Islas Ballestas

Heading further south of Lima, our next stop would be the small town of Pisco.  As 80% of the city was destroyed in an earthquake 4 years ago, there wasn´t much to hold our attention.  The real draw for us was the nearby port of Paracas from which we headed out to tour the Islas Ballestas, or "the poor man´s Galapagos." A group of islands comprised mostly of rock formations jutting out of the sea, these islands are an important refuge for thousand-strong colonies of blue-footed boobies, cormorants, pelicans, and guanay guano birds.  Never before had we seen so many birds in one place.  Of course with lots of birds come lots and lots of bird shit.  We wore our hats to shield us from droppings and surprisingly escaped unscathed.  In addition to the birds, we were also treated to fur seals and sea lions who loved showing off for the cameras, diving from the rocks and frolicking near the boats.  In a strange sight to see in such a warm climate, groups of Humboldt penguins also strutted around, jostling for position among the other fauna.  At one point in the tour, a group of French tourists started shouting, "Medusa, Medusa!" which we came to learn meant "jellyfish" when we saw their humongous heads and tentacles drifting gracefully by our boat.  Our camera definitely got a workout as we tried to capture the grand display of wildlife mere feet from our boat.
One of the other highlights of this tour was the Paracas Candelabra, a giant geoglyph scratched into the side of the Paracas peninsula.  At 595 ft tall and consisting of 2 ft deep trenches carved into the hillside, it is large enough to be seen from 12 miles at sea.  Pottery found at the sight dates to 200 BC but nobody knows why or who built the massive glyph.  Some theories hold that it was a representation of the trident, a lightning rod of the god Viracocha, seen in mythology throughout South America, while others range from Masonic symbolism to extraterrestrials.  Nevertheless, the mystery surrounding the glyph only serves to heighten its impact.
While the real Galapagos islands were way outside of our budget this trip, our visit to the beautiful Islas Ballestas helped to satisfy our desire to see some of the native wildlife that the South American coast has to offer.

Ahoy! Heading out to the Islas Ballestas.

That´s a lot of birds.

And more birds.

Penguins??

Lazy buggers.

These two loved the camera. They would climb up to jump off. Then repeat.

Seriously, there were a lot of birds. 

Medusa!

Paracas Candelabra.
Ancient trident of a god, or signpost for aliens? You decide.