Guano War (part the first)

After our hike around Ausangate, we spent a full day in Cuzco to recuperate, and then set off the same night for Pisco, A small coast town a few hours (by bus) south of Lima. The ride was estimated to take us about 20 hours, so I considered the resulting 22 hour ride to be remarkably punctual. Emerging from a 22 hour bus ride feels about like I would imagine a bear feels when emerging from hibernation. My limbs are cramped, sleepiness still sustains it's smothering grip on my mind, and I am very, very hungry. Unfortunatly, our bus dropped us off at 5'O-clock in the morning in a town about 2 hours bus ride from Pisco, our desired destination. Our bus driver was either a spiteful, apathetic, or genuinely confused, because he had informed us that we were getting off at Pisco, although the locals informed us quite emphatically of the opposite. We ended up catching a bus back to Pisco, arriving there around 7 A.M.

We managed to locate one of the hostals indicated by our trusty "Lonely planet" guide, but they insisted on a price of 15 Soles, which is unfortunatly incompatible with our meagre budgets. We set off to find a cheaper option, and finally settled on a certain Hostal "Las Americanas" in Plaza Belen, with a 10 soles per night budget. The great price came with an unfortunate proviso however, in that there was a double bed, and a single, for the four of us. The price was right, however, so we rationalized away our doubts, and settled on Ansley taking the single bed, Jackson and I sharing the double, and Alex stretching out on the floor on top of ansley's comfy thermarest.

Alex and I spent the rest of the morning hiking down to the pier at the edge of the Pacific, while ansley and Jackson rested in the room. On returning, we set out together to find some lunch. After some searching, we settled on a 4 sole menú, which served us some delicious "Lomo Saltado", and "Tallerin Saltado". After buying a watermelon, we headed to the town of Paracas, where we spent the afternoon on the beach.

(This concludes part one, the title of the blog will be explained in part two)