The bus, View of Desert from the Bus
Friday, September 11, 1998
Woke up and headed down for a cup of coffee and toast. Met a guy from Boston, I'll call him "I'm in law enforcement" because he repeated that phrase about 100 times during our 10 minute conversation. It was his first trip outside the US, and his friends all thought he was crazy. He quizzed me on third world travel, and I legitimately tried to help him. He's on an all inclusive $2000 for three week trip (the places he's going, he could do it for $300) -- I didn't tell him that.
Got to the bus station in plenty-o-time for the 10:00 bus to Pisco. I was pleasantly surprised to find quite a few travelers heading the same way. We all got on the bus, and I spoke with a pleasant Danish couple for quite some time. They were keen to have their picture on the internet...
A three hour bus trip took us through mostly desert areas quite sparsely populated. Arrived in Pisco in time to walk around the streets, book a tour for the next day, play with some local kids, and meet Magnus and Annette who were staying at the hostel. Magnus is Swedish, his friend (not girlfriend) Annette is Norwegian. We got along very well from the start. I somehow convinced them to go Karaoke and then out for a little Pisco Disco -- what else do you do on a Friday night in Pisco? We were the only people in the Karaoke joint for quite some time, and it was really fun. Annette's Somewhere Over the Rainbow was quite spectacular.
Saturday, September 12, 1998
Awoke
sometime around 6:15 AM for the day trip to the beautiful Isla
Ballestra and Paracas National Park. Our group of 15 or so gringos
got on a rickety old boat and toured the peninsula where the somewhat
famous and strange "Candelabra" can be seen on a hillside.
It's thought to be related somehow to the Nasca Lines (which I'll
be visiting in a few days). It's carved right into the side of
the mountain -- over 60cm deep, 400 meters wide, 200m tall.
The island itself is gorgeous and is quite a fascinating place for sea lions, the Inca Tern, and Boobies (a kind of bird). I took some pictures for the Danish couple as requested. On the tour, I met two nice Austrian girls, Maritza and Ann. We had an interested talk, though I must say they were quite overtly anti-American. Since I'm basically anti-American as well, it wasn't all that difficult.
After the island, we went down to the beach to a place locally known as the Cathedral. It's a huge cave on the ocean with some spectacular views. We also saw a colony of Peruvian Flamingos, though they were too far away to photograph. More importantly, I made plans with my new friends for a night on the town -- Dinner, Pisco Disco and Karaoke.
After a delicious dinner at the El Dorado where we consumed copius amounts of cerveza, we headed out to Karaoke. The Austrians were quite skeptical. When we came across a "locals only" disco about half way there, it was clear they wanted to stop. The girl at the door was enamored with me (blue eyes get you a lot in Peru, I've discovered) and offered me half price entrance -- I paid only 1 sole ($0.30 US) while my compatriots were required to pay 2 soles. Score!
We started dancing and didn't stop for a couple of hours. The five of us were ROCK STARS in an almost indescribable fashion. Local Peruvian guys would bring us their girlfriends for Magnus and me to dance with. Local girls would come up to us and giggle and beg for "un beso, un pocito besso, por favor" (a small kiss). When we gave in (and we almost always did) they would drop to their knees and start squealing. It was, as you might imagine, quite an ego trip and quite fun. I think the females in our group got the same reaction from the local guys, but Magnus and I weren't really paying them much attention...
After a few hours, we were all tired and decided to continue on the Karaoke. We all sang and had a locally made alcoholic drink called a Pisco Sour -- it was sour, and also about 60% alchohol. Needless to say, we were all quite drunk after a few of those babies! We decided to hit another Pisco Disco and hit it we did -- until almost 4:00 in the morning. All in all, it was one of the most fun nights I've ever had in third world travel.