Paracas penguins, pelicans and guano (look at the pictures from the bottom up for chronological order and cuz its cooler)

no pictures for a while because we haven´t had much internet, which is too bad because these pictures are insane. after lima we took a bus to Paracas (near Ica and Pisco) they played that stupid movie about the greek tour guide with the same actress as my big fat greek wedding, most annoying movie ever but it ended up being perfect because our tour group the next day was exactly like the annoying group in the movie. The bus ride really cool because we were driving through complete desert even though we could still sort of see the ocean with shantytowns covering the sand. Literally houses made out of trash thrown to the side of the road, wooden planks and cocal cola advertising billboards. It was a crazy landscape, but even weirder was that the bus had wifi connection as we drove through the desert.

Paracas - on the internet there are only four hotels, two upscale (pretty expensive) and two falling apart, no hot water. WQhen we got there there was definitiely more of a selection but i would advice to splurge a little on the hotel because there is absolutely nothing to do in the block-long town and if you´re doing the early morning tours your just going to want to be able to relax and eat in your hotel, plus it is not safe. Our hotel was the nicest we have ever stayed in. Two armed guard check in point as you enter, a huge infinity pool and jaccuzzi, private beach nad we pretty much had our own little condo with the most comfortable bed and TWO! wide screen tvs with satellite so we got to watch the discovery channel, national geographioc and Iron Man I (the second one is so much better). There was also a restauarnt where you can eat outside overlooking the ocean and fire pits outside with couches by the bar and delicious pisco sours. HUGE hotel, and on ly five rooms were occupied. it was really weird, they have about 300 people working at all times and absolutely n o guests. also there is never any sun just permanent fog and a ton of sand everywhere. Our first day we hung out at the hotel, tried to go swimming but it was too cold and the jaccuzzi was lukewarm at best. the restaurant was delicious and i think we fell asleep at 9:00 which was great because we had to wake up at 6 to make our boat tour to the islas bellistas or ¨poor man´s glapagos.

The tour we were with was an assortment of the most annoying people i have ever seen or met in my entire life. Some highlights included four very loud brazilians (one of which was spsorting a yello ferrari shirt, with his pot belly sticking out) all of them were smoking and talking very loudly about Brazil and how their grsandparents were Italian. There was one bird-watching couple, the man was wearing short khaki shorts with white socks pulled all the way up, a fanny pack, zink on his n ose and a safari hat while his wife clutched their bird watching guide and had her knapsack across her chest so that nobody would steal it. Our guide was amazing, spoke English French and Spanish (it was fun to hear the exact same jokes in three different languages) and we took a boat (with horribly fish-smelling life preservers) to the islands where we saw more birds than I have evr seen in my life. One part of the island is black and white fromfar and when you move closer you can sere that the black is all birds and the white is the pelicans. we saw the cutest penguins diving into the water and sea lions sun bathing. It was a lot of fun except that I´ve also never smelled anything so bad in my life. The island serves as fertilizer for the surrounding area, people come and dstay there for three months at a time cleaning up all the guano (what a shitty job, ha ha ha). Oh and on the way back there were huge waves so I was trying very hard not to vomit, and clutching Jordan´s hand so hard his fingers were white. I´m going to have to work on my motion sickness before i sign up to become a deck hand on a whaling ship (next christmas).

we got back to paracas at around ten oclock and set off right away for Huacachina by taxi, about an houyr and a half drive, stopping at a stall where they make the best olives we have ever had. we got two kilos for about three bucks. Huacachina is an oasis in the middle of the desert, has the coolest sand dunes ever it looks like the sahara. we took a sand buggy tour over the dunes (I was particularly brave this day, conquering my fears of water, fast driving and snowboarding all in one shot) definitely not for the faint of heart. the driver goes barreling over the sand dunes at breakneck speed, and when you get the top it looks like you´re on the edge of a cliff before he goes flying over the lip and down the side. its like the craziest rollercoaster ever. I couldn´t get over the scenery, trying to take pictures as we´re whizzing up and down and im simultaneously trying to to cry a little bit. It was so much fun though. every now and then he would stop at the top of the dunes and we´d get out and go sandboarding which is sooo much harder than snowboarding i could barely even stay up and ended up going down on my stomach, which is equally terrifying by the way going facefirst down a gigantic sand dune but soooo much fun. jordan was pretty good by the third try and could get down the dune but we both agreed that on your stomach is more fun if your not boarding thew whole day so you have time to really get a feel for it. thwen we saw the oasis in the middle of the sand dunes which was gorgeous and finally headed back to Paracas, so completely covered in sand that we´re still finding sand in our pockets, noses and wallets. the sand was so soft and warm though i was making sand angels (which might explain why i still cant get it all out of my hair). it was prettyu much the best day ever. I finished my book :( best book EVER (girl with curious hair) and wer went back to Lima. This time the bus played 7 pounds with will smith (which i didnt understand at all) and old dogs which was pretty funny but the worst thoguht out movie ever. if you´re in peru, don´t miss huacachina it was the most fun of the trip so far I think, Ill put up the pictures as soon as i can