Two days in PARACAS, Peru 🇵🇪 The Poor Man's Galapagos!

after spending a couple weeks in the dramatic mountains of the Andes we are back at sea level and for the next two days we're exploring paracas a coastal town about 3 and 1/2 hours south of Lima nicknamed the poor man's Galapagos here you can find a plethora of marine Wildlife including sea lions tons of birds and even Penguins we so cute plus a coastal desert where golden Cliffs Clash against vibrant Blue Water and we're going to be experiencing this area by both boat and by bike [Music] as we mentioned paracas is nicknamed the poor man's galopagos and a big reason is because of the Bas Islands which is a group of Rocky islands off the coast of paracas and this morning we're going on a 2-hour boat tour to see them I am crossing my fingers that we see lots of Wildlife and the number one thing I want to see are humble Penguins because I've never seen a penguin in real life or I guess out in the wild before [Music] so you may be wondering why the biesta islands attract so much wildlife and this is largely due to the conditions created by the humble current this cold current pulls up water from the ocean floor bringing both lower temperatures and nutrients to the surface making it an ideal feeding zone for fish which also brings larger predators in just minutes after arriving at the islands we caught our first glimpse of one of the area's most famous residents we're so cute Humbolt Penguins only populate the coast of Peru and Northern Chile and with a height of just up to 72 cm tall they may be the cutest little things we have ever seen [Music] as we continued around the islands more and more Wildlife emerged including lots of sea lions [Music] oh cute they're holding each other so far we have seen five sea lions and two penguins and baby birds this is awesome but besides Wildlife there is something else we saw and smelled a lot of guano also known as bird droppings and since the Incas 11 million tons of guano has been exported from the islands to be used as [Music] fertilizer as we made our way back to shore we had one final stop the calabra a prehistoric geoglyph that is estimated to date back to 200 BC it is 181 M tall and is large enough to be seen 19 km out at Sea and while the purpose is unknown there are many theories on its origin and meaning with some thinking it represents a God's Trident While others think it represents a hallucinogenic [Music] plant that tour was a lot of fun it was so beautiful out there we got to go in the boat just between all these rocks and up close to the islands and the water was this vibrant clear blue even if we didn't see any Wildlife it was totally worth it just for the scenery alone there are tons of tour providers in town and they're basically all the same but we booked ours for $20 a person on trip advisor which was super easy and we'll link to it below if you want to book the same one before we continue exploring paracas we want to give a huge thank you to element for sponsoring today's video throughout this Peru series we've shared a few times just how much element has been a huge Lifesaver when exploring this country especially when at high altitude but we're currently at sea level riding bikes through the paracas national Reserve which you'll see a little bit later in this video and the air here is warm very dry and this ride is fully exposed to the Sun so we are chugging element along the way element is a sweet salty and refreshing sugar-free electrolyte drink mix that has 200 mg of potassium 60 Mig of magnesium and 1,000 milligrams of sodium which may seem like a lot but when you sweat the main electrolyte that you lose is sodium and there is research that shows you actually need two to three times more sodium than the government recommends we admittedly haven't always been the best at drinking water during our adventures but element has completely changed that for us not only are the flavors delicious and it actually makes us want to drink water but it helps us reduce headaches muscle cramps and fatigue that are common when you get dehydrated if you want to try element for yourself element is offering our viewers a free sample pack with any order which includes eight different flavors so you can try as many flavors as possible to get yours head to drink LM nt.com a+k or click the QR code on the screen and in case you missed it element currently has a limited edition chocolate medley with chocolate mint chocolate raspberry and chocolate chai these make for the perfect hot winter drink but they're only going to be around for a tiny bit longer so make sure you grab a box before they're gone all right now back to paracas [Music] for lunch we came to Triple C which is a super cool spot with a beachy Bohemian Vibe right on the street and we heard they have really good arapa so we got a couple different to try this one is in ARA de payon which comes with seasoned ground beef cheese black beans and then fried plantains and this one's a more simple one it just says cheese and avocado we're obsessed with the avocado here in Peru we also heard that they had really good juices so we got a lime and coconut juice and it is so refreshing we have been drinking juices and smoothies almost daily here in Peru because the fruit is just so good M this is like beachy tropical Vibes in a cup came with these really good looking sauces this one is a garlic one wo that came out fast oh my God that is so good the ground beef has a good spice level to it I love the sweetness from the plantains and then the arapa is so soft and then a a little bit crispy on the outside it's like perfectly toasted it so messy it's all over me the flavor is off the chart that is delicious I know it might be a crime to say this because it's not Peruvian food but this might be one of my favorite things we've eaten in the strip same here this is so [Music] good well here in paracas we're staying at hotel paracas which is a super nice resort right on the water and we are staying here 100% for free because of our Marriott credit card we don't talk a ton about travel credit cards in our videos but behind the scenes they play a huge role in enabling us to travel over the years we've had countless free flights and free Hotel nights which have saved us thousands of dollars we have a blog post all about our favorite travel credit cards if you want to learn more about which ones we personally have their benefits and why we like them but when we signed up for the Marriott card earlier this year we were able to redeem the five night sign up bonus plus 14,000 extra points to stay here for $0 out of pocket and I am 100% in love with this place from the second we stepped on the property I've just felt so much joy we don't really stay at Luxury Resorts and just like the smells and just how nice everyone is and just the vibe I see why people stay at Luxury Resorts our room itself is so nice and spacious with a big comfy bed a huge bathroom with two sinks which is something we do not have in our van a shower a bathtub and even a bedet plus an amazing patio that we're trying to hang out on as much as possible but besides the room the property itself is gorgeous with two outdoor pools an indoor pool and a gym a couple restaurants including a spectacular breakfast buffet and to be clear this is not an all-inclusive resort so we do have to pay for the food which is a bit more expensive than other areas in Peru but so far it has all been so delicious the resort does have some free activities in rentals though like bike rentals which will will be utilizing tomorrow and kayaks and standup paddle boards and our plan for the rest of the afternoon is just to hang out and relax [Music] here so our hotel has several restaurants to choose from but we wanted to try as many local spots as we could we were originally going to go to Valhalla but we walked by and they were unexpectedly closed so we frantically searched for a plan B and we decided to come to miao instead since we're on the ocean we figured we had to have some seafood while here we got some Ceviche and then we also got tiito which is the dish that we wanted to try the most tonight this is fish that is sliced very thin kind of like shashimi and is served in an AI based sauce it looks so good it kind of looks like Ceviche but with a different colored sauce and then the fish is nice and thin m M oh that is so good so Tangy you get a little bit of a kick from the AI I never in my life thought I would enjoy eating raw fish but the sauce the sauce of the ceviche the sauce of the tiito oh it's so good I just want to drink the sauce I was very curious how this would be different from ciche other than the the fish being thinner but it does have a different taste and then all the other ingredients are very similar with the the corn the sweet potato for sweetness to kind of balance out that tanginess so we normally spend hours and hours and hours researching restaurants to try to pick the best places which is why we always love our food people think we're lying but we're not but tonight was one of those nights where we just had to go sit on a bench and just figure out where to go instead which can be kind of risky but the spot worked out [Music] thankfully this morning we're going to be biking around the paracas national Reserve but before we go we're fueling up at Puerto specialty coffee in town which is such a cool coffee stand it has these delicious looking yogurt bowls beautiful avocado toast and flat whites I and they're playing the High School Musical soundtrack this is awesome this avocado toast is almost too pretty to eat the bread looks so good it's very beautiful bread mhm that's really good bread all right let's Crush some [Music] [Applause] [Music] miles we just paid the 11 Sol fee per person to enter the reserve and while the reserve is absolutely massive we're only going to explore a small part of it our plan is to ride a bike circuit that's going to take us around to a bunch of different beaches and viewpoints this is very [Music] bumping after a pretty long and surprisingly very challenging ride we have made it to our first Beach yeah similar to the biesta islands paracas National Reserve is home to lots of wildlife but what really makes it stand out is the STK contrast of scenery here you have endless views of golden Cliffs and Hills which contrast beautifully against the bright blue ocean waters it's where the desert meets the sea and is one of the driest areas of South America with less than 20 m mm of rain per [Music] year this rock formation behind me is La cedal it was one once a large sea Arch that extended into the ocean but unfortunately it was destroyed by an earthquake in 2007 it would have been really neat to see this as an arch but it's also pretty cool to see it this way because it kind of demonstrates the destructive forces of nature in two different ways first through wind and water erosion creating the arch in the first place over millions of years but then an earthquake just destroying all that work in a matter of seconds [Music] my bottom half is very sore so any relief I can get I'm taking so along the Route you can find bathrooms and snack stands and then further down the route there's a fishing Village that has actual restaurants but we decided to bring our own lunch today we picked up some bean and cheese empanadas from Triple C and they're falling apart oh no they're kind of falling apart but it's going to be really good they've kind of been through it in the backpack yeah they've been a little smooshed in the backpack they've been refrigerated now they're out here still going to taste they're not going to be as good as they would have been fresh but it was cheap and it's going to be delicious oh yeah still amazing [Music] [Music] we have made it to one of the spots we were most excited about pla Roa which is a red sand beach it gets its color from a rock called pink granad diorite the sea hits the rocks and then the waves drag fragments of reddish rocks that accumulate on the shore you can't go down to the beach because it's protected but I think the view from up here is even better because you can really see all of the colors it's like an explosion of primary colors you have yellow red and then blue we've been to a lot of coastal areas but this is our first time going to a desert ocean and I am loving it it is so beautiful out [Music] here this ride has been a lot more hilly than we thought it would be but every uphill has a downhill here we go I told Adam that if we found ice cream today we are getting it and we found ice cream nothing makes a bike ride better than ice cream or really any situation in life can't be made better with ice cream the ice cream man just packed up and left within minutes of us getting ice cream I feel so lucky right now [Music] so we did not finish the full route that we intended to cycle we still had one more Beach we wanted to check out which is located up that huge hill which does not look very big in the camera but it is a steep steep hill and over the last two 2 and 1/2 Weeks we've hiked over 80 miles here in Peru and our bodies are so tired I there's a reason that we saw maybe just a few cyclists today and pretty much everyone else was in a bus a van on a moped or in these little Doom buggy things and that's because cycling out here is really freaking hard it has kicked our butts so we feel very happy with what we got to see today we got to see so many amazing things so we're going to turn [Music] around we made it back in time to enjoy a beautiful sunset from the beach and a big reason that we're staying at this Resort which is definitely nicer than where we would normally stay is because tomorrow is a very special day for us our 10y year wedding anniversary I cannot think of a better place to celebrate tomorrow we're going to have the ultimate relaxing day we're going to hit up that breakfast buffet we're going to hang out by the pool before we head off to one final quick stop here in Peru I'm so excited for the breakfast buffet I can't we're going to really like stuff ourselves and do our best to get our money worth if we're not about to throw up when we leave we're doing it wrong [Music]