Saturday, October 5, I embarked with 5 other friends to enjoy a week free of classes and schedules in Paracas, Peru. Paracas is a 13 hour bus ride northwest of Arequipa. We scheduled the bus ride for overnight so that we wouldn't loose a whole day, just a little sleep instead. After a very squished taxi ride (all 6 of us and our luggage in a 5 passenger car) we arrived groggy at our Hostel and home for the week: Paracas Backpackers House.
We arrived at the hostel about 7 hours before our reservation started, but the owners took pity on us (we must have looked like the epitome of bedraggled and lost travelers) and let us store our luggage even though we didn't have a room yet. They also allowed us to use the bathrooms and kitchen.
a rooftop view of Paracas
visiting Artesenías!
After cleaning up, we explored the town and turns out it's pretty tiny, but rich with an intense tropical feel with the air off the Pacific and the abundant palm trees. Also we found a great place for ice cream....which may have turned into our daily supply :)
My appetizer was a soup.....I really am not sure what it was called, but it was sea-foody and I ate the clam and it was delicious :)
out to dinner this is Chaufe: a mixture of rice, meat and veggies...quite tasty :)
***The hostel experience was new to all of us. We made fast friends with some people from Netherlands, Austria, Australia, Germany, France and Switzerland. We all went out to dinner together and there were hilarious conversations about Dutch-West-Michigan-Traditions, also we tantalized ourselves by conversing over typical dutch meals and pastries. (I was obnoxious and had to proudly tell each one of them that my sister and her husband live in Rotterdam). After living in Peru for these two months, it was strange to have the common language be English. Spending time with these travelers opened my eyes to more rich cultures, languages and ways of life. It also made me want to quit everything and backpack the whole world.
To cut down on the cost of our trip, we decided to cook together for most meals. This turned out to be a wonderful blessing because we could then cook things such as french toast, and stir fry that normally wouldn't be an option in our Peruvian homes.
This also meant many trips to the local (tiny) supermarket. One day I was very shocked to turn around and see this platter full of chicken feet covered in flies.
***Our main theme of the trip was RELAX and forget about schedules. Therefore, we spent many hours bumming around the hostel playing cards and journaling, exploring the town/coast, finding ocean treasures on the beach, and every night we enjoyed the sunset over the water.
Red, large jelly fish! The immense number of these that we saw and the pollution in the harbor from a factory up the coast deterred us from swimming, but many walks along the water told me that it was a surprisingly comfortable temperature.
So many dead crabs and sting rays!
Pelicans were almost as numerous as seagulls. I enjoyed sitting on the beach and watching them fly and then suddenly dive for a fish.
***Paracas is known for two things: Las Islas Ballestas (aka the Poor-man's Galapagos), and the National Reserve of Paracas. We interrupted our laziness to enjoy these two sites during our week. First we signed up for the boat tour of Las Islas Ballestas that took up the morning.
By boat, we passed this famous design called the "Candelabra". It very similar to the Nazca Lines, because it is so huge that you can only see it's shape from a distance. It is also super old (pre-incan), they don't know who made it (because it's so large and perfect some think aliens), and even though it is made in the side of a dune, it doesn't erode because it is at the perfect angle that the wind goes over it instead of wearing away at it.
Turns out the islands were all rock out croppings. Being a home to all birds and sea lions, I guess vegetation is not necessary.
Our first animal siting was WILD PENGUINS! So fun to see them, I was reminded of the many times I'd gone to the penguin exhibit w/ my cousins on our trips to the zoo. Also confusing because it didn't seem cold enough for penguins, but they seemed to be thriving. 
just some really big red crabs
SO MANY SEA LIONS. The large one at the back of this photo is the "macho-male". He was already twice the size of any other, but the guide told us that he was still a young adult and will grow even larger. Many were just basking in the sun on the rocks, and others were climbing up to a better tanning location. It was so fun to watch them climb because they just wriggle up with their flippers.
This was a beach known as "matrimony beach" for the sea lions. According to our guide this is where they mate every year and if you come in the right season you can see the beach filled with thousands of mating sea lions. I told this to my sister Tania, and she said that she would rather NOT see that. I think I might agree...
Many, many birds populated these islands. So much so that when you see the white rock it is actually white do to the amount of bird poop (guano) that covers the rock. As you can imagine the smell that comes from these rocks was not very pleasant and definitely detectable from the boat. I thought of Taylor, Aunt Missy and Grandma DeBoer with their sensitive noses... they might not have done so well on this tour.
Another danger with so many birds was that you would get pooped on. Before we left, we were advised to bring a hat, because apparently in every boat tour there are multiple people who return with poop in their hair. I luckily avoided this fate, but my sleeve did get splattered. (I couldn't help but laugh at the thought that if Taylor were there she would have definitely been pooped on :))
Here's a good picture of the intense bird poop.
***Later on in the week we visited the National Reserve of Paracas. This National Park is known for it's variety of beaches. The other unique thing is that the coast creates a great contrast between desert and water.
There are many ways to tour the Reserve. There are many ways to tour the reserve, but some hostel friends tipped us off that renting quads is the best way. They were right. After a quick lesson of how to drive, we were handed helmets and the keys. A man in a janky jeep lead us to the Reserve entrance and told us to be back in 4 hours.
Our first stop was "Castle Rock". The cliffs and water reminded me a lot of Pictured Rocks in the U.P. Michigan on steroids with desert behind instead of forest. So stunning of course :)
The first beach we viewed from a look out, and it was the classic white sand.
The next beach was one of the only three red beaches in the world! So more of a reddish-brown, but still cool :)
The third beach was my favorite. The sand was actually tiny pieces of shell and surprisingly soft. I thought it would cut my feet, but instead found it to be very smooth. The water here as well was a very comfortable temperature, but the biting wind kept us from swimming. Getting out of the water and standing in the cold wind and then riding quad didn't sound very fun, but we enjoyed the beach thoroughly with out swimming.
The final beach is famous for it's incredibly soft sand. Honestly, I felt like I was walking on a cloud.
After our long day we were exhausted and rewarded ourselves with some much deserved ice cream :)
***Friday morning with sad hearts we left Paracas. Paracas Backpackers House had become our home and it was hard to also leave our new friends, but we still had one more town to hit before heading home to Arequipa. Huacachina is a town that surrounds the Laguna of an oasis. The area is stunningly beautiful.....for about 2 hours. Then we felt overwhelmed at how touristy the town was. Every person we met wanted money from us, wanted us to buy their over priced tour or food, or take a picture with us gringos. To continually say no was exhausting and not. fun. But we managed to enjoy the beauty and the popular activities of sandboarding (snowboarding/sledding on sand) and dune buggying (basically a roller coaster on sand). After one night, we made our way to the terminal to catch our bus back home to Arequipa.
so. vast.
This sunset in the desert made me feel like I was in Aladdin :)
After another 13 hr bus ride I finally glimpsed the volcanoes Chichani and Misti and my stomach was filled with the familiar feeling of turning on to your street after a long vacation. Upon returning to Arequipa, I have realized how much of a home it really is to me and the idea that I only have two months left leaves a pit in my stomach. So I would like to inform everyone that I will not be returning, but rather finishing the school year here and then traveling the world hostel style for the next 5 years. It's been nice knowing you!
k. well that's a joke (funnier to some than others... sorry mom...). But really this semester abroad has done everything, but quench my thirst for travel. Instead, it has shown me just how much more there is to see. I am so thankful for this experience and plan to squeeze every moment out of these next two months that I can.
