Pisco at a glance looked horrible, the buildings were half built, the roads were dirty, there was smashed glass on the floor and lots of busy people. However, at a second glance and after talking to some locals we found out that in 2007 a earthquake hit and and the town hasn't fully recovered. We found a hostel and booked a tour for the "poor man Galapagos" and the national park. We went into the heart of Pisco as on our way into the town we saw a huge childrens stage show, where all the local kids, were dancing singing and moving along with characters (I think it reminded me of home and work, when I had to do my LazyTown dances on stage!). We later found out that there was entertainment all night and an aid relief stall to help the recent disaster that hit Haiti.

Both Becki and myself were really moved by how generous these people were, when they had nothing themselves but I guess having gone through it they knew what it was like and what people needed. We didn't have a clue but we went to the local supermarket and brought loads of bottled water and a big bag of sweets. We dropped our donations off at the aid centre and within seconds of us being there we both had film cameras in our faces. One in particular was "TV Peru". They tried desperately to interview us, but with our lack of Spanish and their lack of English we manged to say our names and that we were from England! We never saw that interview on the news!

That night we watched some of the acts, made friends with this Spanish girl who was mesmerized with us and ate some street food. Luckily we knew the difference between tongue and chicken in Spanish as they were the only options.

We arose early for our tour, hopped on our bus, both completely buzzing for what we were about to see. Neither of us had too many expectations as Puerto Lopez was such a let down, but we had committed to a tour so we were going to make the most of it. We boarded our speed boat which like normal was full of Spanish speaking people and headed out of the harbour. Within a matter of minutes we saw harbour porpoises diving in and out in our boats wake. Unfortunately we didn't stop as our guide said we would on the way back, but we didn't :( never mind thought, moving only a few more miles along the coastline we saw hundreds of birds over head. The formations the birds were moving in were phenomenal to see. Each bird knew their place in the line and the distance they should keep between each other.

We arrived at some cliffs, which had faint Nasca lines in which were cool, but the real treat was the range, quantity and size of the bird life that had made their home on the rocks. As far as the eye could see and as deep as the cliff went there were birds. Now I am not much of a bird lover myself, however it was an impressive sight to see. We kept move to reach the climax of the trip the seals, penguins and sea lions. There were just hundreds of the mammals either wallowing on the beach, playing in the surf or sunning themselves on the rocks. With the hundreds of birds over head we both kept an eye on bird droppings as a few accidents happened to land in the boat but luckily not on anyone. Nevertheless we were both so engrossed in the seals and sea lions we might not have noticed. The sights we were seeing and the smells we were smelling were indescribable. I think it was made worse by the bellowing noise that the adult males were making which combined created a great nature atmosphere. To add to the excitement you would occasionally see a few little penguins mixed into the scenery. The penguins were so small and cute, they didn't make many sounds, they just waddled around and climbed over rocks or stood incredibly still like they were deep in thought.

I got so into taking pictures, at some points I had climbed onto the edge of the boat to get a better picture over the other tourists heads and I remember on one occasion I almost fell in. The trip was excellent and it knocked all our expectations out of the park. The second part of the tour was around a local national park.

Neither one of us were that up for this part of the tour, but it cost about £1.50 who could complain?and we were told we would see flamingos. Well it turns out it was the wrong time of year for them, but we was lots of other birds and the sea lions, seals and penguins from a different angles. We also saw were the earthquake had split the peninsula in half, as there were before and after picture taken. On our bus we made friends with this tiny little Peruvian boy who must have been 18 months. We played peek a boo and made faces. We were later asked by his parents if we could hold the little boy and they take a picture, because its seen as a wealth status for western white people to hold your babies! Because he was so cute in his massive Cusco hat we agreed and got a sneaky picture ourselves. The tours were really good and I would defiantly recommend it to anyone. Well off to Nasca now!