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The night we arrived in Pisco we met up with some Irish girls and some of the people from the tour agency for dinner. We tried some of the local delicacies; fish soup and calamari - even Holly had this, still can't get her to eat mushrooms though! Then it was off to paint the town red, at a salsa bar...well it was actually a Chinese restaurant with the lights turned down and we were the only people there! We had a few drinks and the guys from tour agency set about teaching us tourists how to salsa, not an easy task with us all in hiking boots and a jug of sangria down the hatch!! Talk about two left feet, we think they were relieved after the first song finished, when they ushered us to sit back down! But we had a good time anyway.
The next morning we headed on a trip to the Islas Ballestas and the Paracas National Reserve. We took a boat trip to the islands where we passed the famous Candelabra, a giant figure drawn on the hillside. They aren't too sure when this was drawn, by who, or for what purpose, but it is believed that it comes from the same period as the Nazca Lines and may have been used by sailors. Some people believe that the Candelabra is, in fact, a St Peter's Cactus, which the Paracas culture used as a hallucinagenic....maybe this explains the big drawings in Nazca too;, they were all high!
There are many small rock islands that make up the Islas Ballestas, all out at sea. The Islands are home to large bird, Penguin and Sea Lion colonies. We have never seen so many birds in one place! Laura was very excited, at her new found love, as a twitcher! The islands appear white as they are covered in bird poo and, therefore, the smell wasn't too great, but we soon forgot about that, particularly when we were concentrating on ducking from bird poos! The sea lions were great and weren't at all fazed by boats full of tourists peering at them, some even posed! The penguins were cool too, some housed on the top of the steep islands...not too sure how this flightless bird got there!
After the wildlife spotting we took a bus to the Paracas reserve, stopping at the museum on the way where we hoped to see flamingoes nearby, but unfortunately we didn't manage to see any! Boo hoo!
So we carried on to see the Cathedral, a rock formation that apparently looked like a cathedral, Holly wasn't convinced! The rock has been eroded by the sea and wind over the past 30-34 million years to create the arch way. The area was really pretty and unspoilt, thanks to it being a protected site. We saw Condors here too! Who needs the Colca Canyon ay?!
We then headed to a very small fishing area, where locals from Pisco are bused in daily to catch fish. This is tightly controlled and only small boats, lines and nets are permitted. We stopped for lunch to try some of the local fish which was delicious!
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