Paracas

Paracas is a small coastal town a few hours south of Lima. We chose this as our final destination for two main reasons: to see penguins and to relax before heading home. Both were successful.

Peru has a lot of coast, but there were surprisingly not that many “coastal towns” that provided beach opportunities in an easy distance from Lima. Then, when we read about the islands just off the coast here having penguins (Jessica’s favorite animal), we quickly chose this as our destination to spend the last few days of our month long adventure.

Over the years, we’ve gotten wiser and learned that the way we travel can really be exhausting, so to plan in some down time, especially toward the end. So, we treated ourselves with our nicest hotel yet with a large pool and a balcony overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the sunset.

Before we left, we had booked a two hour cruise to go to the Ballestas Islands, just off the coast, often nick-named the Poor Man’s Galapagos. With very little communication from the tour company, we waited in our lobby for they said they would pick us up. A few minutes after ten, a very friendly man walked in, and we followed him on foot a few blocks into town at the main dock. He told us we’d need to pay a small fee, so we handed money to a woman and our “chauffeur” disappeared. The woman told us it would be about twenty minutes, so we milled around a bit, glancing in shops, eager to see the penguins. 

I’ll skip ahead a bit… at 11:30, we finally boarded a boat and were off. We first drove by the National Park on the neighboring peninsula where we could see a large geoglyph. Very little is known about this large creation that is dug into the rock, but it is believed to be over two thousand years old. While called the “candelabra”, it is unclear what it is meant to be.

Then, we headed to the White Island where we got to see huge pelicans, cormorants trying to be penguins, seagulls, boobies (it’s okay to chuckle), and the adorable Humboldt penguins. There were only about a half a dozen of them, but they did not shy away from the camera and the boat, so, for the first time, we did get to see penguins in the wild. 

A few female sea lions lounged on rocks, but otherwise, birds occupied most of the tiny island. For years now, guano (bird poo) has been mined off of these islands and sold as natural fertilizer. It is still mined today, although there are regulations about what time of year so as not to disturb nests and hatchlings. 

For whatever reason, our boat did not actually go to the Ballestas Islands although that’s what our tour was for and weather was fine. (Read “Oh, Jimmy” to see about other times we felt a bit swindled here.) But, we got to see penguins and on the way back we made a stop at an old shipwreck that the male sea lions had taken over. They are huge and so very proud of themselves!

The rest of our time in Paracas was spent just as we had anticipated: relaxing by the pool. Our hotel is right on the beach, with a pool almost at sea level in between. I am so spoiled by our bright white sandy beaches in the gulf that these gray beaches covered in seaweed meant the pool was more tempting. The weather was perfect with highs in the 60s that we could sit comfortably in the sun during the day and bundle up as the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. We stayed out of the pool, partly due to the cold temperatures and partly due to the crowds in the pool. Although there was rarely more than a couple other people at the pool, the sea birds much preferred the pool water to the salt water just a few yards away.

Our biggest concerns during the day were swatting away obnoxious flies and waving to the vultures letting them know we were still alive. We even got to watch dolphins play in the shallows one morning from our balcony. It was a lovely way to end our days in Peru, and now begins the long journey home!