The trip to Paracas was about two things - paragliding and penguins. Your eyes aren't deceiving you, I typed paragliding and penguins. One of the women in my cohort had previously visited Peru and learned about this opportunity and wanted to go. I thought this served as a unique opportunity to see another part of the country as I mentioned before. The drive was 3 hours 260 km or (162 miles) through miles and miles of sand, dust with random placements of partial construction and chicken farms. After a brief stop in Chincha we arrived in the sleepy coastal town of Paracas on Peru's west coast. After a brief stroll down the pier we checked into our hotel, had dinner and planned for the next day's activity. I must take a moment to mention our family owned hotel Arena Hospedaje. This small hotel is family operated, their home has access to the hotel and the restaurant located directly next door. The proprietor spoke some English, he is very pleasant the food is tasty AND they have WIFI. The next day we planned to visit the Paracas National Reserve 'park' that spans a desert, ocean, islands and the Paracas Peninsula called to 'poor man's Galapagos,' the Islas Ballestas. While the trip was wonderful it was the preparation for the journey that I found most frightening AND enlightening. Only one person in had an above average comprehension of Spanish and she was paragliding - not good. Well my partner and I arrived at our designated pick-up point and were hurriedly instructed to follow. We did. We were pointed in another direction and asked to pay - again. We did it once, why were we paying again we queried. But we paid again. Then we were pointed in a different direction and told to follow the others. Huddled and cold we were told to get a life jacket and board the boat. Why are we boarding a boat to visit a 'park'? My teaching partner said, "This is what it must feel like to be a refugee." Wow! What a teachable moment. While I enjoyed the rest of the activity, my thoughts remained with that statement in that moment. Refugee (n) a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster many times unable to speak the language. The National Reserve 'park' turned out to be a series of protected islands, also know as Islas Ballestas or 'poor man's Galapagos''. These beautiful islands serve as the home to sea lions, dolphins, penguins, flamingos and crustacean. Along the side of a dune, visible from the boat is a huge prehistoric geoglyph called the Candelabra etched into the hillside. In my research I found there are only theories on how the etching came to be. But pottery found nearby estimate its age to be about 200 BC, but many archeologist believe it to be must older. What do you think?
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Photos used under Creative Commons from manoftaste.de, # Jorge Brazilian #