Friday June 10

I took a boat tour to the Ballestas Islands this morning. The fog is still with us. It doesn't affect the vision as much as makes everything look grey.

The islands are in the Humbold stream which delivers very rich ocean water. This attracts thousands of birds, seal, penguins, and sea lions. The biggest attraction are the birds that nest here, literally thousands and thousands. Before the islands were discovered by the natives the guano (bird droppings) were 30 meters deep. Every year it grows by 2 m. That's a lot of goano!! It has been harvested for many years, because it is a great organic fertilizer.
The scenery is very rugged, and the ride is a bit of a thrill.., lots of bumps and spray. I was happy I wore a rain jacket.
After the tour I continued my journey south to Nasca. Nothing but desert, although we started to see small mountains as we turned inland. I finally saw sun, by the time I got to Nasca it was beautiful.
Nasca reminded me a lot of rural Mexico, not very clean, not very attractive.
I did find a place to buy postcards. The lady also sold me stamps. They were not self-stick. She had to put glue on each one, and stick it on the card.
The bus ride down was great. Complimentary coffee, and the bus had Wi-fi. It was interesting reading the Hamilton Spec, while traveling through a Peruvian desert.
My hotel room was very nice, clean and large.