First things first, getting around without Peru Hop would have been a nightmare for us. It’s possible- you can take public buses or fly from city to city, but the first option wasn’t one that interested us and the second wouldn’t have fit within our budget. Peru Hop has been great for getting out and seeing some things that we probably wouldn’t have otherwise, and we have knowledgeable guides that teach us about the different cities and stops.

Paracas was our first city outside of Lima that we were going to be staying. Peru Hop recommends one night, but we stayed two thinking we’d like to hang out a bit and take our time. In the end, we probably should have just stayed a single night (especially because it was that second night that Ian got the devil poops). In Paracas, we stayed at Los Frayles Hotel, which wasn’t too shabby. The room was clean and it had a private bathroom, which is always a plus. The minus being the shower had a leak, so we had a minor flooding incident.

We got up at 8am on our second day to take a large speed boat out to the Ballestas Islands. On the way we saw the infamous Candelabra, a hieroglyph that they haven’t been able to date, but the pottery found around it has been carbon dated to 200 BCE. There are many theories about the Candelabra, but the most cited one seems to be that it was a sign of worship to the Incan creator god, Viracocha. It is cut two feet into the soil and is almost 600 ft. tall, making it viewable 12 miles out to sea.

Getting to the Ballestas was another 25 minutes or so. They are large outcroppings that are protected so that the wildlife can flourish. You can see penguins, all kinds of birds and sea lions.

The second excursion took place immediately after the Ballestas and was a bus tour (with a few stops) of the National Reserve. It’s wide open desert and dunes that run right to the ocean.

We didn’t get too crazy with the food in Paracas—Ian got another tasty ceviche and I tried chaufa mariscos, which is the Peruvian version of seafood fried rice. It was delicious. The only other meal we ate out was for pizza which we were craving. There was a decently rated Italian place on the boardwalk with an owner who was born and raised in Rome. Unfortunately, we weren’t very impressed with our choice. It was labeled as prosciutto and mushroom but what we got were slabs of ham and some yellow, canned looking mushrooms. Ian attributes his illness to the “za,” but I ate just as much as he did and I wasn’t taken down.

For the rest of the meals we snacked on things we found at the local markets. We’d pick up fruit, avocados and tostadas, as well as made half PB&J’s for breakfast.

The ride to Huacachina from Paracas was quick, just over an hour. We were dropped off at the Huacachina oasis, right outside of Ica, which is a lagoon surrounded by a boardwalk with hotels, hostels, shops and restaurants that encircle it but doesn’t branch out much farther. The story of the lagoon (and there are many variations of this legend) involves a young Inca princess named Huacachina who wished for love, was given a man who soon died, and created the lagoon with her tears. She attempted to drown herself in the lagoon to be with him, which made the gods unhappy. Therefore, they banished her to being a mermaid forever in the lagoon. Men are warned to stay away from the lagoon after midnight so she doesn’t trick them into their demise.

We were taken to the Wild Rover hostel (our choice), which we were kidding ourselves thinking we were prepared. We should have realized when we saw the chalkboard at check-in saying, “King of the Bar: David Elliot with 37 drinks.” The music was bumping, there were tons of mostly naked young people with drinks in one hand and cigarettes in the other, a rowdy game of pool volleyball and beer pong being played. Our room was on the second level, looking directly onto the party zone. Our walls were paper, and I mean PAPER thin. I’d like to say that we were down there having a good time for the two days, but we were in hell with Ian dying in the bathroom. There was no sleep to be had, as the party started early in the morning and went to about 2:30AM.

We did eat at another Italian restaurant (I know, I know. We were tired and it was right next door and told it was good). The power soon went out and we were served our food warm on the outside and cold on the inside. Ian was already in dire straits at this time, so we can’t blame it on that.

While I wish we would have taken Peru Hop’s recommendation and stayed in Huacachina for one night, in the end we would’ve had to stay two nights for poor Ian. I went dune buggying and sandboarding the next day without him and had a great time with both. We got off to a rough start when our buggy broke 5 minutes into the trip, but we were soon rescued and had a great time.

Ian pulled it together like a champ, loaded with antibiotics, liquids and saltines so we could get out of there. The tough part about that next bus trip was that we were getting on it at 1PM, and weren’t getting off at our next city until 5:30AM. We had a quick stop at a Pico Distillery / Vineyard on our way out of Ica which was great—the tour guide there was a riot. We stopped to see some Nazca lines from the viewing tower before having a quick dinner in Nazca. Learn more about the Nazca lines in this short and interesting article. It makes you wonder why, and for who, these massive hieroglyphs were created.

After that, it was on to Arequipa!

We’re glad we went the places we did but again, we recommend taking the advice of Peru Hop and staying only one night in Paracas and Huacachina. We’re here to give you the good, bad, and the ugly and we know it won’t be all sunshine and rainbows. While Peru Hop has nice reclining bus seats and quilted blankets to help you sleep, it’s still hard to do on a bus driving through the mountains. After the two rough nights in Huacachina at the hostel, the long day and night on the bus, another short night of sleep in Arequipa because we were taking off at 5:15, I was in rough shape for that next 15 hour bus ride.

Driving out of town I saw a dead dog in the gutter that had nasty water running over it with people walking by, and I kinda lost it for a time. By the time I chilled out, we were climbing to 14,600 feet and I started to feel the headaches, body aches, and nausea of altitude sickness. By the time we got to our AirBnb in Cusco, I was ready for bed at 7:45. But it turns out that another symptom of altitude sickness is being unable to sleep. So, after 4 days of running on E, I was going to tack on another. By the time the sun rose, I was feeling pretty terrible overall. But if I wasn’t going to be able to sleep, I decided I wanted to get out and see some of the city anyway.

After a long, long day of walking 7+ miles around Cusco, up and down steep hills / mountains, I’m writing this now, just hoping that I’ll be able to sleep tonight :)

Cusco posts will be next!