Perusing Peru Part 3: Paracas & Islay

January 4 & 6th

After an amazing trip to the interior and Machu Picchu, I had not really looked any further into the next stops in Peru. I did know that the Nazca lines are closest to our Paracas stop, but we could only find flights to see them, and I didn’t want to spend $400 to see them.

As it turns out, our port is actually in a national park, so there were a few choices of activities. It’s far more than I was anticipating.

The park area is desert, and some residents traveled in cars or ATVs to see the dunes and oasis.

The town had an interesting water park on the beach to go play on as well as shops and restaurants.

View of the shops leading to the beach where we were dropped off.

There were several statues of marine life lining the beach walkway.

Many of us chose to join for a two-hour boat tour of a nearby island, Islas Ballestas, which is often called the poor man’s Galapagos. It cost $20 for the tour.

All ports in Peru require a shuttle bus for people because they are working ports, and regulations state that people may not walk on them. Most of the tours start at 10 am in the town a 25-minute ride away. Because of this, I and many other residents were lining up, waiting for the gangway to open at 8 am.

On the drive through the park, we went through glorious desert scenery with the ocean as a backdrop. It very much reminded me of my time in Saudi Arabia and how much I liked desert living.

Paracas is a small but busy tourist town. There were many shops selling souvenirs and seafood. I picked up 2 visors for 15 and 25 soles (about $6 and $10 cad). I also purchased handmade earrings for $3-4.

His crab soup was giant and had a whole crab in there.

The tour was the best $20 spent.

We headed out on a small but fast catamaran to see the Paracas Candelabra on the Paracas Penisula. It is a geoglyph of unknown origin from about 200 BCE. It is 600 feet tall and is the only geoglyph away from the Nazca lines and predates them.

There is little rain and the wind hits the backside allowing this sign to stay for hundreds of years.

Speeding on our way, we arrived at Islas Ballestas and could see Humboldt penguins, Blue-footed boobies, seals, crabs, and Guanay guano birds.

The trip back was a blur of fast movement, whipping wind, and waves crashing into my face. Everyone on the back half of the boat was soaking wet on return. I laughed because the tour description says, “Feel the sea breeze caress your face as we speed back to shore.” Nowhere does it mention the waterboarding, and the breeze was not caressing, assaulting sure.

It was so much fun.

The following day was a sea day, and I was looking forward to it after the longer trip I had taken.

Islay was our last stop in Peru, and it was short. The town is very small and has almost nothing to do. Angela, Steve, and I got off to go for a walk and spend my last 7 pesos.

I say it is Arica but that is wrong we are in Matarani port

The town has one main square where the shuttle dropped us off and several small shops. I was surprised at how good many sidewalks were and that they had several well-built miradors on the west side of town.

Some people took busses or cabs to the nearest bigger town for the Festival of Kings or a 2-hour trip to Arequipa city, but with only a short time here and a holiday, we wanted to stay closer to the boat.