World Kanno Travel Blog: Exploring Lima and Peru's South Coast

SOUTH AMERICAN WINTER BEGINS IN SUMMER

Each summer for the past ten years I’ve made it a point to leave the Americas for backpacking adventures over the seas somewhere in Europe, Asia, North Africa, or the Middle East. For some reason, I always kept putting South America off for another day. Living in South Florida, one experiences Latin culture on daily basis. From the radio, to my classroom, to the super market, it's a given that I'm gonna encounter Spanish as often as I desire. So, I just kept pushing this Latin American adventure aside for the right moment. By early this year, that little travel voice in my head started speaking to me with a Peruvian accent. I guess, having been away from the Americas for two years made the heart grow fonder. Now was the time to start exploring my neighbor to the south, so I booked my flight to Lima from Miami for an unbelievable deal of $165 USD.

South America is the fourth largest continent with enough ecological and indigenous diversity that would make any of the other continents jealous. So, you can imagine how attractive it is for anyone seeking an adventure and loves history and rich cultures. It’s the kind of trip you’d want to spend a year or two slow rolling through if possible, but unfortunately, I didn’t have that kind of time, as my summer holiday was only two months. But I’m definitely not complaining! I just knew I’d have to do South America in sections, and this trip would be part one.

Ever since my university days when I took a Latin American studies course, I had my eyes set on Peru. It was my professor who passionately introduced me to Andean cultures like the Incan, Chavin, Tiwanaku, and Nazca. These pre-Colombian cultures both intrigued me because their cultures were so rich and I was astonished that I never even heard about them prior to this class in university. So much attention had been paid to European and Eastern civilizations, and next to nothing about the civilizations of Central and South America. So that class planted some serious seeds of interest for me. I knew I'd have to do some research in order to really appreciate the adventure that lay ahead.

LIMA

Posh wasn't what I was looking for but it's there if you want it.

Any person I’ve ever met from Lima, has raved about its food culture more than anything else. The food culture did not disappoint. However, the nightlife was a different story. After three days in Miraflores, I was eager to leave Lima. With a city of nearly ten million people I was expecting a really great night scene but the three days I was there during the work week was quite slow.

Miraflores is the posh international district, where you will find upper end restaurants, fast food joints, bars playing futbol on huge flat screens, and clubs pumping the hottest beats. It's the place all the travel sites and travel books direct you. It's convenient, safe, and good location, but lacked character. But to be fair, partying wasn’t my main concern. I came to South America for the nature, food, history, and indigenous culture.

breathtaking sunset

Lima is a popular destination for surfing.

Paragliding is popular off the cliffs in Lima

Parque del Amor

Peruvian Policewomen chillax'in

El Centro's Mayor Plaza

Peruvian food culture at its best.

Kennedy Park in Miraflores is famous for its stray cats.

Catholicism is still strong, but Evangelicalism is growing in popularity.

Ceviche, the national dish.

Sadly, Whiteness is still a thing.

Lima public transport is extremely crowded... and can mean long hours for commuters to just do normal everyday things like school, work, or shopping.

BARRANCA

If Miraflores isn’t your cup of tea, then the Bohemian neighborhood of Barranca is worth a visit. Less than ten minutes away by cab along the coast you’ll find the artistic side of Lima. Captivating street art, food carts, bars, and cafés all competing for customers. I met my boy Diego there, who is Peruvian, but grew up in Germany. It was nice to have someone to pass the time with as he introduced me to local Peruvian tapas with domestic cerveza. The scene remained quiet, so we called it a night and decided we’d catch up on the weekend.

Being introduced to Peruvian food by my boy Diego

Checkers

CHINOS & JAPONES IN PERU - MI KIN FOLK from another madre

Getting one's horoscope read in Chinatown

I try and spend as little time as possible in the big cities when backpacking, but Lima is unique because it has a large Chinese and Japanese Peruvian community. And it would be worth an extra day to experience and learn about Chinese and Japanese diaspora in Peru. I spent the better part of the last day walking around Lima's Chinatown and visiting the Japanese Cultural Center. I highly recommend the center for anyone interested in Japanese culture. It was fascinating to learn about the Japanese migration through its’ museum. The first wave of 790 Japanese arrived by ship in 1899 to work on plantations. Eventually saving enough money to move to the cities, start their own businesses, and become the model immigrant. Unfortunately, like the Japanese Americans, they too experienced the horrors of fear and racism because of World War II. Many had their businesses attacked and over two thousand were sent to internment camps in the US. Today, they number around 160,000 and are one of the most successful groups within Peru. In fact, Peru is the only country outside of Asia to elect an Asian as their head of state.

In addition to the immigration museum, the center has Japanese language classes, a gift shop, two Japanese restaurants, lecture hall, television room with Japanese shows/news, Zen garden, tea house, art exhibit, and classes in everything from Ikebana, painting, judo, and karate.

http://www.apj.org.pe/

Inside one of the restaurants at the Japanese Community Center

Peru’s South Coast

Peruvian hairless dogs known as Orchids in Ica.

After three days, it was time to bounce. Decided to join forces with Diego to explore Peru's South Coast. Met up at the bus depot and we headed to Ica about four hours south of Lima.

There is a whole lot to see in the South Coast, so we decided to book a hotel in the town of Ica. I’d describe the town as busy, dirty, and rather bland. Not a whole lot going on to justify the noisy and dusty streets, but it has a large bus terminal for the region and is a decent jumping off point to the places we wanted to see.

places to see on Peru's South Coast

HAUCACHINA... a Majestic Oasis in the Desert

absolutely stunning

Four kilometers away from Ica is a natural oasis, surrounded by an ocean of sand dunes up to three hundred feet high. Legend has it, that a princess was bathing when a hunter came up on her and she ran so fast that the water left behind became the lake. So deep, it’s boring.

To combat the boring story behind the creation of the lake, one can rent some boards for some sand boarding or hire a driver to ride the dunes. The sand boarding didn’t go very well because the boots just didn’t fit and that is key to maintaining stability going down the dunes. As a result I ended up eating a handful of sand nearly everytime. The dune buggy was much better, because you are coasting up and down three hundred foot dunes, kicking up sand, catching air, screaming like a little girl, while moving as fast as you want with no police in your rearview.

The town is super chill as well with a promenade that surrounds three-fourths of the lake. There, you have hotels, restaurants, cafés, shops, bars, and a pretty good night life. It’s a year round destination for wealthy Peruvians and travelers alike since the 1940’s.

BALLESTES ISLANDS

Ballestaes aren’t as much as islands as they are rocky outcrops. But these are rocks were visiting. Not as well known like the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador but they have some of the same treats at a cheaper price. As a result, the Ballestes are sometimes called the Poor Man’s Galapagos. To get there, we went with a tour company that picked us up from our hotel in Ica for the hour ride to the coastal town of Paracas. From there we took a boat for a two-hour tour of the islands and a chance to see the six hundred foot tall geoglyph known as Candelabro. Its origin is unknown and has been likened to a lightning bolt to a hallucinogenic plant.

lightning bolt or plant?

Viewing the islands was cold, cloudy, windy, and wet, but well worth it. It's unlike anything I’ve seen when it comes to birds. A mega sanctuary with thousands and thousand of birds: guanay, guano, blue-footed booby, tendril, and even the Humboldt penguins. Imagine the amount of shit that has accumulated on these three rocks over time. It may be bad taste to even mention bird shit here, but there is a real practical use for all that shit and Peruvians have known it for centuries. Known as guano, the bird shit industry produces 30,000 tons per year, making Peru the biggest producer of bird shit in the world. If you are wondering why in the world would people be interested in bird shit? Organic fertilizer.

all that bird shit has gotta be worth some money

Besides the birds, you’ll be sure to see fur seals, and sea lions. Just not sure if there is much of a demand for their shit.

NAZCA LINES

Our last stop was a place that I have long wanted to see. But the only way to truly experience this place is from the heavens. For $150 USD, you can fly up in a Cessna to witness first hand one of the more interesting and mysterious manmade tributes to the gods anywhere. The exact purpose of the lines is unclear, but I’d guess they were tributes to their gods in the sky. Both, the sun, moon, and constellations played a huge role in ancient cultures and it seems the most logical theory behind creating such large geoglyphs in the sands.

Nazca is the name of the people and culture that lived and flourished in one of the harshest environments on the planet. The Nazcans created huge geoglyphs of birds, monkeys, whale, spider, dog, owlman, flowers, trees, geometric designs and more than seventy other zoomorphic designs strewn across the desert floor between 500 BC to 500 AD. The largest of these are more than 1200 feet and the area encompassing the lines is more than 450 square kilometers

whale

condor

In addition to the lines, they also constructed a complex and vast underground irrigation system in order to grow food and support life. How did such building projects ever succeed in such an arid and harsh environment? It’s an astonishing feat. Imagine, thousands of people dedicating so much time and energy to something that wasn’t essential to their survival? Indeed, they were a sophisticated culture. The Nazca culture ultimately did not survive, but their lines and underground irrigation channels still do.

Leaving the town of Nazca for the 12-hour journey to Arequipa along the Pan American Highway was incredibly breathtaking. I had a top corner, window seat, on a double decker bus. Facing the Pacific Ocean with the sun setting. An absolutely perfect way to say goodbye to the desert and ocean, as the Andean Mountains welcomed me east.