Heading south to Arequipa

After our disastrous hostel stay in Lima we were pleased to be leaving the city. It was our first day on the Peru hop bus. We are not ones for bus tours and prefer taking the general buses but we decided to take Peru hop for convenience. The first day saw us heading south to the coastal town of Paracas. On the way we stopped off at a rip off breakfast place and then to a country house where we did a tour of the slave tunnels. The house was owned by a rich Spanish guy and he brought in slaves from Africa and sold them on. The tunnels were to hide the slaves. It was very eery in the tunnels and very sad knowing that people used to live down there.

Paracas was a mixture of beach town with quad bikes. Alex and I rented an ATV and followed a guide out to the nature reserve. The scenery was amazing along the coast. We even saw some flamingos from a far! Paracas is a place aimed at tourists and the sea front is lined with restaurants. We ignored all of them and went for a local stall for $3. The next morning we took a boat trip out to ‘the poor mans Galapagos’. Before going on the trip I thought it was a bit of a harsh name but having done it and having been to the Galapagos I now understand it. There were however lot of sea lions and penguins and one small island was completely covered in birds which was quite a sight.

As Alex and I had already been to the reserve we didn’t get on the bus to see it again with everyone else but instead had a chilled few hours. We waited for the bus to collect us but it never arrived. Unbeknown to Peru hop there was a triathlon in the reserve causing major delays. Luckily for us another bus came along we could get but only 24hrs into the bus trip and already we had nearly been left behind!

Our next stop was to the desert oasis of Huacachina. After being reunited with our bags that had been on the other bus and giving the guide some firm feedback about communication we checked into our room to find we had 4 beds just for us! The ‘thing’ to do in Huacachina is take a sand buggy out into the dunes and go sand boarding. I wasn’t massively keen as I thought it would be very touristy but we did it anyway. It’s a sunset tour and you get in a 10 person buggy driven by a guide. The speed they drive at is insane. It felt like a rollercoaster. Our initial reaction was one of sadness and embarrassment. The dunes were covered in plastic which we think came from a local village. But it was the volume of sand buggies swarming everywhere that made us really feel embarrassed to be there. The sand boarding was pretty fun and Alex got some great distance on the final one. I meanwhile had to kick to get myself going! That evening we had a free drinks voucher at one of the hostels. We stayed just long enough to down our drink and gleefully leave the most awful place full of rowdy 20 year olds. We had dinner at a much quieter place outside covered in fairy lights. Much more up my street.

The next day the bus didn’t leave until 1pm. I assume they think everyone will be hungover. After trying to catch up on my diary (although still way behind as I’m still in Ecuador!) we soon found ourselves on the bus and on a Pisco tour. This is the alcohol of Peru and the famous drink is Pisco sour. We did a few free tasters. Drinking it neat is not pleasant! That night was our overnight bus to the town of Arequipa. After a stop off for dinner we were provided with a blanket and tried to get some sleep. I barely slept and felt hideous when we got to Arequipa at 6am. Our hostel was amazing and let us have a delicious breakfast even though we couldn’t check in until later. They also let us check in early so we could have a snooze! Feeling marginally refreshed we got some lunch and signed up to another free walking tour. This one was the best yet and we got to go to a place where they had llamas and alpacas. We both came away wanting an alpaca! They’re hilarious. The tour finished in the main plaza des armas square which was half decorated with Christmas stuff. It was such a nice square and we had a drink watching the sunset on one of the roof top bars. With a 230am alarm ahead of our 2 day trek in colca canyon it was early bed. Although we did witness a weird scene when having dinner when a lady walked past with a baby llama on a lead. Only in Peru…!