Paracas and Islas Ballestas

An early start today for the tour that we had booked with the bus company when we arrived. The tour is of the Islas Ballestas and Paracas National Park, which look stunning. We were outside for 7:30 with some more delicious bread rolls for breakfast. We waited around 15 minutes and there was no sign of anyone, so we were getting pretty anxious. The boats leave at 8am and we really didn't want to miss it. We were also beginning to be pestered by the tour guide next door again! Rich ran over to the bus station in the end, missing out on the amazing little bulldog that belonged to the hostel owners riding a skateboard (did I mention he was wearing a Bulldogs jacket too! Amazing!). He seemed to keep wanting to escape and we realised we had seen it last night running around the town, I don't think the mother of the young boy who kept letting it out was impressed.

Rich came back and said they are running late but will be here, our names are on the schedule and the boat will leave late if necessary. So we waited again, and then it got to 8:15, still waiting.
We were getting pestered again and I got put on the phone to an apparently English speaking person to try and communicate. I had no idea why I was on the phone and tried to explain that although we had no ticket for our tour, it had been arranged and we didn't want to buy one. He wasn't happy that I didn't want to and asked why I had rung...I got a little bit short with him at that point and handed the phone back. We just grabbed our stuff and left at that point. We headed back to the station and when we got there we basically found out that there are two hostels with our name and even though I had written down the full name of ours, they had gone to other one. So they had gone already. Yay!!

The woman was very apologetic and after some time waiting she said she had arranged for us to go on the 10am tour (the last of the day) and then we would have a private guide for the national park instead, so thankfully all was not lost!

We were ushered to the boat terminal close to the time ("Vamps! Vamos!") by a guy who spoke no word of English. It was pretty confusing getting organised there and sorting out tickets, a lot of him talking in very fast Spanish and us just sat staring and looking dumb. Duolingo doesn't quite prep you for that! We got sorted out in the end though and left with a group of Peruvians, under the assumption we would meet him back there after (that's what I got from the gestures anyway).

We eventually boarded the speedboat and set off. It was pretty awesome as the swells out of the harbour were quite noticeable and very even, so it felt a little like a ride. It was a bit annoying when all the local Peruvians kept standing up in the front. British style courtesy isn't something people here practice much and we are still getting to grips with the different attitude. We did, however, realise late on that if we stand too, we tower over everyone, so we can't really complain.

We saw from the boat an amazing carving in the sand that has stood for centuries despite the wind. It is called the candelabra and is believed to have been made by the same people who moved on to Nasca, however, there is quite a bit of speculation as it is hard to say for sure. It really is an amazing structure and the scale of it can't really be captured too well in a photo. The fact that it is still there, after centuries of wind and sand blowing about the place, should give you a clue though.

After this, we went on to the Islands. What can I say...birds, birds, birds, birds, birds......so many birds!!!!! We saw Pelicans, Blue Footed Boobies, some birds that kept dive bombing the water spectacularly, like bullets, and the best thing of all...Humbolt Penguin's!!!!! not many, but they were waddling around in the adorable manner that they do. What a highlight!

It was really amazing to see all these birds clustered and flying overhead, and some of the rock faces looked black because they were covered with birds. Although where the birds had taken flight, it was clear that most of the rocks were white with guano...very very pungent guano. The smell of that and the fumes from the engine did make you feel a bit nauseous. It was worth it though and the guano has played a really important part in the history of the place. Being worth so much to the locals as fertiliser, it was almost a mini gold rush here and there are still people who live on the islands for this purpose (although there is a lot less guano now). It is so precious that no one else can step on the islands and they have permission to shoot you if you try.

There weren't just birds on these islands either, we saw seals and sea lions too! Some of them with pups. Most were lazing on the rocks and being noisy but we caught a few swimming too and having fun. So nice to again see all this wildlife, actually in the wild.

After the boat trip, we were greeted by a different guide, Abraham, who spoke pretty good English which was great. He showed us to his car and we set off for the national park, only a very short drive away. Once in the park, I think we were all a little blown away by the scale of the place and the alien looking landscape. Sandy desert stretched in every direction with amazing dunes. We drove over a road that looked like tarmac, but which is actually salt, and enjoyed the sometimes bumpy ride over the sand. We went up dunes so steep you could not see over them, which was a little scary, but great fun going down again!

We kept going over or appearing around dunes and new spectacular views would unfold each time. It honestly looked like the surface of Mars, a mix of golden and red sand, some smooth, some speckled with little rocks. And then the biggest surprise of all...we go over a crest and there is the ocean! There is a large bay of beautiful green/blue ocean that just sits alongside the beautiful golden sandy desert. Such a stark contrast and one of the reasons for the name of Paracas, which in the language of the locals beforehand, means sun and rain.

We headed to the bay for lunch and dined right by a small beach on a patio, which although sat in the sun, was a little chilly due to the strong winds they have there (desert air con as Abraham puts it). Rob had ceviche, Richard chicharruni and I had fish in a tomato sauce. It was pretty great, although mine was more soup like than expected.

Next up we headed to the red beach, the only one in Peru. The colour is due to the iron oxide which you can see in some of the dunes around the place too. Our guide pointed out how there are four colours on this beach, yellow sand from desert cliffs, red sand on the beach, the white froth of the waves and the deep blue of the ocean. It was stunning, such an amazing place and I'm not sure where else you get views like this, hopefully the picture attached gives a good glimpse.

Next, we went up high to take more photos and saw some huge Condors, which are a relation of the Andean Condors, soaring almost level with us. Again, another stunning view, in one direction the desert, the other direction sandy cliffs and the ocean.
Our final stop was to part of the park containing lots of visible fossils. The park was underwater around 4 million years ago and the fossils are EVERYWHERE! There were plenty of really awesome long spiral shells and we found a couple of perfect small cockle type fossils too, of the whole cockle too, not just a print! We found some quartz crystal too, all just lying on this vast sandy, once underwater desert. Pretty amazing!

It was time to leave after this and we all noted that we would certainly love to go back there and try out the dune buggying, it looked so much fun!

The afternoon was spent wandering back to the town (past a cyclist being chased by several stray dogs), eating some very artificial looking, bright green, mint choc chip ice cream and then buying me some gringo pants before enjoying a beer to some great cheesy music medleys that Rob was definitely not enjoying as much as us.
Next up was a short bus ride to Ica, on which we fully tested out the recline on the seats (like 60 degrees) and was again looked after by a bus hostess, who also used her time talking to us to help her improve her English. She was very good and it was nice to be able to help and receive some help with our Spanish too.Read more