First we stop at the Puerto Viejo marshes. From the road this looks like an unlikely place to find much, as there are some dilapidated houses around. However, we get out and find some boardwalks leading through the rushes and to an observation platform. We see many waterbirds from here, including the amazing Great Grebe, with babies on their backs. Peruvian Meadowlarks astounded us with their bright red breasts and enchanting song. And the beautiful "Siete Colores," the Many-colored Rush-Tyrant.

At last we arrive at our hotel, the ever-so-fancy Hotel Paracas. Right away we meet a new friend, Richard, who has a pair of binoculars around his neck. He and his wife Elda are vacationing from Mexico City. They have also been to Machu Picchu and are birding the whole way. It is nice to meet other do-it-yourselfers for this part of the journey.

We decide to have dinner at the hotel, which turns out to be not the best and way overpriced. We ask at the front desk about what there is to see here and are told that we are all lined up to go on a boat tour to the Ballestas Islands in the morning followed by a trip to Paracas Reserve in the afternoon. It's all part of our package.

We have breakfast at the hotel in the morning. Again, not our favorite. A tour bus comes to pick us up and takes us to the boats at the harbor of Pisco. A woman from our boat finds us and tells us to stand with the others gathering for our tour to the islands. We take some photos of the Peruvian Pelicans while we wait. Off we go on the boat headed for the Ballestas Islands, out to see candelabra etched in the hillside. Nobody knows if this dates back hundreds of years or only back to the days of pirates who used these coasts.

Many wonderful water birds live out here. The Inca Tern becomes an instant favorite because of his elegant white feather accents. A highlight of the trip are the islands on which hundreds of thousands of Peruvian Boobies nest. We see great curving lines of them commuting to their fishing grounds. They fish by plunging into the water, folding their wings in the last second to become a piercing arrow. Julia sees her first penguins, the cute waddly Humboldt Penguins. On a beach on the back of the island, we see hundreds of seals sleeping in the sun. On the rocks and in the water we see the colorful red-faced Guanay Cormorant.

No sooner do we get off the boat, than we are herded onto a bus, which will take us to the Reserve. We negotiate a quick stop at our hotel to get our spotting scope on the way. This is the most desolate landscape we have ever seen. There is not one single plant growing anywhere. On the way into the reserve we see a hundred Chilean Flamingos. As our bus driver seems to have a problem with the officials, we use the time to look at the Flamingos with our scope. It's not the best view, but we hope for better later. When the bus arrives at our destination, we are hit with the gustiest windstorm!! It is a struggle to stand up in all this wind, let alone walk in it. But walk in it we do, down some steps to the beach. These are the famous Paracas winds, which usually hit in August and September. We are afraid that our optics will get sandblasted, and we put them away. The busload of passengers makes their way to the water's edge. There is a tunnel that has been carved out by the surf, which we all make our way through. Andy is a star when he sets up the scope on some Guanay Cormorants on the rocks. Then we all set off back toward the bus with the wind blowing stronger than ever now. It's really a struggle making our way back up the hill. We drive to another windblown lookout point and take some photos, admire the view and quickly hop back onboard. Now the driver takes us to a cove where there are several little restaurants and tells us to go have some lunch. We have brought our own picnic as we stopped at the fruit stands on the waterfront and bought some goodies. And who should we meet there.....but Richard and Elda! They invite us to finish the tour of the reserve with them in their rental car, which we happily agree to. We inform our bus guide that we are bailing, and finish our lunch watching the Humboldt Penguins and Peruvian Pelicans up close. Off we go to find a potty and we make friends with a little boy named Luis whose mama runs the toilet concession. He shows us his family's little boat and has quite a conversation with Andy in Spanish. We purchase a few packages of Casino Menta cookies, as our stash is running low. And off we go with our friends from the hotel. We make a stop to study some shorebirds nearby, including our lifer Surfbirds. The wind is so strong that it knocks over our scope!! Richard suggests we go to look for the Chilean Flamingos to get a better look than we have had. However, the sandstorm is getting thicker, and as we approach the bay, all we get is a very hazy view of the flock. We give up on Paracas Reserve and head over to a beach in Pisco where Richard has had some luck on previous days. We see a few nice birds, but mainly it's fun spending this time with our new friends. Some of the time, Julia and Elda are happy out of the wind chatting in the shelter of the car, while Andy and Richard bushwhack their way to where they think the birds are hiding. They have a tough time getting close to a flock of small birds, who keep flying away when they get close. They turn out to be Grassland Yellow-Finches. We manage to show them the Peruvian Meadowlark that we liked so much on our way here.

Back to the hotel and a rest and clean-up before dinner. This hotel has the plumpest pillows of anywhere we've ever been.