So we were lucky enough to be esocrted by a wonderful friend (the nurse at the health center in Sicchez) to her home town of Pisco and also to Ica. True to form, her humble family generously accepted us into their home and treated us like long lost children. We went to the annual grape festival in Ica, and toured the protected ares of the Islas Ballestas and Paracas. Good times!
The river Pisco with farms all around.
Ahhhh, the Ica grape. They are deeeelicious! THe gal is our friend from Sicchez (well, she´s from Ica but works as a nurse in Sicchez). We´re sitting near her family´s farm outside of Pisco.
Brian with our friend from Sicchez and her parents. Although they´ve lived 20 minutes from the protected area for over 20 years, they had never seen it before. We were delighted to take them!
Can you see the drawing? Nobody knows who or when, or even what it is. Kind of like the Nazca lines, drawn in the rock at a very large scale.
The Islas Ballestas from afar. The white stuff is ¨guano¨ (bird poop) from the hundreds of year-round bird species that live there. Man has fought wars over this guano. Currently, the Peruvian government controls the extraction of this sought-after fertilizer. Every seven years they harvest it and export it, leavng local farmers to pay outrageous prices for the then re-processed product to re-enter the country as crop-ready fertilizer. Sound familiar? Petroleum, peanuts, minerals... Peru is like the bread basket of the world, exporting a large variety of raw goods for cheap, only to have to buy the processed and imported products at inflated prices.
The peninsula of Paracas is a National Reserve. There is practically no vegetation for 11 months of the year. Paracas receives 2mm of rain anually. But ironically the ocean is the equivalent of a rain forest, extremely rich in sea life (hence the islands). It´s all due to the Humbolt Current that comes up from Antarctica. Cold and rich in plankton, the entire food chain follows it here. The cold water means that practically none of it evaporates, which is why all along the western coast of South America from Ecuador to Northern Chile you find one of the driest deserts in the world.
A red sand beach produced by the red rock cliff in the background of this picture. The currents take the pebbles and deposit them here.
Sand dunes 5 min. outside of Ica. They extend for miles and miles to the sea. You can hike, sandboard, etc. It´s a beautiful desert.
The river Pisco with farms all around.
Ahhhh, the Ica grape. They are deeeelicious! THe gal is our friend from Sicchez (well, she´s from Ica but works as a nurse in Sicchez). We´re sitting near her family´s farm outside of Pisco.
Brian with our friend from Sicchez and her parents. Although they´ve lived 20 minutes from the protected area for over 20 years, they had never seen it before. We were delighted to take them!
Can you see the drawing? Nobody knows who or when, or even what it is. Kind of like the Nazca lines, drawn in the rock at a very large scale.
The Islas Ballestas from afar. The white stuff is ¨guano¨ (bird poop) from the hundreds of year-round bird species that live there. Man has fought wars over this guano. Currently, the Peruvian government controls the extraction of this sought-after fertilizer. Every seven years they harvest it and export it, leavng local farmers to pay outrageous prices for the then re-processed product to re-enter the country as crop-ready fertilizer. Sound familiar? Petroleum, peanuts, minerals... Peru is like the bread basket of the world, exporting a large variety of raw goods for cheap, only to have to buy the processed and imported products at inflated prices. 
The peninsula of Paracas is a National Reserve. There is practically no vegetation for 11 months of the year. Paracas receives 2mm of rain anually. But ironically the ocean is the equivalent of a rain forest, extremely rich in sea life (hence the islands). It´s all due to the Humbolt Current that comes up from Antarctica. Cold and rich in plankton, the entire food chain follows it here. The cold water means that practically none of it evaporates, which is why all along the western coast of South America from Ecuador to Northern Chile you find one of the driest deserts in the world.
A red sand beach produced by the red rock cliff in the background of this picture. The currents take the pebbles and deposit them here.
Sand dunes 5 min. outside of Ica. They extend for miles and miles to the sea. You can hike, sandboard, etc. It´s a beautiful desert.
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