Paracas, Ica, Huacachina and Nazca
Easter in Peru
Midway through the social sabbatical we’re hit by Easter. 4 days in Peru with nothing to kill but time. 5 of us ended up on a bus going south towards Nazca, passing Paracas, Ica and Hucachina.
Before leaving, however, we went to the center of Lima.
Lima centro
Being setup in the posh neighborhood of Miraflores and visiting the client on a daily basis in a similar part of Lima does make you forget that this is not Europe. So catching the bus to a part of Lima that better reflect the differences in income levels was very educational. Strolling the city center on Maundy Thursday was a fantastic experience. The strange mix of old, new and generally ill maintained buildings made the experience completely different from your regular city center visit. And certainly an eye-opener for me that so far have seen little but the Miraflores coastline.
Having passed the grand Plaza Mayor with the cathedral and the presidential palace we soon found ourselves in the cosy parc de Murella. The park has a splendid view of the surroundings, where the pueblo Jóvenes (new towns) can be seen crawling up the hills. These new towns are the Peruvian flavor of the Brazilian favela and are populated mostly by people fleeing the rural areas in search of a better future. Our colleagues on the Educa team is looking to motivate the children of these towns to attend school to increase chances of a better future. At Inkamoss on the other hand the trick is to improve lives in the mountain regions, to reduce the migration towards the challenging life of the Pueblo Jóvenes.
After 5 hours of city center walking we find ourselves in the hotel Gran Bolivar, where notable persons such as Clark Gable and Ava Gardner once held court. The hotel feature a wonderful bar where the supreme version of the local cocktail – the Pisco Sour – is made. They call it Catedral Pisco Sour and serve it in Catedral glasses just like Hemingway is said to have enjoyed this unique drink. This was my first good Pisco Sour. I now find myself hooked.
Easter trip
Friday morning 4:30 we were picked up by the Lobaton-family and their minibus.
After 3 hours of driving, Paracas was reached. From Paracas you can catch a speed boat to near by Islas Ballistas. Islas Ballistas is a collection of small islands with an abundance of bird life as well as large seal colonies. But the most remarkable feature – I would have to say – was the smell of guano. Bird excrements – also used as an extremely potent fertilizer.
En route to the islands we could observe the beautiful Candelabra carved into the sea side hill.
For lunch we went to a wine farm (never knew it was possible to grow wine this close to equator and in this heat). This was an amazing place (as Maz would have said). We waited 1/2 hour for a table. The waiting time was spent in the lush garden with a cool and sweet sparkling white wine. Wonderful.
We bought some red wine and enjoyed one of these excellent bottles with a great meal. Vina Tacama can be recommended. It is worth the tricky drive.
Next in line was the dunes of Huacachina. Huacachina seems to be the preferred place for a night of fun and games in this part of the country. The place was packed with people and sand buggys. A 10 seat off road vehicle with an open engine.
Apart from the beauty of the scenery, the fun of riding the dunes both motorised and on a sandboard was simply fantastic. No wonder the locals come here in numbers.
We finished the day by the pool in nearby Ica with fantastic food. I can highly recommend the Carmelo hotel.
Day 2
Once again we got up early. Nazca being the next stop was 3 hours away, and the flight booking was for 9:30.
The Nazca lines are drawings of animals in very large scale in the desert between Nazca and Palpa. They are believed to have been made by Nazca people between 200 BC and 700 AC. As the drawings are very large they can only be fully appreciated from the air. Hence a series of small companies compete for customers on the small Nazca air field. As the planes were small, proper weight balance is a must. The five of us should be no problem for an airplane with 6 passenger seats, but after each of us had been on the weight the sad message was conveyed: 15 kg too much!!! That meant we had to split the party between 2 airplanes.
I drew Verena and Malinee.
The flight was half an hour of twist and turns, making one of us feel rather sick. But the scenery was absolutely stunning.
The ride back is 7 hours. On the way we stop in Ica to visit the etnographic museum. A nice little place where the main attraction is the pointed sculls and the mummies. It was tradition for the Nazca people to put the infants in a sort of skull straight jacket (while the scull was still soft), to make the head a bit more pointed. An odd tradition …
but who am I to point fingers, we’re no different now a days.
We were not allowed to take photos, but below link
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_cranial_deformation
should give you an idea.
Maru from the local branch of Pyxera arranged this nice little trip for us. Thanks a lot – it was a great experience.
Although tired we’re ready now for the final stretch of our 4 week assignment.
The Inkamoss team will be heading for the Andes again in the coming week. The final week will be all about consolidating, validating and documenting our findings.
