I went on my first expedition this weekend to a couple towns, Pisco and Ica, that are about four hours south of Lima. Myself and ten other foreigners arrived in Pisco on Friday afternoon, we found a great hostel and then hung out in the city for the evening. What we knew upon visiting Pisco was that it was almost completely destroyed by a massive earthquake two years ago, and the entire town is still pretty devastated. What we did NOT know was that the day we got there was the two year anniversary of the earthquake... that would have been nice to know! There were quite a few riots and protestors (the people of the city are mad because the government began to rebuild everything, and then abandoned the project). Anyways, I didn't really sleep at all due to the drums, megaphones, and screaming in the streets. Luckily, we were staying at a very secure hostel, so there weren't any safety issues for the most part.

The next day we took a boat out around the Islas Ballestras, AKA "The Poor Man's Galapagos," which are some beautiful islands just off the coast in the Pacific. We saw tons of different birds, seals, baby seals, penguins, and dolphins. Afterwards, we went to the Reserva Nacional de Paracas, an arrid national park right on the ocean. Other than some cool fossils, cliffs, and a few flamingos, there wasn't anything in the national park, but I guess that is how it is supposed to be. Very beautiful and serene. For lunch, we ate fish that had been caught the same day, that's how Peruvians like their seafood. Its delicious!

Later, we took a bus from Pisco to Ica and found another hostel. In the morning, we went to two different vineyards, took tours, and tasted tons of different wines and piscos. Pisco is a hard liquor only made in Peru (I'm pretty sure its only made in Peru...). They are very proud of their pisco. The town Pisco gets its name from the alcohol. I am not a huge fan of pisco, I liked the sweet wine the best :) Both the vineyards were beautiful, but very small and local. The owner of one has a huge collection of ancient Peruvian stuff, including shrunken human heads, which ancient tribes used to make after they sacrificed people or something. I'm not exactly sure, but the shrunken heads were creepy and they were just sitting there on the bookshelf.

The last stop we made before heading back to Lima was a desert town called Huacachina. It looked like we were driving through the sahara desert. There were tons of huge sand dunes, and there was a tiny town with a lake and tons of palm trees right in the middle of the desert. It was very pretty, and it was very warm and sunny. It was the first day I have seen the sun since being in Peru, and it was a little sad to go back home to Lima underneath all the winter clouds.

Tomorrow I begin my classes (all in Spanish!) at the university. I am planning on taking a theater literature class, Quechua (the ancient Incan language...it counts toward my Spanish major, I don't know why), and a few sociology classes that are specific to Peru. I am really looking forward to class, although I'm sure they will be very difficult at first.

I'm still not totally used to the air and all the pollution here, and I am coughing all the time. I am also still getting accostumed to the food, especially fruits and vegetables. There are tons of great fruits here that I have never even heard of! Although, the few new fruits that I've tried haven't really been my favorite... I am guessing maybe its not only me, and that is why they don't export a ton to the US. Maybe I am wrong about that though!

One more thing, we have a maid in the house who does all of our laundry and cleans our rooms and bathrooms for us. I feel a little bit bad about the whole situation, although it hasn't taken long to get used to. Its very nice.

Below are some pictures from my weekend trip.

Pisco, Peru. Mostly destroyed by an earthquake in August, 2007. We still visited. The red building was our hostel.

Lake oasis in Huacachina, Peru. Sandboarding and dune buggying is very popular.

These clay bottles are full of wine and pisco.

La policia closed down all the roads out of Pisco, Peru due to riots... So we hung out in the Plaza de Armas. Little girls thought it would be a good idea to put flowers in my hair.

Inga and I at Reserva Nacional de Paracas.
The group in front of the ocean.

Mama seal climbing up to see baby seal on Las Islas Ballestras.
This is some ancient candelabra looking thing on the side on a stone mountain. There are a lot of theories about what it is, and how it got there. My theory is that the ancient Peruvians liked IU :)