This morning we are in Paracas which is a National Reserve Park. In the morning we took a boat to the Ballestas Islands. This is what we saw:
There is a symbol in the side of the hill in sand
It was quite a tour to see hundreds of birds on the hillside
Then we would go under a rock arch
Peruvian Dolphin
Peruvian Pelican
Humboldt Penguin
These two Penguin's are making out!
Peruvian booby
Neotropic Cormorant
Red-legged cormorant
Guanay Cormorant
Inca Tern
Peruvian Sea Lion
Amazing how a sea lion can climb up rock
Then at 11 am our bus took us to the park. Here we saw red sand. We were told it comes from many different minerals.
We left Paracas and headed to Huacachia. This took about an hour. When we were almost there the bus came to a stop. As it turned out, a tree had fallen across the road blocking the road and taking out electrical wires.
So we got off the bus, got our gear and started to walk to the hostal. This took about 20 minutes and I might add it was uphill and some of it was in sand, good thing I'm in shape :)
We are spending the night in Huacachina
Nestled in one of the driest locations on earth, a town complete with trees, hotels, shops and even a library. The settlement is home to 96 residents, who live around the lagoon. The lake is believed by some to have healing powers, and in the 1940s, wealthy Peruvians would travel to the location to bathe in its waters
The lake is naturally formed, but there is a legend that a young princess was bathing when she was discovered by a hunter and fled, leaving behind a pool of water. Her flowing cloak was said to have created the surrounding sand dunes.
Now, descendents of the Inca people make their living by hosting guests coming from afar to climb to the top of a wind-sculptured sand dune and watch the sunset illuminate the golden landscape, before sailing down the slopes on rented sandboards or dune buggies.
So that's what we did after we checked into our room.
I have to say, Denny made all the arrangements for this Peru trip, so I was in the dark. I'm kinda glad because I'm not sure I would have signed us up for dune buggie and sandboarding. I'm pretty proud of myself as I only closed my eyes 3 times. You know how on the roller coaster it comes to a stop at the top, well that's what the driver did, then you start to go and look down at how far you drop!
This one I screemed! One of the guys in the group took a video and he told me he'd email to me. I'll post it when I get it.
But the scenery is beautiful!
Then we get out and get our sandboards, wax them up good and go down on our bellies. We started off with small hills, then we sat up, then if you wanted you could stand. The hills got pretty steep in the end. But this was a lot of fun!
Here is a photo of our group
Our group went out together for a BBQ dinner. I worked up a big appetite and can't wait!
It was delicious! Of course I made friends with the cook!
If you couldn't tell from all the photos, we had a great day! Tomorrow is another big day. We tour all day and continue through the night on the bus so I won't blog tomorrow.
Life is good on Kokomo
Becky