Islas Ballestas 

Getting up at 6am is our daily routine. We had signed up for a trip to "Mini Galapagos" which was the nickname for the "Islas Ballestas", some islands east of Pisco. This should be the perfect spot to watch sea lions, birds and flamingos. The weather was misty as usual, not perfect for bird watching.
    

The bus stopped at the small harbor next to the beach. Lots of tourist like us waited for their boat to be ready and the local fishermen to finish off their work. They happened to occupy the one and only way to the boats. In the meantime we had great fun watching the many pelicans around. The boat was open and the trip more cold, wet and longer than we expected. After almost an hour we saw the first islands. On the way we passed a hill with vast drawings like the well known Nazca lines several hundred miles south from here.
    
The first islands were inhabited by thousands of birds of different kind. The rocks were very beautiful and in spectacular colors: red, black and brown. The sea had shaped the rocks in a gorgeous way and they seemed perfect for the many birds.
   
After a while we approach them, the sea lions. Suddenly we saw a pair just 20 meters from us and everybody took pictures. We didn't know if these were the only ones, we would see. The boat continued to another island with other couples of sea lions. At times they played around in the water just next to our boat. With time we approached a beach with hundreds of sea lions. What a sound. They growled and fight noisy and we were speechless. No doubt they were "lions". We saw large bite wounds. Apparently their teeth worked adequately and measuring the size of the bite the fit could well to be lions.
   
Our guide informed us continuously about this tour. It ran in three parts. Part one was these islands; part two was a visit to the local national park called "Peninsula de Paracas" where we could spot the flamingos. The final trip would be to some sort of "Cathedral". That sounded exciting. In my mind a national park would be a green forest with lakes and lots of funny species..
   
That dream wasn't on the agenda that day. Of course not, as we were in desert land and the national park was - desert. From the parking spot we were told to follow a small trail in the sand to a wooden tower. We climbed the tower to watch the famous flamingos 200 meters away. Getting nearer to the birds was forbidden. What a joke! All we could see was hundreds of tiny small pink dots and we couldn't tell if it was flamingoes or not. We respect that the animals are shy; maybe our expectation was set to high? Instead we had a pretty good chat with other tourists from the Netherlands and Australia.
 
The tour continued into the real desert, which was pretty new to us, Danes. Sand, sand and nothing but sand everywhere. It seemed that the bus driver was the only one who knew the way - at least when he took the luxury to use it anyway. The bus was park on the edge to the beautiful beach some 20 meters steep below us.
 
When we walked the beach, the sun suddenly revealed its beauty for the first time since we arrived to Peru three days ago. We saw small gekko's and a dead sea lion, before we finally arrived at this "Cathedral". That turned out to be a huge rock that didn't impress the Australians. We always enjoy rocks coming from one of the flattest countries in the world.
   
On the way back to Pisco we made a stop at a bay with a few restaurants. The sight was fantastic and the sun lovely warm. The food was exceptional although it was a bit expensive. Conclusion: a very satisfying day for us.
  
In the evening we got on a taxi in Pisco heading towards the highway. Here we got off in the black darkness hoping that the bus from Arequipa was on schedule.
  
Fortunately we weren't the only optimistic people around. Lots of locals waited along with us, as well as all the food and souvenir dealers.
  

We didn't have to worry for long. The bus arrived on time which turned out to be quite normal, at least in the Lima area.
   
Read the full travel diary at: www.clausjepsen.dk (English)
  

Claus Jepsen, Denmark - 2003

Copyright Claus Jepsen. All rights reserved. Story reproduced with kind permission.

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