Pisco, Las Islas Ballestas, Paracas

As we drove through the moon landscapes between Lima and Pisco, the weather was getting better and better. Pisco is nothing special, a little city with, of course, a Plaza de armas, the centre of every Peruvian city or village. A few hours after we arrived at our hotel, a Joker-group, a Belgian tour operator, arrived there, too, we keep meeting them everywhere.

Pisco is the ideal city to go on a day excursion to the Islas Ballestas and the Reserve Nacional de Paracas. The Islas Ballestas lay 20 minutes of the coast of Paracas, by boat. They are known for their population of birds. When people first found out about the use of bird poo as a fertaliser, the islands became a popular place. There was a thirty meter layer covering the islands when they first started digging the bird poo. When you visit the islands, you know why, there is an incredible population of all sorts of birds and it is good to wear a rain jacket and hat when approaching the islands. There were see wolfs and dolphins there, too, it was a spectacular sight!

Next part of the tour was the Reserve Nacional de Paracas. First, a museum, which was not very interesting. Then off to a mirador where you could see 4 flamingos standing in the water, but you could not approach them, they were just little dots, so it was not really interesting either, although the desert landscape you have to cross to get there was quite cool. Next thing on the tour was brilliant, La Catedral, which is a set of rocks, yep, cathedral-shaped, you can watch from an impressive cliff at the coast. The landscape is just halucinating, this is where Planet of the apes was filmed, and the ocean is impresive throwing its beautiful waves against the rock formationd again and again, amazing!