Cold Spaghetti

After naptime and lunch, we took a 2:30 bus trip out to Paracas National Reserve. The majority of the reserve looks like the surface of the moon… one of the driest places on earth. Years ago, the water table was quite high and you could dig just a few feet for water (supporting plant and animal life) — now, the water is approximately 30 meters down. We toured the reserve with a guide and an extended Peruvian family with three boys; they were great and very friendly. Mist shrouded some of the key vistas within the reserve (see below) but we are still happy we went. The museum within the reserve was very interesting (more than we thought it would be) and was home to some impressive textiles, trophy heads and other skull remains (did you know that the Incas were into head-shaping and brain surgery?), and mummies! One of the coolest parts of the museum were remains from the Paracas Necropolis, a 5000-year old site of the Paracas culture (predating the Incas by more than a thousand years). 400-some funerary bundles were found (check out the mummy below to see what I mean about “bundles”) wrapped with colorful textiles and loom work.

Will and I outside of the Paracas museum. I also took pictures of Paul with the travel bunny here — he’ll post those, eventually…!

Some stuff in the Museum. The mummy here is actually a copy — the real one is in the big museum in Lima.

Paul and Will at The Cathedral! They are standing by the protective wall and Paul is holding Very Tightly on to Will! 

The Cathedral. A stunning rock formation in Paracas National Reserve. Because of the fog, we were not able to travel down (along the other side) to the beach view of this. By the way, I took this a few steps from the edge. I was very careful, but let’s be clear: it’s a long way down! (Will was on Paul’s shoulders the entire time and Paul kept way, way back.) 

Boats on the seashore. This little fishing nook provides approximatley 80% of all the seafood in Lima. Little boats like this provide the thousands of pounds of grub consumed daily by a city of over 8 million! Wow.  

Seaside swimming hole — complete with seafood stands — in Paracas National Reserve. Note the arid ground. This is one of the driest regions in the world… and why archaeologists are able to dig up petrified mummies and other artifacts thousands of years old! 

Will and Paul at a beach-side swimming hole in the Paracas National Reserve. 

Hotel Paracas is the swankiest place in town, to be sure. It’s not the Ritz… sort of a Best Western quality for rooms (think super small bed and basic rooms). But clean, airy, and full of things to do. The grounds are beautiful, pools well-kept (and surprisingly, the cholorine is not overpowering), and food very, very good.

Will loved lounging on the bed — here he relaxes and reads some Olie before bedtime.

Paul and Will play in the pool. 

One of the three pools. Paul and Will are in the center of the picture.