Paracas and Islas Ballestas

Islas Ballestas

Paracas was very relaxing. I planned to stay for a couple days and ended up staying six. I think the best thing to do in Paracas is go to Islas Ballestas. Aside from that, I relaxed and played on the slack line at the hotel, which I very much enjoyed. I did not make it to the reserve south of Paracas, because every day I got a little too much sun on the slack line and did not want to stay out in the sun. I probably should have stayed off the slack line for one day.

Islas Ballestas

Islas Ballestas is a national park made from some islands not too far off shore from Paracas. I went with a tour, which was essentially a boat ride around the islands. We had a tour guide, but I could not hear what he was saying most of the time as the speaker system was not that good. Islas Ballestas are populated with sea lions, fur seals, penguins and tons of birds. Since it is covered with birds, it is also covered with bird guano. There is so much bird guano that someone created a company to recover the bird guano for use as fertilizer; it failed.

Main island from a distance

Seal lions and fur seals

Caves are cool

Group of penguins along with other birds. Penguins are also cool.

These sea lions had huge necks. This is different than I recall seeing in other places including recently in the Galapagos.

On the way back, we saw these pelicans. These are the same as I saw on the peer in Trujillo. They are monsters. I wonder if they feed on baby great whites.

Paracas

Paracas itself is a small beach town with a number of pretty good restaurants. I ate some very good ceviche here.

The beach at Paracas

What I spent most of my time doing