On Wednesday we finally said goodbye to Lima, our friends at Hostal Iquique and of course Fito (a story in itself ;-)) and took off to the first leg of the Gringo Trail - Pisco.
In Pisco itself there is not much to see - the town has been heavily destroyed by an earthquake in August 2007 and most buildings have not been restored. And as it seems the money donated to restore the city has gone into the pockets of a "lucky" few and the majority of the inhabitants is still coping with the aftermath of the catastrophe. Most buildings have been repaired temporarily with sugar cane or plastic foil and even the church has not been restored - a very sad sight!
Most tourists therefore just stop in Pisco for a day or two to visit the Islas Ballestas and the National Reserve of Paracas and then continue to either Nasca or Lima. The Ilsas Ballestas are world famous for their wildlife, all kinds of sea birds and sea lions and the poduce of the first ones - the "guano"! According to Wikipedia the word "guano" originates from the Quichua language of the Inca civilization and means "the droppings of sea birds". Since Inca times guano has been collected from the coast of Peru for use as soil enricher. And guano has even been the reason for the so called Pacific War or Guano War between Peru - Bolivia and Chile! The discovery during the 1840s of the use of guano as a fertilizer and saltpeter as a key ingredient in explosives made the area strategically valuable. Wars have been fought for all reasons under the sun - but bird droppings definately seems to be one of the most obscure reasons, when you come to think of it ;-)
So on Thursday morning we set off with another couple from our hostel - Ukainian born Boris and his girlfriend Sara from New York. Both with the same stunning blue eyes, blond hair and winning smile. First we were not sure if they were a couple or siblings, so much alike where they. Im Paracas our guide Rafa and his cute twin kids met us at the pier and we had to wait in line with another aproximately 20.000 tourists to put on bright orange life vests and board one of the boats that left every 5-10 minutes. Finally we boarded "El Mesias and took off to the "Poop Factory" as one gay American behind us called it ;-)
The Poop Factory definately is very impressive - rocks full of penguins, cormorants, pelicans and other birds I can´t even remember the names! It does smell of bird poop but you´ll soon forget about it. You'll definately forget about it when you get to see the sea lions - they are so noisy and playfull - born jokers :-) A couple of them were lazing around in the sun, looking so relaxed and funny. Unfortunately the captain of the boat overdid it, getting really close to the poor creatures, waking them up and getting them to move to ensure that everybody got a good shot...
Somehow the trip left me pretty sad - the beautifull animals and nature exploited in such an "industrial" way - at times you could see more tourists than penguins! Somehow a "poop factory" of another kind...
After a lunch break in Paracas we met with our next guide, Jesus, and some more tourists to visit the National Reserve of Paracas. For me the Reserve was a bit disappoining as it is just a desert - as Boris put it, he hap "excpexted more trees", and so did I. Paracas is derived from the Quechua words sand and rain, meaning sand rain or sandstorm. We stopped at a few places to see the cliffs and the sea but for the rest it was not very unteresting. The bus turned a sauna soon and the only highlight was when Alberto got a shot of a Condor without knowing it was one. Our last stop was to watch a group of flamengos far away at the beach but we got into such sandstorm that nobody really cared about the flamengos anymore and just tried to get back to the hotel. For the evening we planned to meet up with Sara, Boris and the Colmbian siblings, Maurizio and Elizabeth for dinner and drinks.
In Pisco itself there is not much to see - the town has been heavily destroyed by an earthquake in August 2007 and most buildings have not been restored. And as it seems the money donated to restore the city has gone into the pockets of a "lucky" few and the majority of the inhabitants is still coping with the aftermath of the catastrophe. Most buildings have been repaired temporarily with sugar cane or plastic foil and even the church has not been restored - a very sad sight!
Most tourists therefore just stop in Pisco for a day or two to visit the Islas Ballestas and the National Reserve of Paracas and then continue to either Nasca or Lima. The Ilsas Ballestas are world famous for their wildlife, all kinds of sea birds and sea lions and the poduce of the first ones - the "guano"! According to Wikipedia the word "guano" originates from the Quichua language of the Inca civilization and means "the droppings of sea birds". Since Inca times guano has been collected from the coast of Peru for use as soil enricher. And guano has even been the reason for the so called Pacific War or Guano War between Peru - Bolivia and Chile! The discovery during the 1840s of the use of guano as a fertilizer and saltpeter as a key ingredient in explosives made the area strategically valuable. Wars have been fought for all reasons under the sun - but bird droppings definately seems to be one of the most obscure reasons, when you come to think of it ;-)
So on Thursday morning we set off with another couple from our hostel - Ukainian born Boris and his girlfriend Sara from New York. Both with the same stunning blue eyes, blond hair and winning smile. First we were not sure if they were a couple or siblings, so much alike where they. Im Paracas our guide Rafa and his cute twin kids met us at the pier and we had to wait in line with another aproximately 20.000 tourists to put on bright orange life vests and board one of the boats that left every 5-10 minutes. Finally we boarded "El Mesias and took off to the "Poop Factory" as one gay American behind us called it ;-)
The Poop Factory definately is very impressive - rocks full of penguins, cormorants, pelicans and other birds I can´t even remember the names! It does smell of bird poop but you´ll soon forget about it. You'll definately forget about it when you get to see the sea lions - they are so noisy and playfull - born jokers :-) A couple of them were lazing around in the sun, looking so relaxed and funny. Unfortunately the captain of the boat overdid it, getting really close to the poor creatures, waking them up and getting them to move to ensure that everybody got a good shot...
Somehow the trip left me pretty sad - the beautifull animals and nature exploited in such an "industrial" way - at times you could see more tourists than penguins! Somehow a "poop factory" of another kind...
After a lunch break in Paracas we met with our next guide, Jesus, and some more tourists to visit the National Reserve of Paracas. For me the Reserve was a bit disappoining as it is just a desert - as Boris put it, he hap "excpexted more trees", and so did I. Paracas is derived from the Quechua words sand and rain, meaning sand rain or sandstorm. We stopped at a few places to see the cliffs and the sea but for the rest it was not very unteresting. The bus turned a sauna soon and the only highlight was when Alberto got a shot of a Condor without knowing it was one. Our last stop was to watch a group of flamengos far away at the beach but we got into such sandstorm that nobody really cared about the flamengos anymore and just tried to get back to the hotel. For the evening we planned to meet up with Sara, Boris and the Colmbian siblings, Maurizio and Elizabeth for dinner and drinks.
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