Overslept a bit after not getting a ton of sleep, but had time for a shower and a quick breakfast. Raul and I headed north out of town towards Paracas, about 40 min away. We drove through a strange landscape of sand dunes as far as the eye can see, interspersed with vineyards and fruit orchards. What these plants were living on, I have no idea! We pulled into the touristy, ocean side town just as the fog was starting to burn off. We located the docks for my sight seeing boat ride out to the Ballestas Islands, where sea lion mating season was in full swing. Who should I run into at the dock, but Katja one last time. I swear she was stalking me! We didn't have 5 seconds to talk before being pulled to our respective boats. The guide for the boatride was Luis, an amigo of Raul's who immediately demanded to know who Jack was and why he was so special, appearing in so many American phrases; "you don't know Jack", "Jack of all trades" etc. I confessed that I didn't know who Jack was, but I would look into it. About 30 of us tourists piled on the boat and we motored off into the warm morning. I was the only gringo on this outing, so the English translations started out strong, but tapered off as the day went on. That's ok, because I understood a lot and had more to look at. We stopped briefly at an island that sported a giant, hundred foot tall pre-Inca carving in a hillside that looked like a trident, but Luis said was guessed to be a cactus. We zoomed on to the actual Ballestas Islands. As we got closed, it was apparent that every surface was covered in Peruvian Boobies, storks, penguins and guano. Lots of guano. The smell of it wafted across the water to us. Delightful. But, we quickly found sea lions sheltering in covers with the males sunning themselves proudly on rocks and the females yelling loudly about caring for the young in the shady areas. We kept our distance from the angry mothers, but got in quite close to several individual sea lions sleeping on rocks. We circled the island looking at the various groups of sea lions and birds, before doing a traditional shoot through a rock arch and heading back to shore. I rejoined Raul and headed to the main boardwalk, where I did a bit of last minute shopping for gifts and sat down at a cafe for fresh civeche and sweet chicha while watching children play in the surf on the beautiful 80+ degree day. I savored my last moments of summer before beginning the journey back to winter. I grudgingly left the town to return to Ica, collect my luggage, say my goodbyes to the hippies and board a bus for Lima. A short 3 hour nap later, I got off at the Lima terminal. A short wait later, the familiar face of Juan greeted me. We loaded my stuff into the van, where his wife Eva would ride along with us through almost two hours of stop and go, Friday night traffic to get to the airport. Which was fine with me as I had 5 hours in all to kill before my flight. A regretable airport meal, security and adquiring some pisco at customs ate up some time. The rest, I rode out at the bar having my last pisco sour. What a delicious drink! Most of the flight to Miami I slept the best I could, aside from the part where they woke me up at 2am for airplane dinner. Wtf, mate? Boring airports and security, blah blah, until I finally reached Des Moines around 1pm Sat. As I came down the escalator, the first thing I saw was Charles, who gave me a big smile as I got closer. Hugs for him and Brad and it was good to be home! Brad took me to Drake Diner for a real American meal of burgers and milkshakes. Welcome home! He dropped me off in my driveway where I was overcome with happiness to see home.....that and exhaustion. Thus ends my great journey! Now to plan the next one......Ciao!