Guano War (part the second)
We slept cozily in our thrifty hostel throughout the night. At 7:45, we took a taxi to Paracas, and from there we caught a boat out to Islas Ballestas, also known as the "poor mans galapagos". Through good fortune, we were on a boat equipped with twin 80 horse-power motors, and so made it out to the islands in good time.
The islands, rising up out of the blue pacific, are populated by an astonishing amount and variety of biodiversity for their size. We were able to sight sea lions, copious quantities of cormarants, a few penguins, and many other types of birds as well. In the 1800's, the islands attracted an ingenious but somewhat hardened band of entrepreneurs, who began to export the droppings of the "guano", the resident avian fertilizer producers. Their production was extraordinary, as in places before the beginning of exportation, the guano dung was 50 meters deep! Guano dung came to be valued very highly, as it's fertilization capabilities tickled the fancy of colonial (and european) gardeners. As it's value became increasingly apparent, Spain tangled with other countries in what became known as the "Guano War", which was short, probably violent, and somewhat incongruously, fought over bird poop. Guano mining began to take it's toll on the wildlife; but thankfully, the depletion of the Guano reserves coincided with the development of nitrogen fertilizers, and the business slowly dwindled and then died, leaving the prolific Guano to replenish the islands store of treasure.
After circumnavigating the islands, we made our way back to Paracas. In Paracas, we caught a bus that took us throughout the national park of Paracas, stopping for lunch by a tiny beach. We continued on until 3:00 P.M., when, the tour being over, we caught a bus back to Pisco. We took a bus from Pisco to Lima, where Willie Matthews met us at the bus, and took us to their beautiful home in suburbia.
The islands, rising up out of the blue pacific, are populated by an astonishing amount and variety of biodiversity for their size. We were able to sight sea lions, copious quantities of cormarants, a few penguins, and many other types of birds as well. In the 1800's, the islands attracted an ingenious but somewhat hardened band of entrepreneurs, who began to export the droppings of the "guano", the resident avian fertilizer producers. Their production was extraordinary, as in places before the beginning of exportation, the guano dung was 50 meters deep! Guano dung came to be valued very highly, as it's fertilization capabilities tickled the fancy of colonial (and european) gardeners. As it's value became increasingly apparent, Spain tangled with other countries in what became known as the "Guano War", which was short, probably violent, and somewhat incongruously, fought over bird poop. Guano mining began to take it's toll on the wildlife; but thankfully, the depletion of the Guano reserves coincided with the development of nitrogen fertilizers, and the business slowly dwindled and then died, leaving the prolific Guano to replenish the islands store of treasure.
After circumnavigating the islands, we made our way back to Paracas. In Paracas, we caught a bus that took us throughout the national park of Paracas, stopping for lunch by a tiny beach. We continued on until 3:00 P.M., when, the tour being over, we caught a bus back to Pisco. We took a bus from Pisco to Lima, where Willie Matthews met us at the bus, and took us to their beautiful home in suburbia.
posted by Jonas at 5:37 PM
2 Comments:
Thanks for this history lesson. I thought this post would describe you chucking bird dung at Ans. I probably would have. But you've aways been better at PR then me...
Thanks for the update and taking the time to chat with me last night.
Hey John Nice talking to ya this eve! Sounds like you are having all kinds of good times down there...Hope it continues as well!
ttyl,
Jonathan
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