Wednesday 9 May 2012

Day 46 - Paracas, Peru (3 May 2012)

Day 46 – Paracas, Peru (3 May 2012)

We wake up and pack up our gear to leave Huancachina.  We know that there is a bus leaving Ica for Paracas at 10am so we are hoping to catch that.  We settle our bill and taxi back to Ica.  Ica bus station is only about a ten minute drive away from Huacachina, although it feels like we are in the middle of nowhere with the sand dunes all over the place.  This is why I have really enjoyed Huacachina, small town in its own little world, perfect! We get to the bus station and book tickets for the 10am bus for 20 soles each (10).  We are lucky as this bus is a double decker and the front two seats on the top level haven’t been booked.  Unfortunately this bus ride is only an hour, so we won’t get the pleasure of the prime seats for very long.  We arrive in Paracas at about 11-1130.  Paracas is another small town of about 2,500 people and it is located on the Pacific coastline.  It is fantastic to see the ocean again, I havnt seen it since about day 11 in La Serena, Chile.  We walk to the hostel where we have made reservations.  The hostel is called Paracas Backpackers House.  The owner has sent us an email warning us of the other backpacker operations naming their hostels in a similar fashion.  This is because the hostel we are staying at has built up such a good reputation that the other hostels are trying to trick the tourists that they have reached the right hostel.  Not us though, Ann and Rico are more onto it than that (the email helped though, as there was a picture of the hostel attached).  The owner of this hostel is called Alberto and he is very helpful.  When we arrive he tells us about the town and points out what restaurants are expensive, which ones and cheap and which ones are cheap and very good.  This hostel is really good.  We have simple rooms, but it is clean and tidy and exactly what we need.  This hostel is full as well.  All the travellers have heard such good things about Alberto, that they have come to stay at his hostel (and they havnt been tricked by other hostels).  We book two tours with Alberto for the next day which cost us 45 soles for both (22.50).  We then go for a walk around the town and look for somewhere for lunch.  We walk to the waterfront and see the port.  The waterfront has lots of restaurants, but we know from Alberto that the better cheaper restaurants are 50 metres past these restaurants.  We go to the cheaper restaurants and pick one.  We both order the set menu which gets us a chicken noodle soup and a chicken saltado for the main.  This costs us 10 soles (5).  We are really enjoying the saltado’s and we seem to be having them daily!  Might as well make the most of it while we can! It is a Peruvian dish after all.  We also get an Inca Kola to share as well.  Once again, just a Peruvian drink!  While we are having lunch we start talking to a Canadian guy and his father who are in Peru on holiday together.  It turns out that they are staying at our hostel!  We leave them and continue on our walk around the town.  We decide to buy a beer each and sit on the beach to enjoy the vista’s (no liquor bans in Paracas!) We come across a bunch of Pelicans, we havnt seen any before and they are pretty big.  So we just watch them while we have our beers on the beach.  Was a beautiful day too.  After the pelican watching we go back to the hostel and we sit with Alberto for an hour to discuss Ecuador and Columbia.  He went for a holiday last year with his family, so he tells us all the good places since we are heading up north.  He also gave us a list of all the places he stayed at and their costs.  It was such a big help and gave us a good idea of our plan up north.  Then he spoke to the Canadians about their trip down south of Peru and told them all the places to go.  We all really like Alberto, he helped everyone in that hostel.  I guess this is why the hostel has such a good reputation, the service and tour advice is second to none!  Alberto (who is Peruvian but speaks good English) is a natural at this game, he knows what the customer wants.  This hostel also has a really good feel to it.  Everyone is chatting and talking about where they have been and where they are going.  It is really nice.  We then head out for dinner as we are getting hungry.  We get another set menu for 20 soles this time (10).  We get a salad, a rice dish and a freshly made lemonade. 

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