Last taste of Ica is a wine tour in the vineyards outside town. The Ica region is one of the few places in Peru where wine, together with Pisco, is produced in what are called Bodegas.
Everything here is on a very small scale and done by hands and feet during the month of March, so we get the chance to only hear about their way to produce one of the sweetest wines I’ve ever tasted. Actually the day before I was served a full (to the rim) glass of port wine during dinner and I really hope it wasn’t going to be all like that! Horror! nevertheless the wines are not particularly interesting, they are very strong and sweet. The Pisco (like grappa), on the other hand, has more potential and can be served also in different kinds of cocktails (most famous is the pisco sour).
A few hours south of Lima is the fishing village of Paracas. There is absolutely nothing here apart for a dense stink of fish. But after a few hours there you suck it in so much that you can’t really feel it anymore. Since we didn’t book a place to stay in advance, once we arrive we just walk around a bit to see what the offers are. Hostal Santa Maria looks nice and is reasonably cheap, so we take that. The view is also very pleasant from the third floor. Along the beach, from what looks more like private houses, restaurants offer all sorts of fish, which you will eat in the company of many cats walking around your plastic table. They are lovely!
A perfect 8 hours flight bring us to Lima. Since we were arriving after midnight we arranged to be picked up at the airport by a taxi from the hotel. As first thing we want to get some cash at the arrival hall. I approach a bank, which says they are not exchanging, I need to go to the exchange booth. All right, I go there and they say they take only cash…there is an ATM just on the side where I can get some dollars which I can then exchange. Excuse me??? I’m in Peru and I should get dollars from the ATM (+fee) to be changed 10 cm away from another fee? No thank you. As we get out I see a guy holding a “Lara Ferrighi” board, which makes me laugh and an ATM which gives a maximum of 400 soles (which is about 130 dollars).