Peru Hop Day 1: Lima to Paracas
A minivan picked us up at our hotel in Milaflores at 6:40am. I guess the early start helped us avoid Lima’s terrible rush hour traffic. We transferred to the Peru Hop bus, bright red with a cartoon guinea pig and the motto “Eat Sleep Hop Repeat.” Our friendly host Deborah welcomed us aboard. She was assisted by Paulo, who was a new host in training.
I admit, I was hoping for a nicer bus. I liked the clean white headrest covers and the large windows. But seats were narrow, with very little legroom - not enough space to use the padded leg rests. My seatback reclined, but would not lock into place. As I bounced up and down in the stop-and-go traffic leaving Lima, I began to feel slightly queasy. Would I survive this trip?
Fortunately, Deborah had plenty of good stories to distract me, and eventually we were speeding south along the Panamerican Highway. I Iooked out my window at the Pacific Ocean and an endless series of yellow and brown desert hills, completely barren, with an occasional cluster of blocky white vacation condos.
Our first stop was Restaurante Mirasur, where we had a simple breakfast of coffee and freshly baked panchitos - soft breadsticks stuffed with cheese or olives. I ordered a hot cup of emoliente, a medicinal drink made with roasted barley and herbs. It was so cloyingly sweet that I couldn’t take more than a couple of sips. Peruvians definitely have a sweet tooth!
Next, we stopped in the town of Chincha to visit a colonial estate-turned-hotel called Hacienda San José. In its heyday, this was a plantation that grew cotton and grapes, employing 1,000 slaves! We were given a short tour which included the underground slave tunnels, which were much narrower and smaller than the catacombs in Lima. At least there were no bones down there.
We arrived in the beach town of Paracas at around 2:00pm. When planning this trip, I had decided to splurge on the Hotel Paracas Luxury Resort. We were upgraded to a suite, which turned out to be the entire top floor of a villa! Our terrace looked out to the Pacific Ocean. We had two private rooftop decks, one with a heated pool. All this luxury felt surreal after the long bus ride through the desert.
It was a beautiful day in Paracas! We strolled along the beach and through the lush grounds of the resort. After a snack and drinks at the beachfront lounge, we went back to our villa for a rest.
That evening, we watched a gorgeous sunset from our terrace. It more than made up for the lackluster sunset we had seen in Lima the previous evening. Then we returned to the main restaurant for an excellent dinner. It was sad knowing we would be leaving in the morning. If only we could stay longer in this tropical paradise in Paracas!
