The journey from Lima to Pisco gave me my first proper insight into the Peruvian landscape and I was very surprised to find that it was very baron and dusty - it was just like driving through a huge desert and very different to what I had seen in both Chile and Ecuador.Pisco itself is just a small little port town, which you can easily wander around in half an hour, taking in all the sights! Luckily we had only a few hours to pass before dinner, so a shower and a quick nap sorted that out. Other than that Pisco is only famous for ?giving its name to the white grape brandy produced locally and used to make one of the national drinks - Pisco sour. Of course it would have been rude not to try a Pisco sour in Pisco, but I was good and restricted myself to just one after realising how early we had to get up the next morning.And the early start was because we were off to catch a boat to the Ballestas Islands - otherwise known as the "poor mans Galapagos!". We had been warned about the number of birds that we would see and also their propensity to deposit a small gift upon your clothes if they so wished so we all went prepared in our waterproof jackets - a great look! But in all seriousness, the bird droppings are actually a real commodity here and are worth a lot of money when sold as fertiliser. Some lucky people have the delightful job of collecting all this each year from off the rocks on the islands?!But apart from that we saw several different bird species, penguins and seals - although not as many as I had imagined. I also learnt how to tell the difference between a seal and a sea lion . a sea lion has ears and a seal does not, so next tie you come across one, now you will know!After the boat ride we went to a Pisco winery to see how the famous drink is made and then have a few free tasters. I hadnt realised it came in so many different varieties, and there was even one that tasted like Baileys, only much much better. Shame I couldnt carry any in my rucksack but I think it is more likely that my clothes would get covered in it than it would survive the next few months until I get home.So it was on to our final stop of the day and by far the most fun - sand buggys and sandboarding at the Ica dunes. After my last experience of sandboarding and the pain involved I was a little dubious about doing it again, but there dunes were perfect. Because the area is so vast the dunes were barely used and they were so smooth that you just flew down them - I had so much fun! And the ride in the sand buggies was great too. We had a crazy driver who just loved to speed right up to the top of a dune then hold us on the edge before flying down the other side. Luckily I only came away with one bruise!