Paracas, Ballestas Islands, and Huacachina

We departed Lima before sunrise and headed towards Paracas, our first stop on our bus adventure through Peru. Paracas is a super sleepy little fisherman town on the coast. For the most part, the entire town was empty. We stumbled upon a small restaurant where the owner was the host, waiter, and chef. We couldn’t read the menu but we had heard that we must try Lomo Saltado while in Peru so we ordered two and patiently waited to see what we would get. It was a great decision! We found out that Lomo Saltado is sautéed onion, tomato, and beef placed on top of a huge pile of fries. Umm yes please.

In the morning, we boarded a small boat and headed to Isla Ballestas (Ballestas Islands). These islands are often referred to as “the poor man’s Galapagos”. Perfect for this trip! It was quite chilly but we bundled up and headed out. The islands were filled with thousands of pelicans and other sea birds. I couldn’t believe how many there actually were, and that I didn’t get pooped on. We also spotted Humbolt penguins which were teeny tiny and adorable, as well as lots of sea lions. It was a really fun trip!

We made a quick detour to Paracas National Reserve to take in the scenery then made our way to Huacachina for dune buggies and sand boarding. Huacachina is a small oasis surrounded by an even smaller town in the middle of large sand dunes. As soon as we arrived, we hopped on a dune buggy and headed up the dunes. After speeding through the dunes and nearly getting whip lash, our driver stopped so we could do some sand boarding. He did not speak any English and when he showed which dune we were supposed to ride down, I thought for sure he was just a crazy man trying to kill us. He handed us boards and pointed at Frank to go first. Phew! Not me. Much to our surprise, it wasn’t scary at all and it was actually a lot of fun! We tried a few larger dunes then drove to a nice spot overlooking Huacachina for sunset.