Getting There

From Nazca I hopped on the 11:30 bus to Paracas. We stopped in a city called Ica along the way. Many people get off here to go to Huacachina, the desert laguna, to go sand boarding and dune boogying. I decided to skip this and go straight to Paracas, a small beach town, as I had already done those wonderful desert activities in Nazca and was on a mission to get to Lima by Saturday for the Mistura food festival!

Paracas – the Town

The town itself is pretty small. It’s right on the beach and there are lots of restaurants and souvenir shops on the boardwalk. I was there it was in the middle of the week and pretty quiet. I imagine that on the weekends and in busier times of the year it’s a pretty active and energetic place to be. Many tourists go to Paracas to see the Islas Ballestas and the national reserve, and I was no different…

Islas Ballestas

The Islas Ballestas are an island system off the cost of Paracas which host a large variety of birds, sea lions and host Peru’s only species of penguin, the Humbolt Penguin. The islands are important to Peru as they provide the country with a valuable export, guano… or bird shit! Years back they would harvest tons upon tons of it annually. Nowadays there are less birds, so the guano harvest occurs every few years and is heavily controlled by the government. The guano is an excellent fertilizer, and for this fetches a pretty penny.

On the boat trip we saw oceans of birds… more birds than I have ever seen in one place at a single time. At one point the guide had us look at the side of one of the islands. Half of it was black… all birds! Seeing the penguins hoping around and waddling on the rocks was super cute, and only reinforced the fact that penguins are my favorite animal. The tour lasted a solid couple hours, and it was nice to be back in the water again after having spent so much time away from the ocean and up in the mountains of Peru, Guatemala and Mexico.

Reserva Nacional de Paracas

Following the island tour I took a bus tour of the national park. I would have loved to have rented a bike and ridden around the reserve independently, but time restraints made the bus the best option. We checked out the reserve museum, drove around to a number of beaches, and I ate some delicious seafood along the way. Sadly, back in 2007 a strong earthquake hit the region and caused a beautiful rock system called the cathedral to collapse; nonetheless, the views were spectacular and it was great to explore the area. It was especially pretty seeing the desert kissing the ocean as it does in this part of the world.

Overall Impressions

I enjoyed the islands and its animal life quite a bit, and the area in general is very pretty. I did find the town to be a bit dead, but there’s nothing wrong with having a chill day during your vacations, especially when the next destination is to the hustle and bustle of Lima!