Peru – Michelle Locke

I visited Peru this year and saw a lot of cool things including this cute little vicuna.

I went to the marine sanctuary at Paracas …

,,, and saw the “Candelabra,” an amazing Incan etching on the side of a hill. It’s called the candelabra because that’s what it resembles. No one knows if it’s a sign or a symbol or what. Impressive AND eerie.

This is Isla Ballestas in the Paracas Wildlife Reserve.

There were baby sea lions that looked like little blobs of black rubber …

… and big sea lions …

… and really big sea lions.

There were birds …

… even a few penguins …

… and more birds.

It’s a fun place to visit but be prepared to smell a LOT of bird poop. And do not forget to wear a hat. If you get my drift.

It was pisco harvest time.

I went to the Porton distillery.

It’s an interesting mix of ancient tradition and modern technology.

The “botijas” used to store pisco in olden days.

Modern stills.

This is Porton Master Distiller Johnny Schuler. He is largely responsible for the resurgence of high-quality Peruvian pisco. Here he is tasting the first run of pisco, which is distilled from grapes and is a white brandy.

These are two of his hard-working staff members.

At the Vinas de Oro distillery I got to wear this nifty outfit.

I saw a demonstration of Peruvian paso, dancing horses.

And I went to a vendimia (harvest) celebration, where local beauty queens and their swains danced on the grapes.

I visited Lima and saw the famous “The Kiss” statue on the coast. No one kissed me.

And I took a look at the Lima pyramids, which were getting a little maintenance.

I did some serious pisco sour research

… more research …

… I’m like the Einstein of pisco sours.

But I could not compete with Ernest Hemingway. He is said to have set a record for pisco sour consumption at this bar in the Gran Bolivar hotel. No one could tell me what it was, but it was “a lot.”