Pisco, Peru February 1

We arrived at the dock in Pisco at about 6:30 am.  It is striking how barren the landscape is in Southern Peru and Northern Chile.  They get very little rainfall here and it has been made worse by the El Nino.  Peru has no welfare of any kind and many people sell items ranging from trinkets to food items.  Some local people had already set up booths to sell souvenirs and as there was another cruise ship at the dock they were doing a brisk business.

Our tour was to Ballestas Islands, which was a half hour by boat across a rough and windy channel.  The boats held about 30 people.  Noel was sitting against the rail on the windward side and really got soaked from the spray. Our first point of interest was huge ancient impression in a sand dune that is related to the Nasca Lines.  The guide called it a candelabra but it really looked more like a cactus.  It was amazing to think that this feature has survived hundreds of years on the face of a sand dune but it was placed so the prevailing winds to not reach it and with the sparse rainfall it has survived.

"Candelabra" on the dune is hundreds of feet tall

The islands are home to about one million sea birds and hundreds of sea lions.  We saw pelicans, boobies, terns, cormorants, and several types of gulls.  There were also some Humboldt penguins.  The sea lions were virtually piled on the rocky beaches with the huge males trying to protect their harems of females with many pups.  We were told that tons of  bird guano is collected about every five years and sold as fertilizer.

Humboldt penguins and cormorants 

 Thousands of sea birds flying and sitting on the rocks

One of several structures used when they collect the guano

There were several beaches like this that were covered with sea lions 

Our ship 

Typical fishing boat at anchor.  The pelicans must be a real nuisance. 














This was a spectacular site and we enjoyed the tour although sitting in an open boat getting drenched with spray was not much fun.