Lima (Ally)

The night before we left Pisco we went to a fish resturant and had cold seafood with avocado. It was very tasty but G ended up being really sick on it. So he spent two days in Lima catching up on reading. We did get to see Mission Impossible 3 though which had us glued to our seats.

We stayed in Miraflores section of Lima and it was very pretty. With a park where people sold crafts and art. Some water colours caught our eye, lovely bright Peruvian ladies with bunches of flowers but we decided to think about it. Perhaps they will still be there when we go back in June.

Gold Museum

As G was sick I took myself off to see the gold museum. It was filled with incredible things. What struck me first were the death masks which they created out of a single sheet of gold to place over the mummies heads. No one really knows why.


I was unable to take photos in the museum. All photos in this post were sourced here.

They also created very intricate knives which were probably used in ceramonies.

Before the Spanish arried, the Incas wore large disc earings in the lobes of their ears. They ranged from thin to really thick and heavy ones. All were beautifully worked. Some of the best ones had mosaic patterns and pictures in the center. But just looking at them made my ears ache!!!


On display were some skulls with holes in them. I thought it must have been some surgical practice but was very surprised when I listened to my tape that these were the rewards of war. The winner would lash the skull to their belt as a trophy. It made me very glad that I did not live in those times.

A particluar highlight for me was seeing the ponchos and head dresses. They had a pouncho inlaid with feathers that was 1900 years old. And the feathers still kept their colour. Other ponchos had little platelets of shell or gold leaf decorating them. The head dresses were mainly made from feather fibres allowing them to make the most intricate of patterns like squares and colourful birds. All painstakingly laid, fibre by fibre.



The Inca´s valued shells and feathers far more than gold as gold was easy for them to get. Peru is still the 3rd largest gold exporter in the world. This is why the Spanish were able to "steal" so much gold from the Incas. All in all a very pleasing and informative exhibition that will stay with me for a long time.

Ballestas Islands

The Ballestas Islands are sometimes described as Peru's answer to the Galapagos Islands and although, according to the guide books, they don't match the splendour or variety of their northern cousins, they are quite spectacular in their own right.

We visited the islands on a tour and I was so impressed that I promptly booked myself on another tour for the following day. If the Galapagos is even better, then I cannot wait!

The islands have been eroded to form countless natural caves and arches and we were able to go under several impressive arches in the boat. On the 2nd tour, the waters were heaving and the pilot had to do some impressive navigation. Our boat was full of Japanese tourists trying to balance and snap hundred of pictures at the same time. One person on our boat even lost his breakfast.

Here is the Guanay black cormorant - a close up of the bird that you see in so many thousands in the pictures above.

Needless to say, all these cormorants produce an awful lot of poop between them. This used to be a highly priced commodity back when fertiliser was not produced synthetically. The old guano factory still stands on the island in a testament to those times.

Turnstones at rest and in flight

 I loved the colourful Incan Terns.

And here are Peruvian Boobies. Like gannets, they dive into the water like missiles.

The Pelicans were beautiful and I was able to get very close.

Humboldt Penguins, a new penguin species for me

And a banded gull, yet another new species for me.

More gulls in flight

In addition to birds, there were hundreds of sea lions. There young were inquisitive and cute. The males become brutish as they get older, spending all there time bellowing and fighting with each other.

 

On the boat trip, we also got a view of the 'Candelabra', which is either a Paracas culture geoglyph similar to the Nazca Lines or, perhaps more excitingly, a marker to lost treasure left by pirates during the 17th century. In any case, we did not stop for long enough to dig for treasure, and I must admit, digging in hot sand is not really my thing anyway...

And then just before we got back to port, we lucked out and saw dolphin. One of them even did an airial manouvre for us but my photo finger was not quick enough.

After the islands, we spent some time in The Paracas National Park. More beautiful cliffs and rock formations and some nice beaches.

We have met several bikers on our travels around South America, including two British ladies over 60 on enormous hondas. Saw this bike in the Paracas Park. Talk about freedom.

New birds seen

• Inca tern
• guanay cormorant
• banded gull
• Humboldt penguin
• Andean gull
• Peruvian pelican
• Neotropical cormorant
• Red legged cormorant
• Peruvian booby

Huacachina

The ideal place to recuperate from our tough hikes, Hunacachina is a tiny oasis in the middle of the desert, surrounded by miles of beautiful dunes. In the middle of the oasis is a lagoon, with healing mineral water. Not that we swam in it. Our hostel had an amazing pool that was even more inviting.

The healing lagoon...

We also had the most amazing fun hurtling around the dunes in a sandbuggy. Our crazy driver, spurred on by our screams, ramped over dunes at breakneck speed. We would fly off the lip and then speed down the other side - some very steep inclines. What an adrenaline rush. Unfortunately there was too much sand flying around to take action pictures.

We then had a go at sand boarding though, never having even snow boarded before, it was something of a challenge. Ally excelled herself though - a total natural - and she gracefully sped down dunes where most of us were doing unintentional somesaults. My neck and back still hurt today!

We did stage some photos of me to make me look better than I was. Amazing how photos can deceive!

Climbing the dune. More tiring than the Inca Trail!

Ah, but the sunset was worth the effort...

You know you are in Peru when...

...the local ladies wear high hats and the lady llamas wear pink tassles