Where have we been? Peru, South America

Where have we been?  Peru, South America. 

We took some time out of our exciting travels around the USA and visited Peru.  Peru is a third world country and as such was a real eye opener!   It has taken me a while to edit the over 3000 photos I took so there will be several chapters for Peru.

So, we flew out of Miami for Lima, Peru at 4:03 in the afternoon and arrived late the same evening.  Once through customs and the usual wait for luggage we met some of our other tour group members.  By now it is totally dark outside as we are shuttled into a bus and taken to our hotel. 

We had an early morning departure from Lima, by bus, along the Pan-American Highway to Pisco, Peru.

 

We passed through some beautiful scenery along the Pacific as shown above.  We also passed through several rural communities.  As I said earlier Peru is a third world country; given that, the lifestyle of the majority of the population is poor.  Many of the citizens have migrated down from the Andes Mountains to find a better life in the various cities.  No one in Peru is on any kind of government subsidies.  They do what they need to do to build homes, feed and clothe families, and basically survive.  Here are a few photos of homes along the bus route on the Pan-Am.

"Tuk-Tuks" in Pisco (little three wheel cabs)  To us: Taxicabs, cabbies and traffic!

These types of homes are visible throughout Peru. They are called ‘squatters’, but this is not a negative term in Peru as it is here in the states.  Instead, it represents the willingness of all the people to work hard, earn a living and better their positions as they go.  We’ll talk more about the wonderful people of Peru in all the chapters as I show you their beautiful country.

Once we arrived in Pisco we enjoyed a ‘Flight Over the Nazca Lines’.  If you have never heard of them, they are mysterious lines drawn on the mountain top rocks and can only be seen from the air.  The drawings are huge and are known as geoglyphs – drawings on the ground made by removing rocks and earth to create a “negative” image. The rocks which cover the desert have oxidized and weathered to a deep rust color, and when the top 12-15 inches of rock is removed, a light-colored, high contrasting sand is exposed. Because there’s so little rain, wind and erosion, the exposed designs have stayed largely intact for 500 to 2000 years.

Scientists believe that the majority of lines were made by the Nazca people who flourished from around A.D. 1 to 700. Certain areas of the pampa look like a well-used chalk board, with lines overlapping other lines, and designs cut through with straight lines of both ancient and more modern origin.

Have a look….

The Pilots

(Alcatraz) Heron Bird

(Astronauta) Astronaut

(Trapezoide) Trapezoid

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top L (Arana) Spider Top R ((Mono) Monkey Bottom L (Loro) Parrot Bottom R (Ballena) Whale

Top (Arbol) Tree and Bottom (Mano's) Hands

Top (Colibri) Hummingbird and Bottom Condor

Andes Mountains on the return flight from the Nazca Lines

Landing

The Cessna we flew in to see the lines

The rest of the day was spent at the Paracas National Reserve.  The Reserve was created in 1975 and covers 800,000 acres.  It boarders the Pacific and has beautiful sand beaches as well as rocky formations.  The sand is truly amazing as some is brown, some red, some gray and some is golden in color.  The sweeping vistas are awesome!

The various colors of the sand created stunning views.

 

 

 

Even here there are ancient relics! Top: A piece of driftwood that appears to have eyes, mouth and nose creating a face.  However, on the picture on the bottom right you can see the fossil of a sea shell, which you can see below the right eye on the top picture.  On the bottom left is a fossil of another type of shell.

  Next we went by boat to tour the Ballestas Islands.  “Paracas” is a synonym for sea, winds and nature.  The Ballestas Islands are off the coast near the Paracas National Reserve and is the home of sea lions, penguins and thousands of birds.  The bird droppings(guano) are actually a consumer product in Peru.  The Islands are left totally alone for the most part.  On a regular schedule of every 7 years the park staff goes onto the islands and collects the guano.  This is processed and sold as fertilizer not only to the locals but also as an export.    We were glad we did not have that job!  Instead we just enjoyed the beautiful views and the amazing wild life.  See for yourself……

Fishing boats in the small town where we boarded our boat to the Islands

 

 

The Ballestas Islands are made up of rock, sand and the Pacific

 

Pelicans

 Cormorants

Blue footed Boobies in flight

'Candelabro', as seen above, which translated means The Candlestick, is an enormous and mysterious geoglyph carved in the sands and measures 55 meters.

This Pelican is so graceful in flight!

Dolphins played in the water



There were many caves and bridges along the shores include this one and others you will see in some pics below.

These little guys are Humboldt Penguins

Peruvian Blue Footed Boobies

Red Headed Vulture

The Islands are literally covered with birds!!

All those black dots on the sand above this cave are birds!!



The fishing boats of Pisco - but obviously the birds love them too!

Pacific treasures

Look close - you can actually see the blue feet of these Boobies

The dog pack!! Actually these are Sea Lions and when they cry out they sound like a wolf-pack.  Isn't the sleeping baby adorable!

This is the sea lion choir!

On the way to our hotel we saw
this parasailer

 

 

At the end of the day we stayed in a lovely resort in Paracas.

 

Watch for the next chapter coming soon☺

Jan 🌷🌷🐾🐾