Islas Ballestas

The ´Candelabra´

´Humble´ Penguins

There´s something Alfred Hitchcockish about this pic

Pelican having none of it

Sea lion chilling

Millions of birds

´The poor mans Galapagos islands´ apparently. The Galapagos Islands must be heck of an impressive. We took a ride about 10km offshore to the spectacle that is the Ballestas Islands. Something I had been looking forward to for quite some time. And they did not disappoint.

They´re a small group of islands literally infested with all types of sea birds and sea life. Pelicans, petrels, penguins, gulls, vultures(yes!). The first thing that hits you upon arrival (other than the sheer spectacle of umpteen flocks of different types of birds circling and passing the islands simultaneously. It´s like the bird equivalent of Heathrow airport) is the smell. Bird poo. Guano. Apparently so much of it that it helped Peru out of a recession in the mid 1900´s as some clever dick discovered that guano was the secret and vital ingredient in a certain type of fertilizer. Nice work.