Flamingos and Sea Lions in La Reserva Nacional de Paracas

We woke up Sunday morning in our hotel in Pisco. 

In 2007, Pisco suffered a 7.9 scale earthquake, which destroyed much of the town. The front part of our hotel - Villa Manuelita - was still in the process of reconstruction. And, the municipal building in front of our hotel and on the main plaza is still vacant because of earthquake damage.

City Hall with Earthquake damage

We thought of staying in Pisco a bit longer, but decided to get moving early in the morning. We loaded ourselves in the car to drive to Nazca. Shortly after leaving Pisco, we saw signs for the Reserva Nacional de Paracas. Neither Nando or I had been there before, so we decided to check it out. We figured at least we would have breakfast in Paracas – the town next to the Reserva.

We took a right turn off the Panamericana Sur and about ten minutes later, we were in the town of Paracas. We parked our car and walked along the beach. The girls were excited to see pelicans and there were tons of them hanging out on the fishing boats.

Tanya and Nando in Paracas

Paracas in the morning

As we walked into town, Nando spotted Edgar, an artisan friend of his and they talked while the girls and I admired his beautiful jewelry. We asked Edgar where we could get a bite to eat, and he recommended we try the tamales the lady on the corner was selling.

Edgar and Nando

Raymi - she likes this necklace

We bought tamales as well as delicious pan de leña – an artisanal bread they make in Paracas. We sat on a bench looking out at the beach, and enjoyed pan con tamales – a typical Peruvian Sunday breakfast.  I find Peruvian tamales especially delicious – the masa is flavored with sofrito, and they are stuffed with chicken and olives.

After breakfast, we decided to check out the Reserva. They charge just 5 soles for adults and 1.50 soles for kids. We drove in and our first stop was the welcome station. You can walk a few minutes from there and see tons of birds – including flamingos! The attendant at the Welcome Center lent us her binoculars and we were able to get a glimpse at the dozen flamingos relaxing in the swamp. In addition, there were several huge dead red jellyfish. The kids love animals and were fascinated watching the birds and the jellyfish. We stayed there for a while before piling up in the car again to continue our tour of the Reserva Nacional de Paracas.

Tatiana, Soraya, and Raymi checking out the flamingos

Lots of birds in the Reserva Nacional de Paracas

And a giant red jelly fish

End of the road

Flamingos - first time we've seen them in the wild

Our next stop was Lagunillas – a beautiful rustic beach where the kids saw a whale rib that was bigger than all of them. We also saw a dead pelican – which the kids found fascinating. The view was also quite pretty.

Lagunillas - a giant whale rib

At Lagunillas, we asked the guard how to get to where we could see sea lions and penguins. He pointed us towards a “road,” which I put in quotes because there is not really a road through the sand dunes. Instead you have to follow the tracks of previous cars that have passed through there. It was a bit nerve-wracking as we seemed to be the only people in the desert other than the occasional passing car and the guards at the station.

Reserva Nacional de Paracas - the desert

After driving about 20 minutes through strangely beautiful dunes, we arrived at the other side of the peninsula, where there was a sign telling us that we were almost to the Mirador de los Lobos Marinos – where we could see the sea lions. We parked the car and walked about 800m up a sand dune where we were treated with a spectacular view of huge cliffs that dropped straight down into the sea. And, sure enough, down below, there were large sea boulders covered with sea lions.

Sea Lions relaxing on the rocks

Reserva Nacional de Paracas

Reserva Nacional de Paracas

I always get a bit nervous near the edge of cliffs so could only stay there with the girls for about ten minutes. There was another overlook and Raymi and I went to check it out while Nando, Tatiana, and Soraya went back to relax in the car.

Raymi and I walked about 5 minutes and came to these awesome cliffs with waves crashing on them. There was also an overlook, but I was too scared to get close to it, so we just enjoyed the view from afar.

Walking back, Raymi and I marveled at the fact that we were the only people in this beautiful place. The Reserva is extremely peaceful, with miles and miles of sand dunes, and surrounded by a beautiful blue sea. I was very happy we decided to make the trip to the Reserva.

Pink hills in the Reserva

By this time, it was noon and we had run out of water to drink. There was much more to see, but we were tired and out of provisions. We decided to head back to Paracas to have lunch. In Paracas, we were treated with a beautiful blue sky – something we hadn’t seen since we arrived in Lima on Tuesday morning. I love that sensation when you see the sun for the first time in days and are reminded of how important sunshine can be.

We searched around for a reasonably priced lunch and found a place that sold us 3 menus for 8 soles each, plus 10 soles each for a ceviche and a chicharron de pescado. With a large bottle of water, the check came out to 49 soles – about $20 for the five of us. The menus with chicken soup and lomo saltado de pollo were cheaper, but we wanted to also try some of the seafood while we were still on the coast. Everything was tasty, and we had ordered too much food. We took a doggy bag and headed to our next destination – Las Lineas de Nasca.

Rosa and Nando

On the way to the car, we ran into Rosa, another artisan friend of Nando’s who sells artesania in Paracas. We chatted with her for a bit and reminisced on the days when Nando and I used to travel around Peru selling jewelry. I wonder if we will see a friend of Nando’s in each stop we make!