Woah. Really long post. Maybe you should skip to the end of to see the pretty photos. I’m breaking my first law of blogging. No posts with more words than pictures.

We’ve been here in Peru now for six days, and so far I haven’t felt a tad bit sick! I think all of that good fortune will end in the next couple of days though, because now we are in El Chaco/Paracas.

(Note: My guidebook from the South American Explorers says that the city is actually named El Chaco. But everyone calls it Paracas, including the bus company and the map on our GPS. Call it what you will…)

This entire Ica region was devastated in an earthquake in late 2007. They are still rebuilding… Although I have a feeling that the area wasn’t much to begin with before the quake. Apparently the most devastation happened in Pisco, which is about 20 minutes north of here, and the former center of tourism in the area. The bus company we took down (Cruz del Sur) doesn’t even service the area anymore. Instead they take tourists all the way down here to El Chaco, who seem to be taking the opportunity to grow a bit larger and better.

We were accosted to some extent when we got out of the bus here in El Chaco. A guy came up to us and said that we had free transport to our hotel (Hostales Frayles). I hadn’t been told anything of the sort. I figured he was hoping to get us into a different hotel, where he’d get a kick back. After some fussing between him and the Cruz del Sur representative, we decided to take a taxi cab for 5 soles ($1.50) instead.

I have no idea what would have happened with the other guy, but our taxi cab driver was nice. He also turned out to be a tour guide for hire, and so we booked him to take us to the Reserva Paracas and Tambo Colorado over the next few days… He is more expensive than a private tour we can book here through the hotel, but definitely worth it to hook up with a nice guy and practice our Spanish. We’ll also be able to direct him to go where ever we want instead being stuck on a pre-fab tour. We shook on the deal this afternoon, and he’s picking us up at our hotel at 9am on Friday.

So… back to us getting sick. I just have this feeling that the water quality here is really bad and food preparation isn’t so sanitary. My premonitions started when I saw one of Laura Bush’s last diplomatic missions was to this area to discuss installing toilets in Pisco.

Now that I’m here, it’s obvious that hygiene is bad. “Restaurants” are located in shanties lining the beach that can’t possibly have running water. I’ve been watching young boys fill tubs of water from a hose behind our hotel to carry back in the direction of their homes or the restaurant shanties. We’ve seen at least two people urinating on a specific wall behind our hotel… We think that’s their official public toilet.

I could go on and on about the area and what we’re seeing in terms of sanitation and, honestly, poverty. The combi rides we took to Pachacamac were definitely eye opening to the vast slums here in Peru. And the further bus ride down the coast and now our stay here in Paracas has made the situation even more clear. The official number is 40% of Peruvians live below the poverty line, which is set at $3,000 a year.

Deep breath. I know that I put myself in these situations on purpose… I’ve seen them before. And I inevitably get an urge to get back to them… to ground myself. And this time to hopefully do some volunteering so I can try to balance it out a tiny, itsy bitsy little bit. I know you travelers know what I’m talking about… It’s just never easy to accept.

Tomorrow brings a tour of the Islas Ballestas! I know this bird life I saw on the El Chaco beach today was just the beginning…

 

Psych. No pictures. Internet connection is too slow. :) Next time.