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Published: January 16th 2011
The day after we arrived in Paracas we jumped on a boat to go out and see the Islas des Ballestas. On the way out we drove past the peninsula called the Paracas National Reserve, I will mention this later since we actually went out there. But on the coast as we drove by it in our boat we got a chance to see a glyph, kind of like the Nazca lines. The local Peruvians think of it as being a cactus since that is a big part of their culture and native religion, the Europeans sailors who came through thought of it as being a candelabra that guided their way to land. Either way it was pretty spectacular, also since it was carved into rock whereas the Nazca lines are just rocks arranged on the ground.
Anyways, once we got out to the islands we saw a lot of animals and I probably took about 100 photos because I was so excited. We saw a lot of sea lions, including “maternity beach” where they go to give birth and raise their pups. We saw a lot of pelicans, cormorants, boobys, even some Humboldt penguins! We also saw a few
turkey vultures but they were harder to spot. The cormorants actually nest on that island in numbers too ridiculous to imagine. All I can say is that there are so many that the islands are white from their guano. Which apparently is really sought after because there are guano poachers that disturb the islands regularly. So there are actually park guards that live on these islands to… well… essentially protect the poop. Silly Peruvians getting their priorities all backwards!
After the boat ride we jumped on a bus to go out into the Paracas National Reserve which is a huge rocky, sandy desert that long ago used to be the sea bed, so there are a lot of marine fossils in the rocks. It is also known for its salt deposits and they actually made the roads out of huge chunks of salt to lessen the impact of the roads on the reserve. Amy and I laughed because we figured the rain would just dissolve the salt until the guide told us that it only rains 2mm per year in the area around there. The reserve also boasts some pretty impressive coastlines and a small fishing village with some
Penguins
These are the Humbolt penguins.beautiful beaches and apparently the only red sand beach in Peru, which we were not allowed on.
That night we went and got some dinner at a local seafood restaurant. I got some ceviche which is one of the foods that Peru is most famous for. It is basically raw seafood (usually fish) that is cured in citrus juice (in Peru they use lime) and chili peppers. Somehow this combination actually cooks the fish a bit so it changes the texture, it ends up being something like seared ahi tuna so it is a bit cooked on the outside and raw on the inside. I ate a mountain of it. We saw an amazing sunset and witnessed a pelican just hanging out on the seawall of the town. I thought it was unreal until I found out that they hang around there until the fisherman come in hoping for handouts. Later that night we went back to the main dock and saw them unloading their catches. There were all the restaurant owners buying fish and a lot was being loaded into trucks to get whisked away to areas around Peru (probably Lima) for other ceviches. They mostly catch sole
Sea Lions
We actually saw one of these little guys that had caught a penguin and was tossing it around but it was too far away to take a picture. and sea bass (I had sole ceviche).
That night it rained. Our hostel owner said that was likely all the rain they were going to get for the year and we were lucky to be there to see it. I thought it was probably a rogue cloud that followed us from Vancouver and finally caught up.
In any case, after Paracas we jumped a bus back to Nazca and had a day or two of free time (nothing really planned) so we did some laundry and started planning for the altitude of Cuzco where we were going next. I started taking my anti-altitude sickness drugs and Amy drank coca tea. This was made from the same leaves that make cocaine (except without the kerosene and other nasty things they put in cocaine) which is really good for acclimatizing to altitude changes. So we then jumped on our first night bus where we got some pretty amazing seats that fully recline and after a few gravol woke up in Cuzco 14 hours later. I was glad for the gravol because in the first 15 minutes while we were trucking up this huge hill with only two small narrow lanes
- cliff on one side, huge rock face on the other - this tiny truck passed us on a blind corner. I was glad for the peaceful oblivion of the gravol.
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Kelsey N
non-member comment
Shorts!
Hi Jods, I have enjoyed reading your blog and a big Happy Birthday to you down there as well. I have an odd question - I love your shorts in these pictures (the green ones). They are the perfect length! Where did you get them? I'm looking for a pair to take with me when I head to Thailand in a few wks. Thanks!