The day started bright and early as we had a strict deadline to get on the bus at 6:50am. We were on our way to catch a boat in Paracas to see the islands, otherwise known as the Peruvian Galapagos. A blue sky and a full nights rest made it much easier to enjoy the activities of the day and even the rotting smell of seaweed on the beach in Paracas could not get me down. Our boat took off towards the islands and about 20 minutes later we were seeing our first animals. A couple dolphins and sharks were swimming out in the ocean and as we got closer to the islands we could see the massive collection of birds that perched every few feet on the cliffs. The islands were cool on their own having been carved by the waves leaving interesting rock formations and tunnels burrowing through them. Besides the birds we saw quite a number of sea lions, red crabs, muscles, and even a couple penguins. The whole tour lasted about an hour. I'll make it official it was my favorite part of the whole weekend.
Next we went to an afro-peruvian music and dance demonstration. It was interesting to me because I had been learning about the racial identity of Peru through our assigned reading and it seemed to me that even in 2016 there were many unresolved racial tension that were not being addressed. For example the only black person I have seen since we arrived was greeting members outside of a casino. Anyway, returning to the moment at hand, we entered through what seemed like a gate to a fairly underdeveloped section of the area outside Paracas. Once we got off the bus we entered a small house where there stood five wood boxes and two drums. An instructor told us the history of afro-peruvians was shared via dance and song. The best part was the demonstration, many members of the community came out and preformed three acts of dancing. One focused on the men drumming, the next on the dancing of the women, and ended with a mix of both featuring a wide range of ages for both men and women. The best part was they showed us how to dance like them too. Nothing quite gets the blood moving like dancing in the morning.
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