Today (24th August) we got up at a sensible time, 8am! Breakfast wasn't due to finish until 10am so we had plenty of time to get ready and go down for breakfast.
Unfortunately breakfast was a little disappointing but compared to yesterday it had a lot to live up to.
Having finished breakfast we decided we'd go get a delicious chocolate croissant once we had finished packing and tidied the room, giving us an incentive to do this quickly!
Having paid and checked our bags in at the hotel (we're not taking them down to Paracas with us) we went to get our chocolate croissant (and takeaway sandwiches for our bus journey).
We had noticed straps on the chairs at all the restaurants and cafes we had visited. At first we were puzzled by them but then realised it's to attach your bag to your chair to stop someone stealing it!
I forgot to mention yesterday about the police officers standing at all the major traffic lights with whistles and little light up batons (they turn them on in the evenings!).
Today one car tried to jump the lights and the police officer came over shouting and waving his little baton. The car tried to keep coming but the police officer came running over blowing his whistle and waving his baton at him. The driver eventually stopped, car half way across the pedestrian crossing with all the pedestrians ignoring the whole debacle, crossing right in front of him so he couldn't move even if he wanted to!
It seems in Peru and Bolivia they like their whistles. As you walk along a busy street in Lima or La Paz all you can hear (above the traffic noise!) are whistles being blown. In Machu Picchu if anyone violated a rule, for example sitting on a wall, the tourist police there would blow their whistle and wave their hands at you!
To help the pedestrians cross the road there is a funny little green man dancing (I think he's meant to be walking but it definitely looks like dancing to us!) to indicate when to cross with a count down.
Unfortunately a green man doesn't mean there won't be any cars! When the time's up a little red man appears with his hands on his hips. Again, just because he's red doesn't mean that the cars are all going and at times this actually felt like a safer time to cross the road!
The hotel called us a taxi to take us to the bus station. I noticed when I got in the taxi yesterday the driver locked my door and again today when I got in the hotel concierge tapped on my window and indicated to me to lock the door. Once we'd set off I noticed all doors on the car were once again locked.
The journey to the bus station was uneventful, getting there more than an hour early giving us time to attempt to get a refund on our bus tickets.
We queued up to transfer our online voucher for tickets and I ask about a refund but was told "no English". I tried a few more times with a few Spanish words but still "no English". I gave up and went to the information desk where she directed me straight back to where I had started and unfortunately the queue had got significantly longer. Grrr.
After another half hour of waiting we eventually got back to the front of the queue and they were able to gives us a refund only losing 15% of the ticket price equivalent to just over £2!
With 20 minutes until departure we sat down in some comfy seats. As Stu sat down he realised his wallet was missing. We had it out in the taxi so our either didn't get our properly back on his pocket and fell out (our hope as the taxi driver was really nice) or someone managed to get their hand into Stu's pocket and steal it (quite a feat as his pocket tops are quite tight).
Either way we lost around £15 and a £2 wallet. Annoying but not the end of the world. I'm surprised we've managed to survive 30 days without losing anything (bar two odd socks and a t-shirt in the laundry).
Just after 2pm (the bus always leaves late!) we set off for Paracas.
Yesterday was the first day we didn't see the sun or a blue sky. Today we had to wait until we got to Paracas to see the sun. Lima in winter tends to be cloudy which is weird as the rest of Peru which we've visited has had blue skies all the time.
As we left Lima we passed around 30 furniture shacks all lining the main road each specialising in something different; chairs, tables, shelving units, etc. At the end of the row stood a huge Ikea-like building also selling furniture! I wonder what Ikea would do if 30 furniture stalls set up next to one of their stores?!
At just after 6pm we arrived in Paracas (late as usual!) meaning we missed sunset :-(
We took a taxi to the hotel. The driver was really friendly telling us all about Paracas as we drove to our hotel in Spanish. Surprisingly we could understand pretty much everything he said!
On arriving at our hotel there was a large security presence outside. They wouldn't let the car in until they confirmed we had a reservation!
Inside the place looked amazing! It calls itself a "luxury resort" and it lives up to that name!
The hotel comes complete with concierge, bell boy, health spa with sauna, several restaurants, private beach, several pools and lots of villas.
We got to our villa we were blown away by what we saw inside, especially compared to what we have been staying in for the past month. Huge bed, huge room, beautiful bathroom, balcony, etc. This is our treat for the end of the holiday :-)
For dinner we went to one of the recommended seafood restaurants in town. We had scallops with lemon and parmesan to start and both chose a prawn dish for mains.
When I had a similar scallop dish in Cusco I was given three small scallops. At this restaurant we were given 16 including roe and some were doubles! For the main we each got 25 king prawns. Needless to say we both stuffed ourselves with the seafood and felt way too full once we had finished.
We walked back to the hotel and with our appetite renewed we settled down for pudding and tea/coffee. The food in the hotel was absolutely delicious although our pudding and drinks cost almost as much as our dinner and drinks at the restaurant in town!
(No decent photos today but hopefully lots tomorrow as we have booked the boat trip around the Islas Bastellas - I'm really looking forward to it!!)
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