After a long walk through a deserted Lima on Sunday as a result of the national census curfew, we left in a minibus on the Pan American Highway for Ica and the Las Dunas Hotel , arriving far too late for dinner. An early start saw us heading for Paracas and the Islas Ballestas - often called the Galapagos of Peru. In reality it’s quite different but impressive nonetheless. We travelled on a fast boat to the island(s) for 30 minutes and saw dolphins, sea lions, Humboldt’s penguins, boobies, cormorants, and pelicans - all of the later contributing to the enormous pile of guano that made this an economic powerhouse in the 19th century. The candelabra marking in the dune above the rock-face prepared us for the Nasca Lines… At the airfield near Ica we took
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