Off to Paracas National Reserve

Sunday, March 20, 2016 WTRD  (Spring Equinox in Northern Hemisphere, Fall Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere)

Today is the first day of fall here in Peru.  It still feels like summer.

Up at 6:00 am, we did a bit more packing adjustment as we will only take the small bags with us for the next 14 days, and leave the larger duffle at this hotel as we will return here before flying to Quito.  We take a few extra travel medications, packs of coffee and tea, make sure we have some warm clothing for the high elevations, cool weather clothing for the lower elevations.

By 8:30 we are on the bus, a beautiful 30 person bus for the ten of us...everyone gets a window seat and lots of room to spread out.  We are on our way out of Miraflores District of the Lima Region of Peru.

Each district in a region governs itself.  This one is rich and the environment reflects the money it collects from tourists and residents.  Nice malecon, luxury apartments, green landscaping, police security.  We see the changes as we travel from one district to another and away from the beach and inland just a little bit.  

The sea attracts money, the dust and dirt attract all of those poor folks who have little or nothing.  They can get the dust and dirt cheaply and can build a shanty, but there is no water, electricity, plumbing, or roads.  Just a piece of dust and a place to call their own.  It looks and feels like Tijuana and perhaps a few steps below.  Dismal.

The contrast and income disparity is stark.  Even in the gated communities of more wealth, the next door neighbors live in the dust with no plumbing or water.  I am glued to the windows of our air conditioned bus photographing the contrasts.

Our first pit stop around 10:30 is a convenience store still in the Lima Region.  The Ruta 97 store in the middle of the desert, rivals the best convenience stores at home.  We buy some sodas, Planters peanuts, Diamond almonds, and bags of M and M's to make a trail mix For 42 sols, about 11 USD.  Then we are on the road again heading south. A gated beach house community is advertising houses for $59,000.

There is a subtle change in the composition of the dust.  It appears to have more sand. A house here is advertised for $28,000.  One wonders if it has any plumbing or water.  There doesn't seem to be any building codes.  

We descend slightly into a valley.  Immediately we begin to see a little more green.  They must get more rain or have access to aquifers.  There are crops and banana trees.  Between lush green belts we are  once again in vast stretches of desert, small little houses on squares of land that are being constructed from blocks and bricks by the government.  Apparently there are no takers.

Just add a thatch roof!  Why on earth would anyone want to live here?  There is no water, no greenery, and no obvious signs of employment anywhere.  Ten kilometers further down the road we see gas/oil refinery and a dust grey block house city.  Many of the houses, if not most are vacant.  I think the government thought this would be a good place to house the homeless.  Testimony to the intelligence of poor people, the houses are vacant and decaying in the dust.

Politicians take advantage of the walls and buildings of these ghost cities to paint campaign slogans.  Vote for So and So for Security and Opportunity.

Ha!  On the outskirts of a green belt we see miles and miles of long thatched roofed chicken farms.  Many look vacant, but many are crowded with chickens in cages.  Roast chicken is Peruvian dish.  Poor chickens.  They are better dead than living here.

A new freeway interchange is being built and we detour around a few construction sites.  The interchange is built above a green belt where we spy standing ground water.  About 11:30 we finally leave the Lima region and enter the city of Chincha and the Chincha region known for pisco (stilled wine), vineyards, and wines. 

Chincha is not the Napa Valley.  It is a poor agricultural city.  It is known as the black city where many African slave descendants live.  The specialty menu in this town is cat.  I am glad we are not stopping for lunch yet.

We move slowly through heavy traffic on the two lane Ruta 97 through the town.Known as Tuk Tuks in Thailand, the non-licensed, three wheeled taxies are called motobikes here and they squeeze in and out traffic.  

How do you wash a car with little to no water?

There are many of them and it is cheap and possibly dangerous transportation for the locals.  A trip all around the fair sized town of Chincha costs about 2 sols, less than $1.00.

After passing through Chincha and Pisco, we arrive in a desolate desert seaside area of Paracas, 16 degrees south latitude of the equator.

We are in the northern edge of the driest non-polar tropic desert in the world, the Atacama.  The Atacama's central area is in northern Chile and extends into Peru. Our guide Luis with extensive knowledge and a good sense of humor explains this phenomenon, and turns a very "dry" topic into one of extreme interest.

Rock Salted Road Bed

In this nature preserve, fossils over 300 million years old have been found.  We saw some of an ancient seabed, 30 million years old.  Human remains of the Ica have been dated 6500 years BC.  The only living creatures we see are the sea birds that live right on the ocean front.  We saw nothing growing nor evidence of any critters in this barren place.

Tomorrow, we rise early and take a boat offshore to an island that is considered to be a mini Galapagos where we might even spot a penguin...yes a penguin.   This is a part of the phenomenon of Paracas and the cold antarctic Humboldt current that pushes north up the coast creating a penguin waterway.

All is Well with the Worrall Travel R's in Paracas, Peru