Paracas to Nazca- a busy day!

October 17th
We left Lima on Wednesday and bused to a small coastal fishing town called Paracas where we spent a quiet evening. We were up early the next day for a boat tour of the "Poor Mans Galapagos" or Las Islas Ballestas. On the way we stopped at the "candelabra" which is a large figure drawn in the sand a few hundred years ago by the locals. Noone really knows what it is or why it is drawn but it does resemble a candelabra. It was a nice smooth ride to the islands, which were really cool formations, I love all the arches and caves that have formed in the rocks. As soon as we got near the islands it was mandatory to throw a hat on because of the thousands and thousands of birds-pelicans, gulls, inca terns, cormorants (including a rare red foot one), blue footed boobies, and even adorable Humboldt penguins. So many birds in fact that exporting bird excrement for fertilizer is like a huge industry here, wouldn't bird shit scraper be a fun job? We also saw plenty of sea lions, spider crabs, giant jellyfish. Quite a cool little tour.
After that we bused to the El Catador winery/piscaria. They gave us a tour of how they make pisco the old fashioned way. Stomping and then using a huge wooden press, then fermenting in ceramic containers called botijas (named after the bird they look like), then distilling and then finally taste testing! We were all excited for that part (not that we haven't tried it already ;) ). We got shots of quite a few different kinds, and also local delicious chocolates. We may have also bought some to go....hehe
Next stop Huachachina which is a tiny town surrounding a little oasis in the middle of the Nazca desert. We went dune buggying and it was so so neat. Just desert dunes of beautiful fine light sand as far as you could see, it was like out of a movie! We got to get out at a few dunes and sandboarded down on our stomaches! The first few seconds was shocking because you pick up speed so fast, but then it's such a smooth ride I almost found it soothing... That is until the final dune, where I got a crooked push off to begin with, and there was no recovering, I bailed hard not even half way down the dune. I must have tumbled and spun around at least seven times before finally coming to a sand covered stop. Only a few scrapes and bruises to show for it. Super fun day!

-Courtney