So
what brought us to Paracas? Islas
Ballestas: or as it is commonly referred to a poor man’s Galapagos. Yes, I know we’re booked on the real tour but
that’s not for another month so we thought we get a taster. We couldn’t believe how many people were
lined up and boarding boats that each hold about 50 passengers. It was all well organised and once we set off
it didn’t seem like there were hundreds of people all battling for the same
vantage point.
The
islands are quite close to the mainland so it only took about 20mins to the
nearest biggest island where we saw hundreds of Peruvian pelicans. We were once again glad we’d not forked out
for the Nazca lines as there was a huge geoglyph on the hillside. As with other designs in the area no one
knows who put it there or why but they are impressive none-the-less. We then continued for a further 10mins to a
group of smaller islands with seals and sea lions bobbing up along the way. We saw many more of these marine mammals and
they were the most active we’ve ever observed.
Many fur seals had already hauled themselves out of the swell and found
a comfortable place for the day but some were still trying to find a good
perch. The heftier sea lions have got
the right idea and have bagged the pebbly beaches!
The
rocky islands are home to thousands (and I’m not exaggerating) of sea birds
with Peruvian boobies being the most numerous followed by cormorants, gulls,
terns and a selection of others we can’t name.
It was brilliant watching them flying in, greeting each other, diving
for fish and generally going about their business. I thought the Farne Islands (off the
Northumbrian coast) were great but I’ve never seen such huge colonies of birds
before. As cute as Geordie puffins are –
you can’t beat seeing penguins; Humboldt penguins in this case. Unfortunately there weren’t very many and
they were in an area where it was difficult for the boat to be held for any
length of time but at least we got to see them.
The
trip lasts two hours and we would have been very happy to spend much longer
there but at least the birds and animals only have to put up with humans for a
short time. As well as the spectacle of
seeing so many birds amassed in one area the rocky islands themselves are worth
viewing. The contrast of the guano iced
red rocks, frothy white waves and clear turquoise seas was lovely; along with
the jagged shapes of the islands, coves and caves. A cracking trip and well worth the US$15 a
head especially as the islands are now more carefully protected with the guano
extraction being closely monitored.
That
wasn’t to be the end of the day’s activities as we’d also signed up for the
afternoon jaunt to Reserva Nacional Paracas which was where I learnt we’d been
in the Atacama Desert. It was one of
those trips where you all troop out of the bus, listen to the guide and move on
to the next sight but for once it was enjoyable and interesting. The museum shows an informative video about
the national park and includes some lovely images – it’s a shame the English
translation is so bad. You then have
about 20mins to look at the museum’s exhibits and information boards (in
Spanish and English) that are excellent and in fact we didn’t have enough time
to take it all in. We were amazed that it
was good enough that we would want to read everything.
From
there we drove across the desert to two lookout points; the Cathedral and La
Playa but before we walked up to them our guide explained a little more about
the desert. Yes there is sand, out there
as you would imagine, but in actual fact much of it is rock or only a shallow
layer of fine gravel above a base layer.
The pinks and reds are caused by iron oxide deposits with the yellows
having something to do with when the area was covered by the ocean. The road we were driving on was made from
very low grade, cheap, hard salt; at a mere couple of dollars per tonne this is
not the stuff you’re going to find in your salt cellar.
The
Cathedral archway actually collapsed during the 2001 earthquake but the rock
stacks that are left are still worth viewing and the birds love them too. We
then moved on to another cliff top view point where the contrast of the red
rocks, yellow sand and blue seas is most intense. To be honest we found the
whole coastline fantastic with dramatic coloured cliffs and powerful waves
crashing in – Great Ocean Road, Australia eat your heart out! Plus it was great just to be standing in and
learning more about one of the world’s most famous deserts.
The
last port of call was an hour long lunch stop but we’d taken some snacks as we
suspected this would be a bit of a tourist trap. As soon as we got out of the bus we were pounce
upon by menu flappers and refused to get hassled into a restaurant. Instead we walked up to the headland where
we’d been told dolphins sometimes swim alongside the fishing boats. We didn’t see any but enjoyed looking down on
boobies, gulls and vultures swooping past and a few more seals put in an
appearance. Plus we saw a lizard basking
on the rocks.
Our
admittedly out of date Lonely Planet had described the park as ‘less than
interesting’ so our expectations had been low.
However, we enjoyed it as the parks department have organised things
well and the informative guides and museum mean you learn something too. The area is now being protected with
designated roads and paths and sand boarding and dune buggying have been
banned. Local people are still able to
fish the oceans but permits and quotas are tightly controlled leaving space for
traditional jobs and ecotourism to coexist.
To
round off a great day we decided to treat ourselves to a nice meal and Steve
finally got to tuck into a plate of ceviche.
The restaurants on the front may be in a good setting but they are much
more expensive than those just one street back.
Paracas is a lovely, quiet little town but even though we were down to
sea level it was still fleece wearing chilly at night. There must be somewhere its warm day and
night – we’ll keep moving towards the equator and see what we find.
