Pisco, Paracas, Chincha, Ica, Nazca - A Tour of the South

I just finished a topsy-turvy tour of some towns in the south of Peru that was charming at times, and at others somewhat disturbing. The charming definitely outweighed the disturbing though. What I ended spending a lot of time doing was arguing that I was owed free breakfast. Now, the right to breakfast has felt like my small personal battle as I read in the news at home about the battle over the right to quality healthcare (another passion of mine). Even though breakfast is always just some bread, butter, jam, tea and coffee, when you're owed something, you're owed something. So it's been the principle of the matter rather than me actually looking forward to some amazing meal with croissants, scrambled eggs, bacon, etc. That's what you would think I was fighting for. Needless to say, I won every time, triumphantly eating my buttered bread and happilly gulping town my tea.

Despite the war for breakfast, there are some amazing highlights of my trip as I await the bus back to Lima for a night before moving on to Colombia tomorrow. The trip started with a stop in Pisco, a small town with a bustling center plaza and a really young crowd of revelers. I was surprised by the disastrous effects still apparent from the crazy earthquake in 2007. Roads were still torn up, buildings still crumbled. The government needs to put a move on it! Upon my arrival I met this kid Nilton, a black Peruvian from Pisco who started a tour business (like everyone seems to have) with a group of friends. He spoke really good English, and invited me to come by his office later to chill. After riding around town in these motortaxis or tumbis or whatever they're called (they're basically minicars with the three wheels that fit into the smallest spaces, beep constantly, and go quite fast - it felt like I was in a video game), I had a nice meal and walked through a huge, bustling market. I then went out to see some more ancient ruins at Tambo Colorado. They were cool of course, but after Machu Picchu, nothing can really compare at all. That evening I met up with Nilton and another friend of his at their office, and I spoke with them for hours about the richness of Afro-Peruvian culture, as well as the challenges of being black in Peru - not only facing racism from other groups, but a heightened level of self-loathing within their community. It was an interesting discussion, and we agreed that most black Peruvians stand against marrying other black Peruvians in order to "purify" themselves as he put it, because they didn't know their history. They didn't know about the AfroPeruvians who fought in independence wars and who successfully started their own businesses, slaves who negotiated their freedom and freedmen who started communities. This lost history, and the absence of a unified political movement, means that black Peruvians face a lot of problems. We agreed to keep in touch and keep sharing info, as he thought of starting an organization based on empowerment and education for his community.

After learning so much in Pisco, I moved on to Paracas where I saw the Islas Ballestas, these amazing islands comparable to Galapagos, with awesome, diverse species of birds, and dolphins, and funny sea lions. I also went to the Park Reserve and spent the day with a wonderful group of people from Spain and other parts of Peru. We had a great time together taking in some amazing views, walking along the beach, and watching the sun from clifftops. We also had some baller ceviche for lunch. There was noone else in Paracas that night but a small group of German tourists, so I stayed in the hostel and read for the night. The next day I moved to Chincha, which I was most excited about because of the landmarks dedicated to black history and the large Afro-Peruvian population in El Carmen. A largely agricultural town, with large strips of uncultivated land, I immediately met some old black women interested in where I was coming from. As I sat down to a traditional breakfast, which was incredibly tasty and restored my faith in the meal I had been battling for, we listened to some Mariachi outside and looked at even more construction being done to the main plaza. That was a major theme of the tour - construction. Chincha was really colorful though, both the buildings and the people. And I found it funny that some people actually thought I was from there...

Saddened by being turned away from Hacienda San Jose, an old slave plantation turned restaurant, resort and cultural center, due to the effects of the earthquake, I was happy to visit this famous chef, Mamaine, famous throughout the country, who cooked up some carapulcra and sopa seca for me - delicious. Carapulcra is like a tomato based sauce with meat and crushed peanuts, while sopa seca is like pasta with small bits of beef. She told me to consider her my new "tia." She had a wonderful family, all invested in the business, and some kids from the house next door came out to dance some festejo for me and play the cajon, congas, etc. The girls danced festejo (lot of hip movements) and the boys danced zapatero (tap dancing basically). I had fun dancing with them and taking some video. As I antipicated, El Carmen was just delightful. My stay in the Chincha center was uneventful and I had to turn to down offers to go to the whore houses a bit too many times (people kept offering, my gosh). I also ate this chicken that I had to say small prayer before bed that would not come back to haunt me...the chicken was suspect...

I moved on to Ica, where I stayed in Huacachina at a posh hotel with a swimming pool, bar and restaurant, and a ton of tourists. Huacachina is known for its huge san dunes, so of course I went riding. Along with a Spanish couple, I went in this dune buggy racing across dunes, being thrown in every direction with our crazy driver. It was pretty much like a rollercoaster ride, but I had a lot of sand in my mouth, eyes, ears, everywhere really. We would make stops on tops of sand dunes and then sand board to the bottom, which was a lot of fun and a little scary (especially after I saw this girl go tumbling after letting go of her board, you def. shouldn't let go of the board though going at that speed). The views of sunset on top of the dunes was just awesome and I had one of those moments where I felt really alive, humbled, and thankful. In Ica, I also visited some of the bodegas to try some wines and piscos (like brandy). They kept pouring me little shots to try and I hadn't eaten so I fought off being tipsy; like 25 of those shots in less than 30 minutes should have an effect I'd think. Ica was nice though, definitely a tourist stop rather than a cultural stop.

I'm in Nazca now, a cool little town I arrived at traveling passed hundreds of san dunes and small hills. It's a nice little town, and I met this filmmaker Rob from Arizona who had made some crazy interesting documentaries on parapalegics in Bangladesh, and something cool in India as well. He had traveled all through Latin America, so it was good to pick his brain over an oddly sweet-tasting pizza dinner. I, of course, visited the famous Nazca lines. We flew over them in a small 5-seater plane that made nervous, queasy, and overjoyed all at the same time. I also visited some sacred crazy gravesites with tons of skulls and bones, hair, and dead baby skeletons. It was early and I was a bit creeped out to pay close attention, but I know it predated the Incas, so it was pretty old. Those are the only things to do in Nazca, although last night reggaeton music was blasting into my room from somewhere. I guess Rob and I missed the party. Oh well, after a nice tour (which had its ups and downs) and this novel of a post, I'm ready to see what Colombia has in store. A lot of people have compared it favorably with Brazil, so I'm excited for some sun, some salsa, and some Afro-Colombian culture. I'm on my way...