The 6 hour bus ride from Lima to Ica took us past the shanty outskirts of Lima, reminding us that not all city dwellers live the same standard as in Miraflores, and then into the gray/brown dessert area along the coast south of Lima. It is a strangely barren landscape with little or no vegetation –just a grey/brown color. The highway followed the coast for the most part, then went inland to Ica. Ica itself does not offer the charm of parts of Miraflores, and is polluted by the sounds of horns and moto-taxis madly whizzing about. Pedestrians have no right-of way in Peru so we had to always cross the streets with caution! We were met at the bus terminal by our Airbnb host, Gioncarlos - a gregarious young man keen to share with us the sights of his city. No sooner had we arrived in the hot, dusty city and we were on our way to the sand dunes of Huacuchina – an oasis only 15 minutes away in the middle of the sanddunes. We rode a dune-buggy across the beautifully sculpted golden dunes, stopping in a couple of locations for some sandboarding. The girls progressed from the belly, to the butt and then to standing on the board. I only managed to get to cruising down the dunes seated on the board, and still managed to get sand everywhere one can imagine. We all had a blast, and enjoyed watching the sun set from a top the dunes – what a spectacular sight.
That night, we booked a tour for the next morning that was to last half the day, and then we were catching the overnight bus to our next city. We were all quite excited as we would be going to the coastal town of Paracus where we would then go by boat to the Ballistas Islands – Peru’s version of the Galapogos. Initially we weren’t too interested in seeing a lot of seals and sea birds, given that we live in a part of the world where that sight is common, but when we heard that we could also see the Blue-footed booby here, we were keen to go. I thought the Blue-footed booby was only found in the Galapogos, so this was very exciting! We would be picked up at our hostel at 6:45am. Then, before going to bed I received a message from our host in Lima telling me about the earthquake in northern Chile that just occurred this evening (we didn’t feel it as I suspect we were on the dunes but apparently others did), and of the subsequent tsunami warnings for the coastline of Chile, Peru and parts north of here. I began scanning the internet to find any news of the quake (one of the joys of travelling is that we know very little that is going on in the world) and found bits and pieces but it was hard to get anything live, and pertinent to our area. Thank you to many of you who, through Facebook, sent me messages informing us, and reminding us to ‘stay on high ground’. Then I read that the coastal area of Ica was being evacuated due to the tsunami warning. This was not good news given that we were scheduled to do a boat trip in about 8 hours. After the tsunami warning had been lifted in many areas, but not Peru, we determined it might be a wise decision to not go on our tour. Early the next morning, I was back on the internet trying to find some, any, news. Tsunami warning had been lifted by the official tsunami warning system, but the government of Chile advised to be prepared. It was with much dismay that we declined our seats on the tour (which did in fact go). We managed to get about ¼ of our money back. It seemed to us that because this region gets so many earthquakes, it’s pretty much business as usual when one occurs. We were all very disappointed and tried to make the most of our time in this dusty city. Our host, Giancarlos, took us to a pisco ‘winery’ and we spent the afternoon seeing how they make pisco out of grapes (that they grow in this hot, dessert climate) and enjoyed a lunch at the winery with Giancarlos. The most amazing fact we learned there, besides how they make the pisco using many old-fashioned, original technologies, was the fact that it hasn’t rained in Ica for 18 years!
Next....off on the overnight bus ride to Arequipa…
That night, we booked a tour for the next morning that was to last half the day, and then we were catching the overnight bus to our next city. We were all quite excited as we would be going to the coastal town of Paracus where we would then go by boat to the Ballistas Islands – Peru’s version of the Galapogos. Initially we weren’t too interested in seeing a lot of seals and sea birds, given that we live in a part of the world where that sight is common, but when we heard that we could also see the Blue-footed booby here, we were keen to go. I thought the Blue-footed booby was only found in the Galapogos, so this was very exciting! We would be picked up at our hostel at 6:45am. Then, before going to bed I received a message from our host in Lima telling me about the earthquake in northern Chile that just occurred this evening (we didn’t feel it as I suspect we were on the dunes but apparently others did), and of the subsequent tsunami warnings for the coastline of Chile, Peru and parts north of here. I began scanning the internet to find any news of the quake (one of the joys of travelling is that we know very little that is going on in the world) and found bits and pieces but it was hard to get anything live, and pertinent to our area. Thank you to many of you who, through Facebook, sent me messages informing us, and reminding us to ‘stay on high ground’. Then I read that the coastal area of Ica was being evacuated due to the tsunami warning. This was not good news given that we were scheduled to do a boat trip in about 8 hours. After the tsunami warning had been lifted in many areas, but not Peru, we determined it might be a wise decision to not go on our tour. Early the next morning, I was back on the internet trying to find some, any, news. Tsunami warning had been lifted by the official tsunami warning system, but the government of Chile advised to be prepared. It was with much dismay that we declined our seats on the tour (which did in fact go). We managed to get about ¼ of our money back. It seemed to us that because this region gets so many earthquakes, it’s pretty much business as usual when one occurs. We were all very disappointed and tried to make the most of our time in this dusty city. Our host, Giancarlos, took us to a pisco ‘winery’ and we spent the afternoon seeing how they make pisco out of grapes (that they grow in this hot, dessert climate) and enjoyed a lunch at the winery with Giancarlos. The most amazing fact we learned there, besides how they make the pisco using many old-fashioned, original technologies, was the fact that it hasn’t rained in Ica for 18 years!
Next....off on the overnight bus ride to Arequipa…