Today starts a three day journey down the Peruvian coast where I’ll be visiting a new city each day.

Sure, everyone knows about Lima, Cusco, and of course Machu Picchu but let’s see what else Peru has to offer…

Peru Hopping down the coast

There’s a company here in Peru called Peru Hop that runs bus routes through the major cities offering up activities and tours to do along the way.

I signed up for the 3 day tour from Lima but I’ll only be doing two of those days as I’ll be branching out on my own on day 3.

Today it was a 250km bus ride down to Paracas.

Peru Hop has pickup service so I was all packed and waiting in the lobby at 6:30 this morning.

Soon after a shuttle van arrived to transport me to the luxury bus we’d be taking for the next few hours.

José, our guide, greeted us out of our grogginess and went through a quick run down of how the day would run out.

After a half hour stop for breakfast where I just munched on a couple of granola bars I had picked up in Lima, we arrived in Chincha for our featured activity for the day.

Secret Slave Tunnels (Kinda)

Yup, we were going to explore the Secret Slave Tunnels.

Well, kinda.

Yesterday the group all received an email saying that the Secret Tunnels were closed today for someone’s wedding so we’d be going to an alternate venue instead.

We ended up going to the Alcázar de Abdalá museum which is a colonial house with a collection of colonial art inside.

Now, for those who know me, museums and art aren’t really my thing.   If I’m in a museum I usually just meander through taking snapshots of cool visual displays.

Well, this was a tour through the museum which meant we had an explanation of everything in both Spanish and then English.

It took forever and I was so tuned out.

Don’t get me wrong, there was some cool stuff in there but, like I said, I just want the photos and to get out.

Anyway, after we went through a few rooms including a literal room filled with Jesuses, we were finally led to what we’d all been waiting for.

The secret slave tunnel.

Ironically, the guide never really talked about it and its’ significance but, from what I surmise, the tunnel was used to smuggle slave workers in and out.

In the end, what was supposed to be an hour tour lasted almost two hours and by the end we all just kind of wanted to move on with the day.

Welcome to Paracas

We arrived in the small seaside town of Paracas just before 2:00.

It’s a town that is literally wall to wall restaurants, hostels, and tour companies.

There are three activities to do here.   One was optional for tonight while the other two happen tomorrow morning before we head off to Huacachina.

The optional adventure was called the Golden Shadows Trek which was a hike up Kori-Apu, known as the Golden mountain, to see the sunset.

I was on the fence on whether to join this excursion up until the last moment.

Honestly, I feel like I’ve done enough hiking and climbing on this trip and all I really wanted to do was just hang back in this lazy town and just relax instead.

So, that’s what I did.

A crabby lunch

After checking into my hostel for the night, I headed back out to find a restaurant along the seaside.

I ended up going to one of the top rated places here called Sol de Paracas.

I was excited to see a Peruvian meal on the menu that was still on my list of food I haven’t tried yet.

The Parihuela is a seafood stew and this one came with a big ass crab smack dab in the middle of it.

You know you’re in for an adventure when the server puts a spoon and crab cracking utensils in front of you after you order.

Yeah, this meal was a little messy.   I took the crab out of the dish and placed it on a side plate and no matter how hard I tried, I just made a huge mess on my table.

I actually had to grab a wet wipe out of my backpack cause my hands were just covered in crab juices.

Can’t take me anywhere, I swear.

Anyway, the dish itself was great.   Filling and so fresh.

After an hour of playing with my food, I finally finished and headed out for a walk around town.

The town literally only covers a 3×4 block area.   Well, I’m sure it stretches out further but that’s the residential area.   The part we’re in is very small.

After seeing what the town had to offer, I headed back in to the hostel and just kind of hung out.

Until…

Dinner!

An Italian Dinner

You ever feel like my blogs are 90% food some days?

Yeah, today was one of those days.

Okay, so I had a nice Peruvian meal for lunch.

For dinner, not so much.

Having Italian food in a seaside town in Peru.

Blasphemy, right?

Hear me out, though.

When I was looking up places to eat here in Paracas, this place called Pizzeria Waiki caught my eye.

You see, they have gluten free lasagna available.

Now, I genuinely can’t remember the last time I had lasagna.   At least 5 years since I’ve been celiac and it may even be over 10 years since I had a late night lasagna in Malta of all places.

Regardless, it’s been awhile and when I saw I could actually have it, I won’t lie, I was pretty excited.

So, yeah, here in Peru I was having an Italian dinner.

It was amazing.

It was everything I remembered about lasagna.

So cheesy, so filling, so wonderful.

And that, dear friends, is how I ended my night.

As much as today was kind of a sleepy kind of day, the day tomorrow will be anything but.

It’s going to be filled with the Ballestas Islands, quad biking, a vineyard tour, dunebuggies, and sandboarding.

And it starts bright and early at 7:30.

Time for this little camper to get some sleep…