had a very difficult time understanding what this story was about. I think our guide could tell we were very tired and in turn, she spoke very quickly. Secondly, it was very dark and I had trouble seeing the snake-like tree that the story was based on. The tree was an enormous palm tree that snaked in and out of the ground. It got like that because many years ago, the city was plagued with witch craft and in order to stem it’s growing popularity, townspeople captured a witch to sacrifice. I’m not clear on how the tree became involved in this, but from what I understood they tried to cast a spell on the witch but she moved at the last minute and the spell hit the tree instead, which is why it snakes so eerily today. I would have loved to go back and see the tree during the day. The story reminded me of Peruvian Salem Witch Trials!

We got back to the hotel that night for some serious descansando! I could feel myself getting a bit sick and run down (So soon on the trip! Pull it together, Raskin!) so I was very happy to have a free day the next day!

…Stay tuned!