Our
bus was the “earliest we have been late” and we arrived in the seaside town of
Mollendo just after lunch. Our cab
driver agreed to meet us at 6:00 AM to take us to Sancturio Nacional Laguna de Mejia
before we even checked into La Posada.
Senora Sara was adamant that we be in before eleven when she locked up
then had a conversation with the driver that was too fast for me to follow. We
dropped our stuff and walked along the crowded beach. The sand was nearly black and the waves were huge but we had
no desire to swim. Mollendo is
hardly what I would consider a ‘resort’ and I suspect the sewage goes directly
into the ocean.
We
were ready at six. Our driver was
ready at six. But Sara had locked
everything so we couldn’t even get to the lobby, let alone the door. We banged and banged and she finally
appeared, wrapping her robe around her.
Apparently that’s what the conversation yesterday was about. And apparently Mollendo has a crime
problem.
We
paid our 5 sole fee and drove into the sanctuary. Reynaldo, our driver, knew the place well and even knew the
names of the birds – in Spanish.
We saw lots of new ducks, coots, and grebes as well as some colorful
finches. My favorite was the red
and black Peruvian meadowlark. We
were back at La Posada by nine and decided to change our 1:15 bus tickets for
something earlier, which turned out to be 9:45 so we arrived back in Arequipa
in time for lunch.
