Day off in Paracas

Hola, amigos.

Was granted the day off today by the powers that be. First nice day in awhile as it has been pretty hazy and cloudy. Today was great. 80 or so and sun. After a debacle of a morning dealing with alarms and communication gaps the width of a football field, Christian (my driver) and I headed south of Chincha towards the coast town of Paracas to do some sightseeing. Paracas is known for the marine and bird life along the islands that surround the town. Along the way, we passed the city of Pisco which bears the same name as Peru's favorite adult beverage: a Pisco sour. I'm not sure what all goes into one, but I do know a raw egg is included in the list of ingredients. Everyone says their great and supposively a few will get you buzzin pretty good. Work hasn't been that hellacious just yet to resort to alcohol, so I'm holding off for now...I'll stick to Inca Cola awhile longer.

We get to Paracas and mosey around town for a bit while we waited for the tour boat to get ready. If you ever travel to Peru, know that 30 Peruvian minutes equates to about 60+ American minutes. After fidgeting around for an hour and just about asking for my money back, they loaded us 18 of us (I'm the only gringo in the boat) into a 20 to 25 foot run-a-bout fitted with a pair of 150 outboard Mercs. The boat saw better days, but I didn't feel too concerned about it, but the life preserves were a different story. I don't think they would stay afloat in wet concrete...thank goodness we didn't have to test them.

The boat ride was a blast...the captain had me switch from one side of the boat to the other several times to help balance the load. Once that was taken care of, we got up to cruising speed and shot out towards the islands waiting for us 15 minutes away off the bow. Once we got into open water, we started cutting through 3 foot swells and chop that caused the boat to list and spray the poor chaps and chapettes on the port side. Some people were using the seat cushions to block the water from drenching them...it was hysterical. The whole boat was rollin.

The island tours were pretty awesome to see...we started out next to this island that was half covered in bird doody. Apparantly, the Incas used to trek all the way out to the island back in the day to harvest the doo for whatever Inca's did with it. It wreeked pretty badly. Tons of birds flying around out there...millions of 'em. Pelicans, a ton of indiginous birds and penguins too! Those guys were pretty neat to see waddling around. Sealions were also lounging around all over the place. They were all conked out, soaking up the sun. After an hour or so of checking out the wildlife, we stopped about a mile off the coast at one point to observe these huge markings in the sand. Sort of like a crop circle but made in the rock/desert earth. They don't know who made it, when it was made or what it means. It's about two football fields long and a football field wide or so...If you ask me, it's got aliens written all over it! A few pix from the tour are up on the photo site (see link below).

On the way back, I found myself in the wrong side of the boat as we were now the target for the waves and splash. We got wet, but shielded ourselves pretty good with the seat cushions...poor Christian was at the edge of the boat and got half soaked. We're both still cleaning salt out of ears!

On the way back, we stopped at a tummy-friendly resturant for a late lunch. There were a bunch of gringos in there, and I started to feel a little more at home...until none of them had much to say. I'd sport a head nod and a smile...they'd turn their head. I was puzzled...then it hit me when I heard them talking at their tables...they weren't Americans...they were Brits! Mystery solved. There was a flock of British folks on a grand two week tour of Peru. The tour guide was pretty hip and said they were just starting their journey.

That was Sunday. I'm pretty much fully recovered from my stomach thingy and will give my pathetic exercise routine of jumping jax and pushups a go here in a bit. There's a kid's jungle gym out in the backyard here a El Condado and I think I'll use it to do pull-ups and chins to mix it up a bit.

That's it for now. I hope you enjoy the pictures. Cheers