aventura de peru. dia 9. las cosas pequeñas.

I leave my sleepy beachside home of Paracas tomorrow morning. Time flies when you´re lying around by the beach. Nothing too notable has happened in the past couple days, but I wanted to share some small stories that have made my time here quite special.

The other day I commissioned a gentleman named Franco to make a necklace for me out of Andean stones. He had a table full of beautiful rocks, some in their natural state, some that had been sanded and shaped. I chose five stones and asked a friend to help me explain to him how I wanted the necklace to look. Two days later, I receive my treasure:

Isn´t she lovely?

My exchanges with Franco were very brief but fun. He´s a very sweet and talented man and not only am I thankful for what he made me, I am thankful for his patience and willingness to engage in a couple shoddy conversations full of broken Spanish.

The next small moment involves a young girl at a restaurant where I was buying lunch. While I was waiting for her mother and grandmother (I presume) to get my meal together, the little girl saw my necklace and ran up to me. She started counting the stones uno, dos, tres, and every time after 3 she would get a little jumbled up, so I would count with her. She was so adorable, and kept doing it over and over, just to touch the pretty stones I´m sure. I was able to ask her name and how old she is (because I have the Spanish vocabulary of a 3 year old, naturally) and it was so sweet to get to engage with her. Dani, or Daniella, three year old sparkle in my Paracas adventure.

The other day during shift, Sophie (my new friend from The Netherlands) asked me if I wanted some fresh fruit juice from down the way. Umm, yes, of course because that sounds absolutely delightful. And this is what Sophie brought back:



Well the first image is what she brought back. And the second is obviously how it is consumed. Everything comes in plastic bags here. Juice, condiments, leftovers. There is a Chinese food restaurant down the way (they´re popular here) and they literally just threw my leftovers in a small plastic bag and sent me on my way. Classic. Small pleasures here in Paracas.

Another thing I really enjoy about this place is the bird life. I went out kayaking yesterday...and here is my rather sad attempt at a panoramic photo of the beach from my kayak:



I could use some practice...for now, I´ll just blame it on the rocking of the kayak.

I paddled out for about half an hour or so and then just laid there. Watching the birds. The Peruvian boobies are the best (no not those boobies, ya pervs) the birds. They dive into the water at like 50 mph to catch their food and then they bob up about 1.2 seconds later. Over and over they´re just diving all around me. And the pelicans are rad too. They just glide over the surface of the water, so close, without touching it. It´s really neat to watch. I caught these guys just chillin´:




Unfortunately, I couldn´t catch any gliders with my amazing kayaking camera skills.

My time in Peru is a time of trying new things, practicing open-mindedness, and attempting to challenge myself in overcoming fears.

With that said, I tried a new fruit yesterday...la granadilla. It looks like fish guts inside of an orange peel. I tried it, despite how foul it looks, and I didn´t like it. I won´t be having another, but hey, I tried it.



I´ve also been trying a lot of seafood dishes that I wouldn´t normally ever even consider. But I am in Peru, a country that exports 10% of the world´s fish, so I gotta try shit.

I´ve had fried rock fish that was served up whole with the teeth still intact...this is basically what it looked like:



I´ve also tried muscles for the first time, I know, crazy considering I´ve lived in Santa Barbara for 9 years now. I´ve had chupe de pescado (fish soup) with shrimp, squid, and octopus among other types of fish. I´ve also eaten ceviche, which is raw fish. So I´d say I´m doing pretty well on the trying new things front.

Another small thing...the equivalence of Groupon in Peru. I had expressed interest in para-gliding to my friend Ana (my couchurfing host) and she began scouring the internet for a discount. This is what she found:



Dias Lunatic!! Para-gliding in Peru for 70 soles...the equivalent of about $24. We´re heading out on our adventure when I get back to Lima! So stoked.

Panoramic pictures are cool. I haven´t taken many in my life, but I´m going to start. Here´s one from the dunes, and I´ll be sure to share some more later:



Rest in peace sweet safari hat.

My challenge for today, figure out how to transfer money into the bank account of the tour guide for the hostel I am arriving at tomorrow night at midnight. I am attempting to head out on a two day trek of the Colca Canyon (supposedly the world´s second deepest canyon) that departs at 3 am the morning I arrive...therefore, I have to schedule and pay for the tour before I get there since I am at the hostel for less than 3 hours in the middle of the night. The website of the bank is entirely in Spanish. Should be fun.

I´m going to miss this view:



But only until I get home, seeing as I have a very similar view around the corner from my house. Neener neener.

Paracas, it´s been fun. Time for the next adventure.