A Return to Ica (part 1)

Sometimes I'm just lucky enough to do things I didn't think I'd be able to-- returning to Ica being at the top of my list here in Peru. I loved it so much the last time, however returning anywhere isn't easy here, as there's only so much time and so very much to see. However, Easter weekend in Peru is 4 days of parades and festivals, and I made the split second decision that I wanted to leave Cusco (all the roads near my house were closed for the week sometime on Monday, and it was going to be miserable with crowds of people if I stayed). So Thursday I went down to the Terminal Terestre and found a bus and left at 6pm that night, accompanied by Martine and Karen, two expats I know in Cusco who'd never been and decided I had the right idea leaving.





A 16 hour bus ride later and I was back! The dry heat was glorious and it was just as beautiful as I remembered it and I was just thrilled to be there.



Of course, there are drawbacks to traveling on holiday weekends-- there were about 2000 people in Huacachina (as opposed to the 3-4oo last time I was there) and alot of the activities had been postponed until Monday/Tuesday because the tour groups there were making so much money just doing Pisco Tours and Buggy rides. Determined to make it work anyway, we checked into Paleontology Tours &, assured that the guy who was running them this weekend would call us around 3pm, we headed out to Bodega del Catador for pisco tastings... Because what else are you supposed to do early afternoon while you're waiting to find out when you're fossil hunting?



As it happened, we got back just a bit before 3, and when we went to check in with our tour organizer, we found a Paleontologist. Apparently we were going to get a private tour! (Turned out it was a good thing most of the places weren't running the paleo tours because this was waaaay cooler). Bright and early the next morning we were to meet and go! So that meant the evening would be spent relaxing and taking in how beautiful it was there.

Desert at Sunset...


The paleontology tour was superb. Only thing better would've been if I could've stayed overnight in the desert. We went out into the Ocucaje Desert for about 4 hours with Paleontologist Mario Urbina (google him, you'll find tonnes of articles!) to look at fossilized whales.



















The whales we were looking at were aprox. 10million years old. We saw around 10 (probably a few more) during our trek. We saw sperm whales, a whale with baleen, and a handful of whales that have never been excivated & therefore have no names. So freaking awesome.