Islas Ballestas and Paracas national park

we were picked up from the hotels around 7:30 in the morning and the bus took us to Paracas... there a different group was formed, very confusing, i guess to fit us better to the boats.. after some waiting around we finally boarded the speedboats and headed out. we got very lucky as we managed to see dolphins right there in the bay :D after some 10 minutes of we arrived to Candelabra.. this is a huge figure etched on the side of a coastal cliff... nobody knows where it came from and what its for. then another 20 to 25 minutes of a speedboat ride (it was nice and fast boat, wonderful) and voila... we were at the islands. the islands are in all shapes with lots of vaults and caves.. wonderful.. and there are thousands of birds, penguins and sea lions living there. islands are covered with guano - seabird droppings that are rich in nitrogen and used widely in agriculture as fertilizer. the islands were great.. soo many birds and sea lions and all those caves and arches.. neattooo!!!

coming back from the islands it was another 20-25 minutes of fast boat ride and then we had about half an hour to look around at the coast.. there was not much there, just shops and restaurants. then on to the national park.

first we visited the museum and went to the watch tower. there our guide talked a bit about the park and the nature here. apparently this is one of the driest places in the world.. they get like 1mm of rain per year (or was it per 2 years.. can't remember). after visiting the museum we drove to the cathedral... it was just an arch in the cliff and in the water so we looked at it from above... beautiful nonetheless... yeah the sights were wonderful. after the cathedral we headed to our lunch spot. i had ceviche :) it is raw fish in lemon juice covered with onions, chili and garlic and served with some corn. it was great. we also looked around there for some 30 minutes. then bus ride back to Pisco.

in pisco i exchanged some money.. got my bag from the hotel and headed to the bus station... got the ticket and i was taken to the highway where the buses leave to Lima every 10 minutes. my bus left 17:10 ... bus ride was almost 4h long .. got to lima bit before 9.