South of Lima about four hours by bus lies a small town on the Pacific called Paracas. While there’s not much to do in the town itself, Paracas warrants a day or two to tour their two main attractions: Isla Ballestas and the National Reserve. We spent one night in the city and signed up for a tour of each of the sites starting early the next morning.

We took a walk along the boardwalk and had fresh ceviche and scallops for lunch when we first arrived in Paracas.

Isla Ballestas

The first part of our tour was a boat ride out to Isla Ballestas, a small set of islands off the coast of Peru. While on the way out to the islands, we passed by a unique feature on the side of a rock called “The Candelabra.” This is a carving into the stone in the shape of a candelabra. Similar to what we would see in Nasca, this is a large carving approximately 600 feet tall and that can be seen from a boat or from the sky. Researchers have concluded that it was made by the Paracas people somewhere around 200BC, although nobody is sure why it was made.

The Candelabra, carved into stone and standing around 600 feet high, was created by the Paracas people around 200BC.

When our boat finally approached the islands, our guide provided commentary in both Spanish and English on the history of the islands, all the animals found on/around the islands, and the part they have played in Paracas’s history and present. We spent an hour slowly making our way around the islands, stopping frequently to look at penguins, sea lions, and sea birds that all make their home on the rocky land. This was our first time to see some of these animals in the wild (rather than in a zoo) and we were enthralled by the sights, sounds, and smells that we encountered.

A group of penguins just hanging out on the side of the rocky island.

Sea lions were seen lounging on rocks all around the islands as we floated past in our boat.

Paracas National Reserve

After returning to the mainland, we had a little bit of time to use the restroom and get a snack before our next tour of the National Reserve. The reserve encompasses both the land on the peninsula as well as some of the waters surrounding the coast. It is the oldest protected marine reserve in Peru, dating back to 1975. Our bus took us to a handful of different locations around the peninsula so that we could learn about the land and the Paracas culture.

Standing on one of the sand dunes overlooking the bay.

We first stopped at the Visitor’s Center to get an overview of the reserve and what we were about to see. Here, we learned that the name Paracas means “rains of sand” due to the wind and blowing sand over the peninsula. There have been fossils of marine life found from over 300 million years ago, showing a long history of life in the region. Humans have also lived in the area, but for a much shorter time period – only about 2,500 years.

Our tour guide explained a little bit about the peninsula and where we would be going on our tour.

After learning about the reserve, we drove around to a few of the lookout points situated around the peninsula. The first was a rock formation jutting out from the mainland called “The Cathedral.” It was named due to its resemblance to church spires, but unfortunately part of it collapsed in 2007 when an earthquake struck the coast of Peru. It’s still a pretty place to stop and look at the cliffs and ocean below, although it made us realize why they named Paracas “rains of sand” – it was really windy!

This is what remains of The Cathedral after the earthquake almost 10 years ago. And check out our hair – evidence of the wind!

Sand dunes make up a majority of the mainland and beaches dot the coast, so we drove around and stopped at a few other lookout points along the way. One of the beaches where we stopped was called Playa Roja, or The Red Beach. Named for the red volcanic ash that has eroded over time and formed the sand on the beach, it is a long stretch of beach at the base of a large sand dune. We viewed this beach both from the top of the sand dune looking down as well as on the ground level next to the waves.

Playa Roja beach – the waves would crash all the way to the small cliff we were standing on.

Adjacent to Playa Roja is a small fishing community called Lagunillas where we stopped for lunch. Fishing boats were docked in the bay and pelicans flew overhead trying to get a small snack from the leftovers on the boats. We both chose seafood for our lunches, of course, and the dishes did not disappoint in their freshness!

This was our view from lunch – a pelican after some fish, the fishing boats anchored in the bay, and sand dunes in the distance.

Once our tour was over, it was time to make our way back to the hostel to pack our bags and then get to the bus station for our next destination. While brief, we both enjoyed our time in Paracas and liked learning about the culture, landscape, animals, and history of the region.