23rd & 24th September 2008: We leave Lima (and it´s cacophony of car horns) in the afternoon and after 4 hours on the bus find ourselves in Pisco, which is smaller, but just as noisy and alot dustier. Luckily we are staying just outside the town so get another bus to our hotel which is on a quiter part of the coast. After a quick supper and obligatory Pisco Sour we head to bed as tomorrow morning we have an early start to go and see the Ballestas Islands.

The Ballestas Islands are apparently Peru´s answer to The Galapagos so I am looking forward to seeing how they compare. They do resemble some of the rockier Galapagos Islands but are nowhere near as spectacular (don´t tell the Peruvians!). We do see a very impressive candleabra which has been etched into one of the cliffs, mysterious origins but possibly to help sailors navigate. There is an overpowering smell of guano (bird poo to you and me) and apparently Ballestas produces the most guano in the world. Given the number of birds I can believe it. Some poor souls have the job of living on the islands for four months at a time and harvesting the guano by hand. The wildlife is amazing but I don´t envy them at all! We see penguins, pelicans, Peruvian Boobies and many many sea lions. After our boat ride we head onto an oasis where some of us decide to go sandbuggying and sandboarding. I expected the sandbuggy to be the boring bit of transport what would take us from one boarding site to another. I should have realised when I saw the racing car seats and harnesses that it might be a bit more than that. We go roaring off into the dunes and barely have time to admire the spectacular scenery before we are catapulted down a dune at serious speed, leaving us somwhere halfway between our seats and the roof, with only our harnesses keeping us connected to the buggy. Needless to say, we all have an amazing time and scooting down the dunes on a board is a great way to spend the afternoon. We head back to the oasis, very sandy but very happy, and have a quick dip in the pool before we leave for Nasca.