Day 3 - Peru - Balletstas Islands, Pisco distillery, Huacachina Oasis

We had an early start, ready to go by 7:45am. The group walked back to the pier and we boarded an open-air speedboat. There were many fishing boats in the harbour. They didn't seem to have to go out very far to catch their fish for the day.

We made a few stops along the way and saw some birds as well as some lines on a hillside in the sand. It was a huge candelabra geoglyph, like the Nazca lines we are going to be seeing.

We continued much further then got to the main attraction- the Ballestas Islands.

As we approached we began to see many birds, sea lions and even penguins! They have the Humboldt penguin here and they are adorable, as any penguin is!

We then went further into the group of islands and I was astounded at the sheer numbers of birds. Peru has a type of boobie but they are not the blue-footed ones of the Galápagos Islands.

The rocks were covered in guana or dung, and it is gathered as fertilizer. I have never seen this amount of birds, even on my Galápagos trip. Not only were they on the rocks, but in the sky as well.

I switched to video to try and capture the movement of these thousands of birds! I put my hood up as I wondered if Murphy's Law might kick in, but I was lucky.

It took about 20 minutes at high speeds to return to shore. We walked back to the hotel, gathered our suitcases, and boarded the bus. We headed south for about an hour, passing lots of sand, but also fields of grapes, carrots and other crops.

Our next destination was a Pisco distillery, el Catador. Pisco is the national drink of Peru. We learned about how the liquor is made, then we had a tasting. I was surprised at how many different types we were given.

Peruvian wines are quite sweet, and we tried 2 different types, both of which were very good. We also sampled some Pisco sour mix as well as the pure alcohol, which runs about 45%. To make a Pisco sour, you combine lemon juice with the alcohol, then egg whites are added and shaken, however we didn't try it with the egg whites. We had a few other samples and were also given some chocolates with a pecan filling. I purchased a very small bottle of Pisco sour already mixed, as well as some delicious chocolates. Besides not wanting to lug a big glass bottle around, I worry about breakage in my suitcase.

We drove for about another half an hour to an oasis called the Huacachina Oasis. We had lunch there and I ordered asparagus soup as well as a salad. The service wasn't all that great, and my salad, while ok, wasn't as advertised.

The Huacachina Oasis is surrounded by sand, more specifically, sand dunes. They are huge and tall and beautiful. The sun was shining and the sky was blue, something we haven't seen much of since we got to Peru. People come to the dunes to ride buggies and sand board and I did both!

Only 2 others in our group joined me in the adventure. I was a bit apprehensive but wanted to be able to say 'I did it!'  We were securely buckled in and then we were off.

I tried to take photos at first but then realized I needed two hands for holding on and keeping my balance. Our driver seemed to enjoy my screaming as he crested to the top of a tall dune, pause to show us the immense drop, then gun it down the hill at top speed! I had my eyes closed for those moments, but when I realized he was a good driver and we weren't going to crash, I relaxed a bit and tried to keep my eyes open.

It was rough at first as we were going over the trails of many others before us but it got smoother. He stopped at a high point and we disembarked to take pictures of the remarkable view, mountains in the far distance.

A little later, he stopped and hauled out some sand boards - just like snow boards but made for sand. I thought, 'No Way!' but he showed how to lay down on our stomachs, put our hands in two of the straps, elbows in, and legs astride (to slow ourselves down).

I let Art go first and was satisfied that we weren't going to speed too fast so I went. You actually just follow the natural slope and it wasn't too fast at all. I was proud of myself and wished I could have taken photos. As it was, I lost both my lens cap and my iPhone!! But the driver found them! He did take posed pics of us with 'our boards' as a keepsake.

Just before we got back to the start, he stopped once more so we could get a good look at the oasis from up high. It is a natural oasis with a lovely pool? lake? in the center and green vegetation around it. The area is quite small. People were climbing the dunes on foot. I'm so glad I took the buggy!

We continued south for several hours passing through towns, desert, past crops and through an most interesting pass. The area is called Palpa and the sun created some magnificent shadows on the sand formations. They look like rocks. But I guess they are sand. The road was quite twisty like a mountain pass back home.

A bit further on, we stopped to see the first of the Nazca lines. They are several thousand years old and can only be seen from on high. In the middle of nowhere there was a tower to climb. It was almost dark but we were able to see the hand and the tree formation.

Experts do not know why these lines were made by the Nazca Indians, perhaps for religious reasons. They weren't discovered until someone flew over the area and noticed them from the air. Apparently due to climate change the desert has been getting more rain than normal. The lines have been around for thousands of years but are in danger of disappearing because of the rain. No one knows how they were made either as the lines are quite long and straight. We will see more tomorrow.

We have another nice hotel here in Nazca but the check in process takes so long when you have to supply your passport and immigration card. Why they need it, I'd love to know.

We didn't want to go for supper with the group and have a 2 and 1/2 hour supper again so we struck out on our own. Just 2 blocks away we noticed a large crowd gathered and there were fireworks going off. It was the town square and there were hundreds of people. We found out afterwards it is Guadalupe's festival.

We wandered around for a bit and checked out a few restaurants finally settling on a sit down sports bar. A Columbia-Peru match was on and it was loud. Oh well. The food was good and cheap and they served great pisco sours!

I had seen a vendor with cotton candy walk by earlier and was determined to find him and buy some. I couldn't find him, but I did find some cotton candy - for only 1 sol - 41 cents! We made our way back to the hotel. It's going to be difficult getting to sleep tonight if the intermittent fireworks don't stop making one heck of a racket!!