We docked here shortly after 7:00 am. Very sunny and 73F this morning. Not sure why they call this port of call Pisco as only one of the tours went there.
Historical/Background Info:
Pisco is one of several tranquil, sleepy villages along the Peruvian coast. It is the largest Peruvian port south of Lima. The Spanish founded Pisco in 1640 and considered making it the capital instead of Lima because of its ease of access and its crossroads to the Andes. Pisco originally prospered and is best known today for its nearby vineyards which produce a grape brandy which is called Pisco. It is powerful stuff as has to be between 38 to 48% alcohol. I bought a bottle of it here in 2012 as the bottle was very interesting looking. We have not drank the Pisco however. I will be having some Pisco sours at bar tonight!! After seeing my photos of the desert you wonder how grapes are grown. Well, further inland there is a river which is used to irrigate the grapes. Tourists also come here to visit the Paracas National Preserve just south of the city. It is a huge mainland preserve with a collection of offshore islands. The islands are off-limits to people but boat tours can get close to them. Many species of birds can be found here, as well as sea lions, turtles, penguins, dolphins, and whales. I will be touring this protected sanctuary today. Hopefully, I can get some good wildlife photos for you.
The climate here, they say, is a “mild desert climate”. I would call it very mild as the average maximum temperature is only 75F. We are here during what they say is the hottest month (February) with high temp of 82F. I guess what makes it desert-like is it only gets an average yearly rainfall of 6 hundredths of an inch of rain. Folks that is about a good dew in US Once again, as with most of the west coast of South America, this is due to Humboldt Current of Pacific Ocean. In 2007 they had an 8.0 earthquake that destroyed 80% of the city and killed hundreds of people.
What We Did Today:
In 2012 we did the tour that showed how the liquor, Pisco, was made. Pisco Sour. My three hour tour this morning (Rebecca did not go) was too see "The Paracas National Reserve". The coastal area of southern Peru and northern Chile is a desert. Paracas National Reserve was established in 1975 and includes marine life, the desert, and protects some prehistoric sites of the Paracas culture from 200 BC.
Our bus departed the port of San Martin. Salt is exported from this port. It is shipped to the US and Canada for ice and snow removal. About 10 miles from the port there are drying lakes where the salty ocean water is evaporated and salt hauled to the port on trucks.
The tour bus was very nice.
We stopped at Playa Roja to see the red beach area. No one can swim here in park.
The hills and mounds in all of today's photos are NOT sand dunes. There are 3 basic colors of the landscape: The reddish color comes from small grains (a little smaller than rock salt's size) of iron oxide. It is in streaks over the yellow clay layer. These are the two main colors. Under the clay is calcium sulfate which is hard like rock. There is also some areas of a faint greenish color. This is from mico vegetation growing. As it does not rain here, there are no plants at all. The mico organisms get what little water they need from the ocean air that is constantly blowing in off the water. I tried wearing a hat today but the wind kept blowing it off.
We stopped at this visitors center and small museum explaining the desert and marine life.
Here you can see the streaks of red iron oxide over the yellow clay.
Broken sea shells showing that millions of years ago this was under the ocean.
Better view of the iron oxide pebbles.
Fossils of snails embedded in the clay again indicating this area was ocean bottom at one point.
The road bed is black from the rubber from tires traveling over it.
This is a new road and you can see it is not black originally.
Our next stop was to view the "Cathedral"
This guy rode it bike with ice cream in cooler all the way out here.
This is a photo taken prior to the big earthquake of 2007 of The Cathedral.
This is my photo of The Cathedral taken today of what is left of it.
Black beach. Again no one allowed down there.
You can barely see some fog moving over the distant hill. Formed from the cool, moist ocean air blowing over the warmer land. As we stood near the ocean the wind blowing in was quite cool. But walk a short distance away and it was warm. The Humboldt Current is a cold ocean current flowing up along the coast of Chile and Peru. It is responsible for the most arid desert in the world located in northern Chile. What I saw today was part of that same desert.
On drive back to ship I saw some greenish colors that I did not see earlier.
Band tailed gull
Black skimmer
The bird has folded its wings and is beginning its dive.
Just prior to the bird hitting the water.
We are sailing at 4:00 pm today. Tonight is the Captain's Welcome Aboard Reception from 6:00 to 6:45. Dress tonight is formal optional so I will be doing my James Bond imitation again. We have been invited to dine at the Captain's table. In the theater for the 9:30 show is Steve Jo, a comedian. We have never seen this guy.
*****Click on photos to enlarge them. Sorry the subject matter is kind of boring today.
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