Ica and Paracas

Arriving in Ica we were bombarded by the heat of the sun, the busyness of the street and the loud insistent honking of the hundreds of cab drivers. We quickly found a place to stay (fan included) and signed up for a wine tour. We had about half an hour till the tour started so we hurried over to a little restaurant and ate some brunch so quickly it made our stomachs hurt.

Our first of three vineyards was by far the most impressive and also the oldest in South America. It is called Tacama. We were given a tour by which we got to see the vineyard from a clock tower that served as a nice vantage point, we saw the barrels that used to store the wine, they showed us the area they use to make pisco, we saw many old tools and instruments that were used in the process of wine making, and we got to sample about 5 different wines and piscos. We had a really lovely time here.

The next vineyard looked like a little open air restaurant. We weren't given a tour but we were given many samples which we followed with some ice cream. The samples here didn't really taste like wine, they were so sweet and a few were powerful piscos as well. For those that don't know, pisco is the signature hard liquor of Peru, it is made from special types of grapes.

Cheers!

His face after drinking pisco

Yummy ice cream!

The last stop seemed to us like a museum, there was just a large collection of old junk lying around. It was interesting to look at though. The wines here were pretty good and the way we got to try them was really cool! The man took a long bamboo pole with a hole cut into the side and stuck it into a large ceramic-like vase holding the wine, when he pulled it back out he would pour the wine into our little tasting cups. It was neat!

Smashing grapes. So many bees..

In our cab after all the tastings!

Back in town we walked to the museum and it turned out to be pretty interesting, mostly because of the many well-preserved corpses. They were fascinating to gaze upon with their clothes still partially intact, many of them had their hair all done up too. One information plaque said they used cactus spikes to seal their lips and we could see that in a face or two. The Inca's also believed in stretching and elongating their skulls as babies and we saw many oblong skulls as well.

After the museum and walking back into town, we found a little market stall to eat at and then we stopped by a casino on our way back to the hotel. There are many casinos in Ica and I'd never been to one before. We used a whole $4 in our gambling expedition and I didn't really think that the machines were very fun, I found it quite boring, and I did really bad! Tyler was able to win part of our money back by the end, not that we played with much :p

Tyler got sick during the night :( but felt much better in the morning!

We got breakfast and a bus to Paracas. We loved this Cruz Del Sur bus! It was so comfy and the individual TV screens are really nice :) but we were only on the bus for a little over an hour. After finding a place to sleep we set out in search for ATV's. Finally we found one that would take us and we booked for 3 hours. The quads were tiny, 150's. The guide took us first to the gas station where my quad stopped working completely so he called someone to bring me a new I mean different quad. We entered the National Reserve and the scenery was beautiful but the sand dunes called to us and we had to stay on the road. Sometimes the road was dirt, but we couldn't act anywhere near like we do at home. So we followed very slowly behind our guide and stopped at certain beaches and different viewpoints, as well as a museum. It was fun, but a little too mellow for our taste.

No more forgetting our sunscreen!

"The red beach" hence the dark red sand

Tucking in my shirt for added warmth

What a fantastic colored helmet

Dinner for Tyler was a bunch of fried things from the sea and I even liked some of it! I had a silly avocado that they put tomato and lettuce in with a ton of dressing. Not impressed but Tyler's plate helped to fill me.

There was to be a concert that night so we waited by the stage listening to one guy sing and sing, we thought he was a pre-performance so we went for a walk down along the beach and a dock, and when we came back he was still singing and continued to do so. After a few more songs we said forget it and went back to our room. I think he was the main performance! He wasn't bad, we'd just heard him for long enough. Tonight I got really really sick. Just what I always wanted..

Tyler ate so much "dulce" or sweet popcorn!

We took the next day easy, I felt awful so I laid in bed and watched tv and ate the popsicles that Tyler supplied me with. Later when I felt a bit better we went for a walk because Tyler had talked to a scuba dive shop and really wanted to dive in the morning before we left for Lima. The shop was closed so we got some food along the water, we shared a noodle plate. When I say shared I mean Tyler= 80% and Ashley=20%. My stomach was just not ready for much yet. We rested again for awhile, then went to the bus station to buy our tickets for the next day, then I rested again. Tyler went and booked the scuba dive for 8am. Around 9pm we got some pizza and garlic bread that we brought back to the room. I ate a little but threw up my days worth in the middle of the night.

I was feeling better when I woke up so we went scuba diving together. It sucked. The equipment they put on me was way too big so my tank kept hitting me in the back when I was underwater, the weights around my waist bruised my hip and the whole thing was just too large for my body. Underwater the visibility was near 0. I held Tyler's hand nearly the whole time and that is what kept me calm and feeling safe while trying to swim through oblivion. I saw a few fish at first and after that I primarily saw murky water and when I could see a little I saw hundreds of purple sea urchins. I was trying to control my air on my own so I'd get it where I needed it to be so I could swim near the bottom and our guide would let the air out from my shoulder so I'd sink. Right into the sea urchins. This happened continuously. Eventually I got two sea urchin barbs in my shin and I said forget it, I am done with this dive. It really was a waste of money, we didn't see anything. Tyler still enjoyed it though which makes me glad that he got to do it!

He's just so freakin cute!

Not friendly sea urchins

Murky water!

Back in town we showered quick, grabbed some food and practically ran to the bus station because we were cutting it close on time. The bus was 30 minutes late. Go figure.