Ballestas Islands

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Sarah and I awoke at 3am (well, Sarah did thankfully, as my alarm clock was still on Honduras time and we would have missed our bus!) then were off on our nice bus to Paracas. It was about a 3.5 hours from Lima to Paracas. The bus left at 4am. The bus was a company called Cruz del Sol and has NICE reclining seats. Our tickets were S55 (aprox $20). This is probably the most expensive bus line but has great comfort. We slept most of the ride but when we woke up we awoke to desert! It was crazy. The ocean was on our right and the desert to our left. Very cool site.

When we got to Paracas, we booked a tour over to the Ballestas Islands. We had heard great things about it. They are islands where millions of birds flock to and hang out. Auntie Barbara and Uncle Dave, this would NOT have been the tour for you! haha.

Sarah and I felt totally weird all bundled up. The temperature was probably about 15 but felt like about 10. After living in 25-30 for the last year, this felt cold. Both of us in our hats and scaves, knowing the boat ride would be windy and cold... and it was.

The islands were cool. There were birds EVERYWHERE. We also saw about 15 penguins, and 4 sea lions. Our guide was really cool. He explained how they save the poop (guano as they call it?) and sell it as fertilizer. There´s even a guy who sits on the main island and guards it from people who try to illegally steal the poop. Also, sea lions are apparently always pregnant. They get pregnant within the same hour that they give birth... or something like that. Maybe we got lost in translation? We only saw a couple but there´s a beach there that apparently FILLS with hundreds of them in the summer months of January-March. The sea lions were adorable: a mommy and her baby. The penguins were cute too - jumping around on the rocks and then a couple eventually jumped into the water.

We also saw a cool design in the sand (on the mountain) that is called "Candelabra" but looks more like a cactus. They're unsure of how it got there. Some think it was created by the Nazcas (similar to the Nazca Lines), while others think it was aliens. I have no idea who created it but it looked cool.

After the boat ride, we were back to the bus station to catch our next bus to Ica. This one was only about an hour and S20 (about $7). From Ica, we took a taxi (more like a tuk-tuk scooter with cover) to Huacachina. Huacachina is a desert with AMAZING sand dunes. It's much warmer here. Probably about 20-25. You can feel the heat in the day. I'm sure because it's a desert, tonight will get very cold.

Sarah and I enjoyed some vegetarian sandwiches by the lagoon oasis and are now heading on a dune buggy tour and looking at maybe doing some sandboarding. I'll write all about it tomorrow or the day after and let you know how it goes.

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Photos

Before the Boat Ride
All bundled up as it was a little chilly!

First set of birds...
...nothing compared to what was coming

Comments

[Elaine Scriven]

Sounds fantastic!
Wow Sarah sounds like a fantastic trip so far. How cool to see sea lions and penguins. I am looking forward to hearing about sandboarding! Have never heard of that before. Have a great time!