As lovely as Lima was to walk around, it was still a big city, and living in London we’re quite used to those. We were excited then to get on the road and see the rest of Peru. After a painful 5:45am wake up (which was actually made slightly easier by some residual jet lag) we got on a bus to Paracas.

Our very animated guide, Claudia, was excited to tell us all about the local culture on board the bus, regardless of most passengers being more excited to continue their sleep as soon as possible. After an hour and a half we made a stop for a slightly sad bread roll filled with particularly delicious avocado, accompanied by a free horse dancing show and tombola - a Peruvian carnival game where a rather traumatised guinea pig is released into the middle of a circle of numbered boxes, and the winner is chosen by the box the poor little guy shelters in. We felt very sorry for Bob (as named by a child in the group) and were glad when we finished playing so he could have a rest, and we could get on our way.

Another couple of hours later we arrived in Paracas, a tiny fisherman’s town. After some lunch by the sea with some new friends we met on the bus (ceviche and several pisco sours, obviously) we headed off on the Golden Shadows tour - a short sunset hike around some coastal sand dunes and rocky hills in the Peruvian Atacama desert. It was very steep and very very windy but very very very beautiful. We were surrounded by such raw and imposing scenery. Jagged rocks stuck out of jagged cliffs that fell vertically to the sea. At times, the clouds looked like a reflection of the sea, and at sunset we watched the sun become a huge red oval before finally disappearing in to the water.

On the very bumpy minibus ride back, talk turned to dinner and some fellow backpackers recommended us a restaurant, where we later ran into them again. A few blocks off the main road, in an area clearly not meant for tourists, a chef who had lost his job during the pandemic had set up a restaurant in his home. He cooks alone in his kitchen and you eat in his living room which is filled with his artwork (mostly either traditional portraits of native Peruvians or a kind of cubist/abstract combination of blocks and faces). He makes everything from scratch so it can take a while, and dishes all come out one by one, but you can taste how much love he cooks with. He seemed genuinely hurt we wouldn’t be able to taste several dishes we tried to order but he didn’t have the right ingredients for. Five or so attempts later, Melissa had a huge bowl of vegetable soup (stocky with big pieces of veg which had just the right amount of crunch) and I received fish cakes (which must have been about 80% chunky fresh fish) served with yucca (cassava) and salad, plus some pisco sours (of course) and followed by some fried bananas with a caramel sauce he threw together for us as an apology for not having our first menu choices available. It was Melissa’s favourite meal so far, and might have been mine.

The next day, Melissa woke up with bad stomach pains and nausea that had been building the day before (we still don’t know the exact cause, but I suspect the acid from the constant ceviche and pisco sours that have so far punctuated our time here had something to do with it) [Melissa edit: it’s either the daily ceviche or the unexpected Rice Mountain from Lima). I headed out alone on the boat tour we’d booked, and promised to take lots of photos. There were huge sea lions, very cute penguins and a brilliant soundtrack of 90s tracks to accompany it (bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do?). I got photos of the first two.

A little snack of tequeños (thin pastry filled with a thin layer of cheese, fried and served with what I think was a strawberry sauce), a fun chat with the 4ish year old daughter of the tiny family fun juice bar I ate in (she seemed to understand me and her excitement was undiminished when I got nothing she said), some looking after Melissa (slowly improving), a search to find some fresh fruit and veg (see previous), a return to our favourite living room restaurant (sole with a spicy, vinegary rub this time) and some packing later it was time to head onward. Goodbye Paracas, thanks for all the good times. Hello Huacachina!