Arriving in Paracas was incredible – I really felt like I was on my summer holiday. All around were little bars, market stalls and people drinking, all looking out to the beach. The beach itself wasn’t like one in the Maldives but there was something quite wondrous about its quaintness and I really felt immersed in Peruvian life as I watched the locals go on with their days. Entering Kokopelli was so relaxing, in Spanish “muy tranquila” with people sunbathing, playing table tennis and drinking coronas. Our room was a 14 person dorm but it never felt busy or too hot as the walls were bright and white. Every bunk had a curtain and a little window to see the view. I woke up every morning to boats and a big palm tree. The people staying at Kokopelli were so friendly and nice. In the bunk next to me was Jelle from the Netherlands, our introduction began with him panicking because he lost his key to our room. It just so happens I have just found his key 5 days later…

Lunch our first day was great! We went to one of the little restaurants on the street next to our hotel and shared a plate of fried fish for two, which was 15 sols each which is about £3 something and was delicious. After lunch we didn’t do too much until the early evening when we went and sat on a balcony on the front drinking pisco sours. This then led to a fun night drinking cubra libres and chatting rubbish to an as-yet-unidentified French women, an Australian couple and our friend Jelle.

The following day we woke up a little worse for wear but I think there’s something nice about hangovers on holiday as they don’t seem to be as bad, especially in comparison to a miserable British setting. We went downstairs for breakfast which was scrambled eggs, pan de yamas (butter rolls) and tomatoes. This is a pretty standard hostel which I have actually thought has been a pretty big plus. That morning we had booked the boat trip to Isla ballestas known as the poor man’s Galapagos. It was on this boat trip that we met our friends Joe and Sharron again! We also saw them while drinking our piscos the night before as they do stick out like a sore thumb with their hats and long white socks with trainers. Another person we met was Felicia, a 25 yr old American holidaying for 2 weeks around Peru. Felicia ends up temporarily making the dynamic duo a trio. I don’t know the best way to describe her and she said she was going to give this a read so I suppose it has to be good… In all seriousness she is really cool and free spirited. She dresses almost like a Peruvian gaucho (cowboy) is with a suede cowboy hat, a beautiful aqua pashmina and a pair of boots. She is aloof in the most enchanting way – I find myself staring at her in awe and wonder when she sits contently writing in her journal, the unassuming protagonist of her own story. She also made us laugh with her wandering eye and her flirtatious nature with all the male backpackers.

The Isla ballestas island tour was amazing and the wind and the sprays of sea water were perfect for our hangover. I think kate was suffering a little more as she did tend to sleep for most of it. The views were so picturesque and it made me fall in love with the world! Perhaps Felicia’s spirit is rubbing off on me. My favourite part was seeing all the animals, from birds to sea lions. Seeing the birds made me think about Fin’s dad Chris (he is a bird watcher) and how much he would have loved this and probably enlightened me on the species. Joe kept making me laugh the entire time, especially as his catch phrase “mucho pork” turned into “mucho hot” and “mucho birds”. Getting off the bus Felicia, Kate and I decided to go back to the pool and we all said goodbye to Joe and Sharron who we knew we would be seeing the next day for the Peru Hop.

With our new friend we went back to the hostel and sunbathed. This was a terrible decision as I got burnt to a crisp, obviously kate got a nice glow. I am wondering now who will get more tanned between the two of us… I know this is very petty but we are 21yr old British girls addicted to getting the best summer glows. Personally I think kate is beating me but remember it’s a marathon not a sprint ;). Burnt and sore all three of us went for dinner and shared some mixed ceviche and seafood rice. One thing that stuck with me from this day was Felicia’s question to both of us while sitting around the pool, “what do you want to gain from this trip?” At first I thought this was just another typical backpacking question but it’s really resonated with me and I’m still not sure how to answer. She spoke a lot about personal growth and I think until now I’ve never thought about this but I do hope I change in some admittedly abstract way. I replied “I want to experience new cultures” but I panicked and settled for being generic. I know there is more to this answer but I need to find it.

Now we move on to the next day as I am pretty sure I got heat stroke so was in bed around 9pm. I also woke up the next day with puffy eyes from my sunburnt eyelids which meant I panicked and rushed up to put cold water on my eyes, luckily it went down. First thing I thought that morning was “shit, I need a cap”. I ended up buying a crappy red Adidas one. I mean all it did was accentuate my rouged but as Kate said I could say the burn was merely a reflection. I can’t remember at what time but we packed up all our belongings and went to the Peru hop meet point for our journey to Huarachina.

On the way to Huacachina we stopped off for our tour of the paracas National reserve which was breathtaking! Honestly the landscape in Peru has been like nothing I have ever seen and the reserve is a combination of desert, oceans and islands. It sounds awful and I know this completely takes away from the beauty I saw but I am pretty upset about all the pictures taken. This is because every single one I had my stupid red fake Adidas hat I bought in the market and I think I look like an idiot. Perhaps, I haven’t fully given myself to the non-superficial traveller life. Nonetheless, I do have one picture I will cherish and that is off us with Joe and Sharon! Back on the bus and off we went to Huacachina. Unfortunately Joe and Sharon weren’t joining us and Felicia at the wild rover hostel. Let me paste in a review – “This place s**** do yourself a favour and stay somewhere else, absolute s******* of a money pit, trash would be the best way to describe it” …