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Published: October 18th 2006
From Pisco, we did a tour of the Ballestas Islands. They are also known as the 'poor man's Galapagos'. We got a 25-man speedboat out to the islands and then sailed round them. I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed it. It was basically looking at loads of different birds (250 different species I think, including Peruvian booby, pelican and penguin) and sealions. To be so close to them and see them in their natural habitat was really interesting though. There is so much bird shit on the islands, that the locals can gather it and use it as a natural fertiliser back on land!
We found a hostel that was really new and good value. The owners were dead keen and friendly, and invited us for a 'petit digestif' with some other residents one night. It of course turned into many 'pisco sours' (their local drink) and ended up being a really boozy night. All free though!
From there, we went to Lima, and stayed a few nights. It is quite grey and dismal, with not much to do (unless you are a total museum geek), but it wasn't as bad as I had expected. I tried
the famous 'ceviche' - raw fish cut into pieces and soaked in lemon juice. It was really nice. We then got an 18hr bus to the border - to a horrid little town called Tumbes. This really was the place of the devil as far as I was concerned (Jon thinks that is a slight exaggeration). Scammers galore in every direction and people even riffled through our bags whilst we were in transit to the immigration office. All they found near the top were Jon's dirty underwear and my jumpers though (ha).
We couldn't cross into Ecuador soon enough......
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cathy
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boozers
Glad you still making time for boozy nights! going back a few journals......we somehow missed the photo of the guinea pig (just looked like regular picture of meal at first) then we clicked to enlarge.....Jon you are a 'scag' - that's truely minging - how could you?! xx