puerto inca

This stop was thoroughly pointless. The tour literature made mention that 'some regard the beach as one of the finest in Peru'. What! Maybe Stevie Wonder harbours this opinion. It is a dreadful beach. It was no more than a small bay that did a good job of attracting heaps of seaweed on to the shore. There was also some nonsense of it being the main fishing port of the Inca's. Hence the name. No mention of it is made in any of the three guide books I consulted. As a resort, it was barren, featureless and with limited facilities. I can't imagine that they get very many tourists. I heard on the grapevine that the stop was justified solely on the basis that someone back at the office was getting a backhander. Stacks up!

There was nearly a riot of the truck over it. But pointedly we were told that if we were unhappy about then we would have to leave the tour. There was no alternative. Very professional. This place was 9km from anything resembling life. And by life I also include animals and vegetation. On one evening there was almost a fight between the tour leader and one of the group. I stood between them as fighting talk escalated and violence threatened. I was surprised that the chap was allowed to continue on the tour as I thought such behaviour would be strictly no-no. Apparently they kissed and made up.

So there was nothing to do but tolerate the two days of minding boggling boredom. Pitch my tent, read a book and bide my time. There was table tennis though. I could recount of youthful prowess at the game with a steady series of victories. Oh, and there was a playground and a swing. In competition with one of the girls to see who could achieve the greatest height, I flew off the seat at the highest possible trajectory and landed with a bang. Nice bruises all along my arms. Another distraction was teaching the resident parrot some swear words. I hope he still uses them.

And that was it, Puerto Inca, Peru's finest beach!