After our dune buggy adventure our new friend returned to Lima, while we got tickets to continue on the paracas. Paracas is a beach town with a natural reserve to the south and the ballestas islands not far from it's coast. When we arrived we realized that's it. There's nothing else. We had planned on going to the reserve Sunday afternoon, camping that night, going on the island tour Monday morning, returning to the reserve Monday night to camp, and then departing to Lima. After arrival our plans definitely changed.
So we get into paracas and first thing, buy departure tickets. No reason to wait and we are already at the station. Plus depending on the time that the bus leaves will affect our days. We have to catch the bus in the morning ( we were hoping for a very early afternoon like 1...oh well) at 11 on Tuesday. So now it has been settled. We have to do the islands tour on Monday morning. They don't get back until sometime after 10 and that would possibly make the bus ride a little rush...besides....what else are we gonna do. So tickets purchased, off we walk towards the reserve. We figure we will walk to town, grab a bite to eat (Ceviche!!!), grab some food for camp, and then walk to the reserve. Were nearing town and decide to stop into a tourist info booth to ask about the reserve and possibly grab a map. Oh and ask about an ATM. We have mentioned camping to a few people and had gotten mixed info. "oh it's beautiful and safe" "it's very dangerous" " the beat place to camp is right in town, not on the reserva" " no one camps on the reserva" but both of our books said it was a great experience and that it was secure. So the woman at the booth said she wasn't sure but she didn't think camping was allowed. And she didn't have a map we could take but we just stayed on this road to get there but it was very far like 3km....wait that's not even 2 miles .... Oh well be fine. No sense in paying for a cab. She points us towards an ATM as well. We walk through town and after some questionable food decide to go the ATM and then just walk to the reserve to find out what's going on. We didn't want to buy a bunch of food and then get all the way down there to find out that we can't camp.
The first ATM building is closed, so we inquire about another. They point us further down the road to hotel paracas. Off we go. We walk down this side road for a bit, and we come across this barricaded white stone structure: hotel paracas. What the?? Where's the ATM?? So I walk inside the gate and head towards the three guards in front of the front door. All I have to say is disculpa and the one younger guard says in perfect English ATM? Awesome. It is that obvious we are so not guests. He leads us to there "business center" outfitted with computers, fax and copy machines, and free coffee. Oh and an ATM machine in the corner. Meg and I both use it and are just finishing up when the guy comes back in as if he was making sure we weren't helping ourselves to the coffee :) which I did consider. We thank him and leave. On our way out we stop at the other guards box and make sure we are going the right way. Oh yea just stay on this road for about another 3km and you'll see it. Wait .... 3km?? I swear weve already walked one or two ... Peruvians And their lack of sense of time and distance.
So after what seems like forever we arrive at the backside of the guard station. The guys comes out and we talk to him for a bit. He says it's totally straight to camp and that there is a safe spot about 10km in. Seriously??! I'm so not walking that. We ask about cabs coming in and out. He offers to call us one that can take us back to town for food and then will take us to the beach. Thus we meet oswaldo.
Oswaldo was awesome. And hysterical just like every other Peruvian we have met. He takes us to a little hut of a shop to grab groceries. We go in and are trying to hurry because we don't want to make home wait too long. We pay and rush out to find the car empty. We look around. Oh there's oswaldo in the store watching the soccer game. When he notices us he jumps up and rushes back. Guess he didnt expect or probably want us to hurry. We ask him if there's a way for us to buy tickets to do the island tour in the morning. "Claro. I also arrange those tours." Peruvians and their multi tasking ways. Love it. He takes us over to his office to buy tickets. He also tells us he'll come by the campsite in the am to pick us up. Fabulous. Transportation did wind up being a little costly, but he was awesome....and in Peru, costly is like $10 a person. So we were set. We were ready to go to a desolate beach and camp.
Oswaldo drove us back to the beach so we could camp. We enter the reserve and the guard post is pretty much the last thing you see. Then it is just sand, some water, and maybe a boat or 2 for miles. He drives us down to where we should camp, near another guard house and asks if we want to stop now or drive on to lagunillas. Lagunillas is supposed to be a little port of a town on the reserve where theres a few restaurants. Well I guess my head is still not Peru ready, b ecause when reading about it, it sounds like this little tourist escape. A spot that tourists frequent to eat and hang. Ummmm no. That is far from it. There are literally 3-4 little seafood shacks that obviously are there to feed the fisherman and cab drivers. Not a spot where you'd find a tourist anywhere. So after originally departing in lagunillas and saying goodbye to oswaldo we begin our trek back towards our campsite. We thought about maybe hanging there for a second but people kept wanting to helps us with our bags and were asking if we were camping. It was odd. So we just left.
Setting up camp was a little interesting to say the least. There are super crazy winds in the afternoon so that probably says enough on it's own. To further that I couldn't get the stakes to hold in the sand at all. Not something I had considered when we originally talked about camping on the beach. Luckily 1. My tent is freestanding and 2. There were lots of rocks of different sizes laying around.
Even though we could have just set up the tents with one of our packs inside if it and it would have been fine, we wanted the fly for insulation. The sun was up and I was already getting cold; there was no telling what it would be like at 2 am. So we placed the tent over and kept it down via rocks. The pictures are hysterical. But it worked.
That night neither of us slept well. The beach was deserted. So we shouldn't have heard anything, but thats the creepy thing about deserted areas: if you do hear something, you're just that more freaked out. The ocean and wind were bad enough, but then I heard cars quite a bit which made me uneasy seeing as the reserve was supposed to close down and be totally secure by 7 pm. Plus we saw some flashlight, which were probably just the fisherman down the way, but still, nome of this amounted to a ton of sleep. When we both got up the next morning we had already made the decision without saying a word to each other that we would be staying in a hostel that night.
~la gringuita
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