One Gal, One Backpack, and an Open Mind: Happy to be alive and excited to have my backpack back...

I returned from my 1.5 day adventure to Huacachina and Paracus at 12:30 this morning. Was not sure if I would make it back but somehow, a crazy story later made it back (I will tell the story when I am alert enough to organize my thoughts!) I hopped on the bus with just a small backpack, with the bare essentials. My itinerary was as follows: catch the bus from Lima to Paracas, get picked up ('don't worry, they will know who you are at the bus station and get you to your destination', the travel agent said), go to a hotel in Paracas for one night, catch a ferry out to Ballistas Islands Sunday morning, get picked up at the ferry terminal and take a bus to Huacachina to go sandboarding and explore the dessert via dune buggy, catch bus back to Lima at 6:30 pm Sunday night. So, I hopped on the bus 4 hours to Paracas, drove through miles and miles of dessert with small shantys-some looked like ice fishing shacks. There were no stores or town centers, only people on the side of the road selling fruit. People were trudging along the side of the road and I was curious as to where the heck they were walking (there didn't seem to be anything for miles!) I found out later that that is how people get around-they stand on the side of the road and flag a car down or if they need a bus, they wait on the side of the road, if a bus has room it will stop. The boy next to me on the bus was explaining that the earthquake in 2007 was very devastating and caused the already poor towns of Ica and Paracas to have to rebuild. He told me he was in his school classroom when it struck and he is very freightened about something happening again. He said he had to spend 2 days inside his classroom until it was safe to go outside. He got hit by a desk in his leg and has had some residual deficits. Then, he said all of the busses where backed up so he had to walk 25 miles home. His mom did not know if he was alive until he showed up at his doorstep (only 1/4 of his home was still standing). I wish my Spanish was a bit better so I could have understood more. The tone of his voice completely changed when he was telling the story, I could clearly tell it was and is a very difficult time him and for all of the townspeople. The bus arrived at 6:30 pm in Paracas. In my mind, I pictured a typical bus station, walk inside, tons of people, some ammenities. We pulled up and I asked the boy next to me if this was the bus station? Yes, he replied. It was a small shack just as I had seen for miles. I was about to get my first experience living the life of a Paracas resident. I walked into the straw hut and sat down. There was no roof and it was cold. I had on everything in my backpack at this point (zip turtleneck, and fleece jacket). It got colder and colder. I was the only one there. I asked the only man at the 'bus station' if he knew who was picking me up. I gave him the information I had and he said 'I call my friend, he pick you up, no worry, relax.' Why the heck would I worry?! haha I was a bit worried. A man finally picked me up (after an hours wait when I was told he would be there waiting when I arrived!) I got dropped off at the hotel, but did not realize that a basic hotel room meant no heat, no electricity/hot water. Needless to say, combined with the noise from the mode of transportation in Paracas (dune buggy) and the fact that my hotel windows did not close, I did not get any sleep. Got up the next morning and had a continental breakfast (a roll and tea) and met a wonderful little girl. She drank my orange juice and insisted that I play telephone with her using my room key. We did this for the hour I was there. When I left, she walked down 6 flights of stairs behind me (she was only two and a half). I kept trying to bring her back upstairs but could not find her parents and my ferry was about to leave. I walked out the door and she ran into the middle of the street crying for me to come back. I carried her into the hotel and told the receptionist to watch her. She was the cutest little kid and made breakfast entertaining for sure!
The trip out to the Ballestas was great. The rocks were full of Peruvian Boobies, Cormorants, Inca Terns, Peruvian Pelicans, little penguins, sea lions etc. Some rocks were so dense with birds, they were black! Every seven years a helicopter flies over the Ballestas for Guano-the discretement of feces and urine from the species on the islands. The Guano is a very effective fertilizer due to it's nitrogen and phosphorus. The U.S. buys this from Peru for use as gun powder and fertilizer. The entire ferry boat I was on was French-speaking, which I was thankful for since my French is much better than my Spanish.

Hostal Mar Azul...one long night!

My little friend eating my breakfast!

Sea Lions on Ballistas Islands

Penguins!

A 595 ft tall geoglyph on Paracas Penninsula

Ballestas islands

Paracas Harbor

Downtown paracas

I started my first day at Almenara Hospital at 7am this morning. This is the largest of all hospitals in Lima. It was a very busy day and I am exhausted! We treated MANY patients this morning and taught this afternoon. My translator, Ana is a wonderful therapist and she seems to have boundless energy which is great! She was very excited and proud (for good reason) to show me around downtown Lima this evening (I would have been content catching up on some much needed rest but decided nothing could be better than having a personal tour guide so I went). She took me to Chinatown (lots of street vendors, very dirty and lots of Chinese restaurants). She took me to a Chinese restaurant (I am crossing my fingers on this one so that I won't get sick.) She then took me to explore the catacombs at the San Francisco Convent (25,000 bodies burried under the church). The people of the church thought they would be safe if they were burried near the church so they were piled one on top of the other. This was a bit creepy but interesting. Got home late and discovered a new volunteer starting this week-she is staying at the same hotel. She is an internal medicine doc. She asked me to accompany her to a sushi restaurant. Recalling my first few days (not knowing anyone or anything!) I said yes. Now, I am officially exhausted and need to go to bed to rise early!