BALLASTAS ISLAND and SAND BUGGYING

It was Claires birthday today and we had a fantastic day! It all started with a trip to the Ballastas Islands which are famous for the extensive birdlife (and droppings) and sealion colonies. The sealions travel in harems and the biggest male out there is called Mike Tyson.

We visited at a good time of year - there were lots of calves as well as full grown adults. The islands are harvested for birddroppings once every 7 years. This is a huge export market for the country as it is sold to Spain and Italy for garden fertilizer. The island has been the centre of a war between Peru and Chile over the rights to harvest the bird droppings. There were pictures in the sand on the islans on the way out. It is unsure the origin of these but it is not thought to be linked to the Nazca lines.




We then drove to a desert oasis which was the base for sandbuggying and sandboarding. This was sooo much fun! It was about 45 degrees outside but we were going so fast in the buggies it didnt matter. They went over huge dunes, with big drops and we got air a number of times. A few times there we felt like we were actually free falling. They were also the perfect vehicle to drive us to the top of really step sand dunes which we then slid down on snow boards.

Then it was off to Nazca in old American cars, a late night swim in the pool and birthday cake.