Saturday, October 11, 2014

Today is sightseeing and shopping day.  But, because of that we must get an early start.  So, breakfast of scrambled eggs and ham with our trusty crusty roll and fresh papaya juice is at 6:30 a.m.  A van has been rented so that we can all travel together in the same vehicle.  Pastor Luis and Angelica are going with us today.  At 7:15 the van showed up and we left the hotel headed south along the coast toward Paracas.  This is the same place we visited last Sunday afternoon when we had the opportunity to shop a little.  It is a resort town in the Paracas Bay.  It only took about 30-45 minutes to get there but it was already a very busy place.   We are going to take a boat tour and the boats go out early in the mornings because the water tends to get rough later in the day.   We’ve teased because our team consists of 7 people…3 women and 4 men.  We were also teasing that our little boat ride was going to be a “three hour tour”.  Let’s hope that we don’t turn into a Gillian’s Island experience.
Jose David bought our tickets and before long we were boarding our speedboat!!!  Along with a large group of young people from Germany.  Not too long after we started out on the water across the bay we slowed way down to watch the dolphins surface around our boat.  It would have been fun to have spent a lot more time there but we had to get on our way.  There were many other boat tours also going to the same place we were.  So we came along the shore where we saw several birds but our attention was drawn to the “Paracas Candelabra”  which is a prehistoric geoglyph on the side of the hill.  The pamphlet we have says it is “of mysterious origin, antiquity and significance”.  It can only be viewed from the sea or air.  Our guide is trying to talk to us but we are sitting on the back row of the boat.  With the sounds of the engine and the echoing of the microphone we can’t hear anything he is saying.  Will have to get all our information from others later.
Soon we are out in open sea and are speeding along quite fast.  Being in the back of the boat we get some of the cold spray on us but thankfully, not much.  It took about 15-20 minutes to arrive at our destination….the Ballestras Islands.  They are composed of many rocky formations that a variety of Humboldt Current coastal marine ecosystems inhabit.  We motor around some of them seeing sea lions, gulls, penguins, pelicans.  As we motor around to the back side I am amazed at the number of birds.  If you have ever seen Alfred Hitchcock’s movie “The Birds” you can just barely imagine what we saw.  There were literally millions of birds on the islands, rocky outcroppings, and in the air.  I have no idea how many different species of birds there were.   I do know that there were Humboldt Penguins and Boobies, Inca Terns and Guanay Cormorants among others.  On many of the rocks were sea lions.  We saw some sunning, some swimming in the ocean, some spatting with others, one eating something that Sam thought looked like a starfish but wasn’t shaped like a typical starfish.  It was round and red.  I got “christened” twice by birds flying overhead.  It was neat to see but eerie strange at the same time.
When we arrived back at the town of Paracas we got back into our van and drove a short distance outside of town to the end of the bay to small museum/visitor center telling about the National Reserve that includes not only the Islands but the bay area.  If we would have had a little more time we could have walked right down to the bay and seen several groups of flamingos which the area is apparently home to also.
Back on the van we went back into Paracas where we had about an hour to shop.  We then met for lunch at a nice restaurant with either fish or chicken to eat.  Sam & I both braved it and chose the fish since we were right by the ocean.  It was a white fish of some type and although there was a slight fishy taste it wasn’t bad.  We did find out that the other night when we had fish at the hotel and all thought it was so good that what we had really eaten was sting ray.  And, it was not fishy tasting at all.
Getting back to the hotel about 2:30 we have time for siesta!!   We also need to think about packing up and getting ready to leave tomorrow. 
Tonight’s supper was a very delicious chicken and noodles.  I would have called it chinese food.  The cook called it spaghetti.    After supper we went to the church for the youth service.  The young people led the very spirited song service and then John preached again.  And, again our team had to sing a song.  We sang “Blessed Assurance”.    At the end of the service the church presented each of us with a coffee cup with scenes of the surrounding area…Nasca Lines or Penguins & Sea lions.   Both Sam & I got one with the Nasca Lines which are very famous around here.  When we arrived back at the hotel we notice we have new “next door neighbors” at the hotel.  Their room door is open and I see alcohol bottles on the tables and the cigarette smoke is strong.  They are also singing with the music on the TV.  It might be a long night!!  Oh well, last night here.  Guess we can handle it for one night.  Back to Lima tomorrow.