Bird Poop Pays Off National Debt

September 30, 2011

(No internet access so it's being published a little bit late...)

Safe in our life vests. The boats were actually quite nice.

This morning started early with a boat trip around the Islas Ballestos—the poor man’s Galapagos, as they’re sometimes referred to. The three islands off the Coast of Ica, a city in Pisco, are home to thousands and thousands of birds including the endangered Humbolt penguin, the endangered Piquero Peruano (I don’t remember the English translation), and Peruvian boobies. It’s also a great place to see sea lions—one male to every seven or eight females, by the way.

The Candelabra of the Andes, a 600 foot geoglyph etched into the side of a hill at Pisco Bay  

Las Islas Balletas

The male sea lion

Some of his females

Humbolt Penguins

In addition to their beauty, these islands play an important part in the economy of Peru. Every 5-7 years, people come to the island to collect guano, the nitrate-rich bird poop. This is used as fertilizer, and evidently it’s quite a good one. Currently it is exported to Italy, Spain, and other European countries. In the mid-19^th century, guano was actually used to pay off Peru’s national debt.

The birds and their guano

Men gathering guano

After our island excursion and  a couple hours’ drive south, we found ourselves surrounded by sand dunes in the city of Huacachina. (Peru has many dunes and is home to the largest sand dune in the world, a sand mountain measuring 1176 m high, 3 km wide, and 9 km long.) In Huacachina we had the opportunity to ride in a dune buggy and sandboard down the dunes.

Buggies and drivers

I hope I don't get left here!

The dune buggy ride was a little like a rollercoaster zooming up and down sand hills but without the security of knowing the ride had been tested for safety. I had an outside seat and kept thinking to myself where I should hold on so as to not lose my hands if the buggy tipped over. Fortunately, it stayed upright. It was also a little disconcerting as after we passed the first hill, all you could see in any direction was sand. I felt a little like I was in a Star Wars movie. Sandboarding was another experience. Those of the group who knew how to snowboard or surf strapped the board to their feet. The rest of us used the boards like sleds and rode down on our stomachs. A fellow traveler took some video that I’ll share later, though it really doesn’t do the hills justice.

Sand in all directions

The group

Getting ready to sandboard

My shoes after the adventure

The rest of the afternoon was spent enjoying the pool, and then that evening we traveled on to Nazca by van. A semi had overturned earlier that morning along the highway and the road nearby the accident was still closed by the time we reached it. This meant a couple extra hours in the van and that it was dark by the time we reached the tower to see the Nazca lines, so we skipped it. But I'll write more about that later.