Paracas

This is Spring Break.  Yes, I know, but we are in the Southern Hemisphere!  Sarah's graduating class decided for their Senior Trip to go to Salinas, Ecuador. Sarah decided that she'd rather go on a family vacation somewhere in Peru, so she chose Paracas, an 11-hour drive up the coast from Arequipa where there is a nature reserve that one can visit on boats and see the birds and sea lions.  Lots of birds.  They look like they are computer generated on the hillside darkened by several thousands of cormorants and boobies.  In the 1840s, Peru's economy thrived by exporting guano mined from these islands where it accumulated meters deep due to the lack of rainfall.  There used to be 10 times as many birds, but they say the fish populations have decreased and the bird populations and guano production have gone with it.  The islands have old rusting infrastructure from the glory days of guano that look like the inspiration for the video game Myst.