Doing the Desert in Style!

Paracas has been the Limeños beach retreat for a century but how can you relax by the pool all day when there is so much more to experience in the region! Of course our stay at the Libertador Hotel Paracas started with nothing less than a pisco sour bartending lesson (I'm now a pro in multiple variations of the beverage). We're really getting used to daily piscos served by tall, tan y guapo camareros - can I go back to living any other way?started with nothing less than a pisco sour bartending lesson (I'm now a pro in multiple variations of the beverage). We're really getting used to daily piscos served by tall, tan y guapo camareros - can I go back to living any other way?

Paracas and the Southern coast of Peru is like the Pacific coast of Mexico in that it is a meeting of the desert and the sea. Thursday we viewed the coast in style by yacht... and a little champagne and ceviche completed the scene.

 

Taking a break from holding on for dear life,
watching the sun set over the California Desert

After a day on the water, we headed for the desert by night. We thought Lima never got rain with 1.5 inches per year- here in the California Desert it's 1.5 inches every 20 years! We hopped into our offroad SUV and headed out over the massive dunes... Are we in Peru or the Sahara? We put our lives in the hands of our uninhibited driver David, who assured us that he had experience driving the Paris Dakar races... Not sure whether this fact was comforting or even more unsettling! The experience was out of control, bouncing around the truck with windows down whipping around the sand and flying down 90 degree dunes. We stopped on a sand peak to watch the sun set over the Pacific ocean behind us - another magical momen to add to our list!





But of course when has one over-the-top experience on this trip not been immediately topped by another? We hopped back in the jeeps for a few more rollercoaster runs. As we crested peak of a 90 degree dune literally 2 football feilds high, facing down the sheer slope of sand, we were greeted by a candlelit cocktail party awaiting us at the bottom. David barrelled us down the dune between shrieks, oohs and aahs. Dining and dancing under the stars in the Peruvian desert - check!