McNally's in Peru Part 2

So the second half of their visit was wonderful... definitely exciting and interesting to say the least! But then again, that tends to be the life of a foreigner in Peru. We left Tuesday afternoon to head down south a few hours on a bus to Pisco, which I didn't realize was heavily impacted by the earthquake in 2007. Much of the town was still destroyed, with rubble all over the street and houses that clearly had not been restored even a year and a half later. We were able to stay in a nice little hostal, where we met Ademir, who turned out to be our amazing tour guide that we got to know pretty well. He set up a tour for us for Wednesday morning to go to Paracas, where we got a ferry that gave us a tour of the Ballestas Islands.

Erin, me, and Ademir

This is a mototaxi, which aren't as common in Lima because you just might die in one in the city, but they are really common in the smaller towns in Peru. This was actually my first ride in one in the 6 months I've been here, so I was pretty excited to take a ride for 2 soles (66 cents) everywhere we went in Pisco. It lived up to all of my expectations.

In the mototaxi... I can't remember the last time I sat on my dad's lap! 

Hostal San Isidro, which we loved!

This is the Candelabro (meaning "Chandelier"), which we saw from the ferry on our way to the Ballestas Islands. It's this big mystery how it got there because it looks like it is just etched in sand, but there are actually only a few centimeters of sand on top of solid rock. There are some theories about how it got there, but no one knows!

This is one of the Ballestas Islands. It was really beautiful and very interesting to learn about the wildlife that thrives there, including lots of birds and pelicans, penguins, and tons of sea lions. This view is of an entire colony of sea lions on the island. Aside from being really loud, they didn't seem real nice because we saw a fight between 2 male lions (below). They were doing this for a little while but we didn't get to see if one would surrender or not because our boat eventually left, but it typically wouldn't end until one surrendered or died.

Notice the difference in color on the rocks... the rock is naturally the reddish color at the bottom, but the islands appear to be almost completely white. Why? Because of poop. It is completely covered in poop. The real name for this is guano and it is a huge industry here because it goes several meters deep and is mined to be used as fertilizer. So I guess if this whole teacher thing doesn't work out, I could always go digging for poop!

Humboldt Penguins! (also known as the Peruvian Penguin)

So I'll keep my science lesson brief, but our guide explained that there is a cold current, called the Humboldt Current, off the west coast of South America that comes from Antarctica. These penguins are adapted to the temperature and minerals that exist off these islands due to the Humboldt current.. hence their name :) 

Another fun ride in the back of the bus.. I think my family was starting to get used to this by the end of the week. After seeing the Ballestas Islands in the morning we went back to the port (El Chaco) and went on an afternoon tour of the Paracas National Reserve, which was really beautiful along the water. Lots of sand, rock, and cliffs :)

La Playa Roja... The Red Beach, which is red because of the minerals in the water coming from a nearby island.

This rock formation is called La Catedral and was partially destroyed during the 8.0 earthquake in 2007. See the before picture below.. notice the bridge between the 2 rocks completely collapsed. There were also crazy cracks in all the rocks from the earthquake, where the formation is likely to be destroyed again whenever there is another big earthquake.

The man said there was salt in the rocks, but we felt it necessary to be sure :)

After our tour of Paracas, we went back to our hostal in Pisco, where we got to go into the town with our friend Ademir. That is another story in itself and an awesome testimony of God's faithfulness and sovereignty because He so clearly opened the door for the name of Christ to be lifted up and shared with someone who is absolutely searching for truth. 

Thursday morning we got on another bus to go one hour further south to Ica, where we got an exciting tour of the sand dunes! We rode on dune buggies and tried sand-boarding down the steep dunes. The dune buggy was basically like a natural roller coaster in the sand, which was awesome. By the end, Erin was of course the only one who could have stayed on for another 3 hours.

A view of Haucachina, which is specifically the tourist spot outside the town of Ica 

Us with our dune buggy and guide/instructor.. plus a guy from Tokyo

We did our best to capture the real experience...

This was an oasis in the middle of the desert because apparently there is water about 3 meters under the surface

So this is sandboarding, which is basically snowboarding, just on sand. We clearly didn't look experienced enough to go down the dune standing up on the board, so we did the tourist thing and rode on our stomachs.. yes, all 4 of us because my parents are amazing! And at this point at the top of the steep dune I was petrified, and attempting to tell him so in spanish, but he pushed me anyway :)

Erin flying down the dune

Proof that my mom was brave enough 

So we left Ica to come back to Lima on Thursday afternoon, stopping at the orphanage for dinner on the way. It was great for them to see it and get the official tour from Dave. We spent the next two days around Lima going back to the Inca Market to do some more shopping, the open-air market, a jazz club in Miraflores, and taking a long walk down by the ocean. Saturday afternoon we walked to Larco Mar, which is a nice outside mall down by the ocean, where my mom and Erin were very excited to buy their Lima Starbucks mugs :) Yes, we have Starbucks in Peru.

Buying coffee at the open-air market.. a few rows down from the hanging pigs and beef carcasses :)

Inca Kola! Peru's national soda.. a cross between cream soda and bubble gum flavor (interesting, but good)

At Larco mar

The Love Park (Parque de Amor), hence the famous statute :)

This was one of our last nights, when we went into Miraflores (nice part of Lima) and went to a jazz club, literally "The Jazz Zone."

So overall, it was an awesome week and such a blessing to have them here and experiencing Peru. Now it's back to reality.. blogging as I take a break from lesson planning, once again! It's a little hard anticipating going back and having the crazy schedule once again, but I'm also coming back incredibly refreshed with a new perspective of what the Lord has me here for... to spread His light, His love, and His joy. I'm excited for what God has in store and what He is going to teach me through it all, and I just need to remember that I can do NOTHING apart from Him. It's all done by Him and for Him.