Las Islas Ballestas

This was definitely the highlight of my trip to Paracas.





Las Islas Ballestas are a short boat ride from Paracas.



The islands are covered with hundreds of thousands of birds, and surrounded by dolphins and sea lions (or 'sea wolves,' in Spanish).















They still mine guano from the island, coming back every 7 years to scrape the guano off for Peruvian farmers, before leaving again.





There are a few penguins here, but we didn't see very many:



There were lots of pelicans though, just outside of Paracas:



There are also some geoglyphs in the stone near here (though they just look like lines in the sand, these are hundreds of years old).



This was a great morning; I'd definitely recommend this trip, if you're ever in the area!