Natural Arch
The Ballestas Islands, off the south coast of Peru, offer tremendous viewing opportunities, from the Humboldt penguin to birds such as blue-footed booby, guanay guano bird, and seals, sea lions and other mammals. Guano or bird dung is harvested for fertilizer on the islands.
In a small boat, one travels roughly 19 km from shore often through fog and mist but rarely rain. The islands are extremely dry and support little plant life. From a distance, the rock formations and arches appear surreal.
After a visit to Ballestas Islands in 2006, our return visit in 2007 was interrupted by an 8.0 Richter earthquake that caused massive destruction and the deaths of more than 500 local inhabitants. Several beautiful natural arches on the islands also collapsed. We were scheduled to be in a hotel that collapsed in Pisco the evening of the earthquake but had, miraculously, made a late switch in the itinerary, which placed us 10 hours away in Arequipa.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballestas_Islands
www.theguardian.com/world/2007/aug/17/naturaldisasters.tr...
Natural Arch
The Ballestas Islands, off the south coast of Peru, offer tremendous viewing opportunities, from the Humboldt penguin to birds such as blue-footed booby, guanay guano bird, and seals, sea lions and other mammals. Guano or bird dung is harvested for fertilizer on the islands.
In a small boat, one travels roughly 19 km from shore often through fog and mist but rarely rain. The islands are extremely dry and support little plant life. From a distance, the rock formations and arches appear surreal.
After a visit to Ballestas Islands in 2006, our return visit in 2007 was interrupted by an 8.0 Richter earthquake that caused massive destruction and the deaths of more than 500 local inhabitants. Several beautiful natural arches on the islands also collapsed. We were scheduled to be in a hotel that collapsed in Pisco the evening of the earthquake but had, miraculously, made a late switch in the itinerary, which placed us 10 hours away in Arequipa.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballestas_Islands
www.theguardian.com/world/2007/aug/17/naturaldisasters.tr...