Pisco and Islas Ballestas
Trip Start
Oct 10, 2006
1
61
110
Trip End
Ongoing
Pisco, ****,
Peru
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Came to this dump of a town with three casinos and no launderette in order to visit the world-famous Islas Ballestas and the Paracas National Reserve and with the exception of the town, the tour to these attractions was certainly deserving of the illusive four-star-status!
Often dubbed the "poor man`s Galapagos Islands", the Islas Ballestas are in fact the poverty-stricken man`s Galapogos Islands in terms of price (15USd low season price for one day tour as opposed to 1000 USd for 7 days in Ecuador) but in terms of quality bird-watching, poor is not an adjective that would even enter one`s head.
We saw boobies, pelicans (first time seeing Pelicans since reading John Grisham`s "Pelican Brief"..Judge Rosenberg was soo right..they`re a great creature!), Humboldt penguins and sea-lions.
I was expecting a very commercialized trip that would involve a few sea lions and a guide with a zoo-like mentality but this was far from the case. The sea lions, in particular, were amazing. These uninhabited, rocky islands really are their home. We saw the area where they laze, the kindergarten area where Mama sea lion leaves her young while she fishes and the mating area.
There were bout 300 sea lions in the mating area making more noise than the Frenchie couple who I lived with in second year of college. For every male, there were bout 30 females..they have the life eh! The male sea lions always try to maintain this quota even if it involves killing their own male offspring cos they would prove extra competition in future years. The Mother recognizes her little sea lion from their smell and cry, they all looked the same to moi! It struck me in Sea world in San Antonio how intelligent these animals are and I have since heard that they are used in diving practices of the US Marine Mammal programme. It`s crazy to think then that they are part of a curry available in Japan.
That afternoon, we took a trip to the Paracas National Reserve which is the second driest location in South America (gets 2ml of rain per year..the first is the Atacama desert in Chile which rates as one of the driest in the world) It was a very interesting tour although we did not see many animals.
I learnt that the difference between a reserve and a park is that a reserve can be used by locals for fishing etc. This is probably a well-known fact but I never claimed to be Ms Know all!!
The deserted area of deeper than beige sand is located beside a wash of marine blue sea...pretty beautiful in its own dry way!
That evening, hopped on a short bus journey to head to Huacachina the land of sand dunes...
