Guided excursions and the search for the authentic

I've been here for about a week now and I've already been on three guided tours. I generally hate those sorts of things because they make me feel like I'm part of the tourist machine, which is a truth I generally try to ignore. You get herded around with all of the other tourists to all sorts of businesses and restaurants that have been specifically designed with tourists in mind, and it all feels very unauthentic. And like many other white (for all intents and purposes I'm white okay?) young middle class backpacker types, I am trying to go to places that feel "authentic."

That said, all three tours were really awesome and would have been either impossible or really challenging to try to do on my own. I went to see the Islas Ballestas (also known as the Galapagos for the poor) and the Paracas National Reserve, to see some local bodegas in Ica where the specialty is a liquor called Pisco, and on a trip into the desert via dune buggies, where we could sandboard. Since pretty much none of us could actually sandboard we just went down the dunes headfirst on the board. I kind of shocked myself with that one.

Anyway, now I'm in this tiny mountain town called Chalhuanca and I can proudly say that I am the only tourist that I've seen here today. I had forgotten though that the search for authenticity has some drawbacks, i.e. my complete lack of anonymity. I don't mind so much when kids stare at me but adults kind of weird me out. Also got a bit of a culture shock today - a guy asked why I was traveling alone and I said my boyfriend would be joining me in June. He then replied, "Oh she has a boyfriend. I'm going to kill him! ha ha!" but in a really friendly, jesting kind of way. Needless to say that conversation lasted another two seconds.