Our flight from Lima to Talara was short and sweet, just 90-ish minutes. Lima’s got the only international airport in Peru, but it’s not all that big.
Still, Talara has the smallest airport I’ve ever seen, with just one garage-sized baggage carousel and a dirt road leading to/from the streets (or highway? It had one lane in each direction).
Since it was such a small airport, we were up close and personal with a helicopter that reminded me of something from Disney’s Planes animated movie.
Airplanes and aviation related things remind me of my Uncle, who’s currently abroad on an international flying competition—so this is a shout out to him for good luck (even though I know he won’t need it)! =)
An hour ride through the desert and we were at our hotel in Máncora. We passed by lots of rocks, canyon-looking things on the sides of the roads, and oil refineries.
Our hotel is a little outside the main town, on Las Pocitas beaches.
The view is gorgeous, as are the sunsets. We’ve been told that this area of ocean (around Máncora) is among the most biodiverse in the world, as far as sea life is concerned.
Our view from the hotel is lovely albeit the beach is a bit too rocky for swimming.
We took a 15-minute walk down towards town to get away from the rocks. The water seemed chilly, so we didn’t get all the way in. We’re still in the Pacific after all. In that short walk we ran into some washed up sea life including a puffer fish, a seahorse, TWO eels (one with plastic around its neck), and several fish, one of which was being pulled apart by two red-headed vultures. It’s certainly the most sea life I’ve ever seen on land before.
It was a testament to the biodiversity for sure, but it makes me wonder just how much unseen pollution exists here and if that’s what’s causing these deaths.
Today, we went on a short walk in the other direction and saw two dead seals and a dead trumpet or needle fish (I’m no marine life expert).
For further stimulation:
Article from Oceana.org on the biodiversity of Peru’s beaches, as well as recent threats to the unique costal area, including overfishing, pollution (trash AND oil refinery .
I didn’t want to bombard you with semi-graphic photos of dead animals, but here is a link of the seals and one stick fish (possibly a trumpet fish or needle fish?). I didn’t take my camera/phone on the first walk, and by the time we walked back the tide had risen, covering the bodies we had seen.
Sad about sealife. Glad you have the beautiful vistas