Pisco & Ballestas Islands

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After the earthquake
We caught a bus from Lima to Pisco and watched Highlander in Spanish on route. A taxi took us to our hotel in Pisco, a city devastated by a huge earthquake back in August. It was incredibly sad to see so many demolished buildings and only half of people´s homes left standing. Lots of people seemed to be living in pre-fabricated houses provided as temporary housing, but they were just glorified sheds. Still they looked more comfortable than the makeshift shanty houses and dusty tents inhabited by others. We only walked around the centre for a short while, the church was a bit sad, because only the two pillars remained, and a huge piece of tarpulin had been erected to shelter the congregation from the sun or rain. Ricardo advised us to stay in our hotel for the evening, as it might not be safe to walk around town due to the situation, there must be lots of desperate people out there. After dinner we played Scrabble which Ricardo and Margarita were very good at despite English being their second language. Then Ricardo introduced us to a fun-filled card game called Shit Head.

Ballestas Islands
Dubbed the poor man´s Galapagos, we were looking forward to visiting the nearby Ballestas Islands to see some more wildlife. We climbed into the front seats of a speedboat, which was full of French tourists. We had a giggle when a rogue wave from crossing another boat´s wake, soaked all the ladies at the back of the boat. We approached the islands and were a bit worried that someone might become a real Shit Head with thousands of sea birds soaring overhead. The islands were teeming with comorants, Peruvian Boobies and pelicans. There were hundreds of very noisy sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks or sheltering in the shade of the coves. It was amazing to see so many birds in one place, but the guano did pong when you got close up to the rocks! As we travelled back to the harbour, we encountered a pod of massive dolphins - really big boys! They were quite playful, following a fishing boat, after a few scraps of fish.

Tacama Winery
Next on the itinerary was a visit to the Tacama Winery to learn about the distillation of Pisco and sample some (of course!). Two Polish girls and a chap had hitch-hiked with us from the Ballestas, and joined us on the tour. The extraction and fermentation methods were a bit more primitive than the wineries of Stellenbosch and even the small vineyards of New Zealand, but when distilled, they produced very potent Pisco! We sampled some of the pure pisco, which was incredibly strong and vile tasting, but we preferred a creamy liquor version, so we bought a bottle between us.

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Photos

devastation from the earthquake
a huge hostel was here last time ricardo brought a group here!

Lots of pots to p&%s in
unlike when we get home!!

Tasting pisco at the winery!
With ricardo and margerita

Comments

[Mark]

T Shirt
I need to send you some Daz. You have been wearing that Festival T shirt on 178 photos.. Send me your address and I will sort it.

[Debra]

The Red Scimitar
Your mystery birds are Peruvian Red Scimitar, a bird commonly found on cliffs lolling around with other birds and sea lions called Keith. (Apparently that's what they are trying to say when they call to one another: Keith! Keith!) True or Bluff? The early inca lines is actually an ancient diagram of crude but effective impliments used for pasta - a little known fact.