Day 2 - Lima to Paracas

 

Today we got up at 5 am to grab a bus from Lima to Paracas, a small beach town a few hours south. We drove on the Pan-American highway, the road that connects the southern tip of South America with Alaska and, unlike the last time I was on this road, I didn’t almost die (long story). 

If you want to go north or south anywhere around this part of the world, the Pan-American highway is
the only option, so there are lots of food stands, gas stations and car repair shops along the way. Not that one would choose to eat the food or get a car repaired there, but sometimes you have no choice. It’s either that or the Great Inca Road, which having been around since the 15th century seems to have stood the test of time slightly better than the Pan-American highway but would be a little rough on a Toyota suspension.

We stopped at a restored plantation out in the middle of nowhere, where in the 17 and 1800’s a family got extremely wealthy producing sugar. Just kidding, the family only sold the sugar; slaves produced the sugar. 

The tour guide, perhaps in an effort not to offend anyone, talked about the whole slave thing with the same passion one might use ordering an ice cream sandwich. Like “the family used African slaves because the Aztec slaves got sick,” leaving out the part about how the conquering Spaniards introduced diseases here that completely wiped out the native population. I have many more examples, but why focus on that when I can focus on

 . . . more ceviche.

Side note, if you are ever trying to find me in another country, just walk around and look up until you find a hotel balcony with one or more damp t-shirts that smell like shampoo, drying in the sun. That’s my room.

We had a delightful time hanging out on the beach and the little promenade. I even ran into two people from Spain and we chatted away as if I were also from Spain. As Martha says, these kind encounters seem to trigger my dopamine receptors, which is her way of saying that I enjoy doing it.

Tomorrow we get to sleep in until 6, at which point we jump on a boat and go see some sea lions.