ISLAS BALLISTA (Peru's mini Galapagos)
At the Ballista Islands Natuonal Park we saw sea lions, Peru boobies (birds), baby boobies, and penguins. The poop is very fertile, so every seven years they harvest the poop to sell; two years ago they harvested 40 tonnes of poop!
The smell and sound of the sea lions was the same as when I went to the Namibian coast (only Namibia was five times worse).
Next stop was Ica, where we went out in sand buggies to drive like crazy people through the dunes. Although we didn't actually drive - we were passengers and the crazy man drove! And trust me, it was crazy. We got a "breather" when he kicked us out of the sand buggy to lie on a snowboard and go head-first down an 80 degree sand dune! But it was slow - very slow, Lol... Not what I anticipated after Namibia's sandboarding adventures.
Then, en route to Nazca... Still in the desert region, with the Andes on one side and the Ocean along the other.
Once in Nazca we went straight to the airport to take a small plane up to see the Nazca Lines. Originally I had no idea what these were, but the flight was rated so well I have been thinking, "Oh, I may as well do that while I'm here." Once we learned about them I can definitely say I'm glad we did it, though it's one of those things where the more you learn and know about it, the more questions you have (that don't yet have answers, as they only have theories behind these lines).
Hummingbird
Parrot
Spider
Monkey
At night we went to a cute little (tiny) planetarium where they discussed the different theories for the lines and shapes. It was a memorial to Maria Reiche, a German lady who spent over 40 years of her life preserving, plotting and studying the lines and shapes. We also got to look through a telescope at Juniper and the moon! (The moon, below)
On our way back there was a night market; I thought I was being so adventurous trying something new when I didn't know what it was, but it turned out to be just figs covered in honey! Lol. Either way, it was good. Bout some pepperoni-like sticks for today :)
Location:Paracas and Nazca, Peru
What a coincidence! Several people called into CBC road report this morning to say the moon to the west of Calgary was HUGE. So you must have got a good view too.
ReplyDeleteI don't know... all your stories are making me want to go... Your pictures of the Nazca lines are great. I'd never heard of them either until my friends took a side trip to see them from their South American cruise.
Keep having fun!!!
Joan