General San Martin, Peru,

GENERAL SAN MARTIN is located on the Paracas Peninsula, which is also the location of the “Reserva Nacional de Paracas”, once home to the “Moche” people, one of the most developed coastal civilisations in ancient Peru and lived in a mini empire with a kingdom that lasted some 6 centuries.

The word “paracas” means “storm of the sands” and refers to the windstorms that can (and usually do) arise each afternoon.

The Port of San Martin lies on the western side of the Bay of Paracas and the northeastern point of the Paracas Peninsula. Across the bay is the village of Paracas. It is a small resort town and the entry point for boat trips to the Ballestas Islands (the Galapagos of Peru). Shuttle service was available from the ship to Paracas. On the Paracas Peninsula is the Reserva Nacional de Paracas, a desert wildlife preserve through which one must cross to get to Paracas. There was a small archaeological museum in the Reserve, but it was damaged by a large earthquake in 2007. It is being rebuilt as a larger museum. Ten miles further up the road from Paracas is the town of Pisco, which also suffered a lot of damage from the 2007 earthquake. Pisco is famous for the drink or the same name, often made into a Pisco Sour.

We arrived at General San Martin about 8:00 AM. There is literally nothing here but a pier and a commercial dock work. It appeared that the major export from General San Martin is salt. There were hundreds of trucks lined up the road waiting to unburden their load.  The port itself is another commercial port; salt is exported from here to Canada for use on their roads during the winter.

The landscape that greeted us  was totally sandy and desert like as this was also part of the ATACAMA DESERT that we had first seen on the outskirts and surroundings of ARICA, Chile.

The area around Paracas and Pisco, Peru marks the northern boundary of the Atacama Desert, the driest desert in the world.  The Atacama Desert runs along the coast from the Pisco area and south to about halfway down Chile and the area of Coquimbo, one of the largest copper mining areas in the world.  Absolutely nothing grows in the Atacama Desert.  The photo above, of the road running from the Port of Paracas to the seaside town by the same name, is only several hundred yards from the surf of the Pacific Coast.   Yet for hundreds of miles there is nothing along the coast except more desert as barren as what you see above. They said the last time it rained here was 14 years ago.  !!!

There is a  monument to José de San Martín and his expedition that led to Peru's independence from Spain:

Paracas is a little seaside village, with a collection of the same tourist shops. A few nice bars and resaurants along the waterfront (with free wifi if you buy a drink) .

The only reason most cruise ships stop here is either for day boat trips to the Ballestas Islands (the Galapagos of Peru) or to wait for people to get back from Machu Pichuu by bus from Lima or those who want to day trip to fly over and view the Nazca lines (I dont think any ship offers this as a shore excursion anymore as the little private planes arent very reliable)

The famous Nazca Lines are located about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Paracas

  These are huge drawings in the desert sands that portray local animals and other symbols.  They were done by ancient peoples (or, as some conjecture, by aliens) but nobody has solved their meaning.  They can only be seen by flying over them in an airplane, which is what makes their creation so fascinating:  how did ancient peoples succeed in making these enormous drawings that can’t be recognized on land for what they are? 

Only one of the Nazca Lines drawings can be seen from the sea, known as The Trident: “El Candelabro”, a giant Trident (or cactus or Candelabra) dug in the rough sand in the method used by the creators of the Nazca Lines. The origins of “El Candelabro” are not known and theories vary.  The design is about 600 feet tall and the grooves are up to 3 feet deep.
It is not known who made these etchings nor when, but as there is virtually no rainfall in this ATACAMA DESERT in this area of Peru, they had lasted hundreds if not thousands of years.