Paracas and the Ballestas Islands
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The Chesapeake Semester team didn’t stay in Lima long. The team was up before day-break and on the road heading south to UPHC-CSA’s biological research station at the Guano Reserve in Punta San Juan. Before arriving they would stop in the town of Paracas to visit the Ballestas islands—one of the many guano islands that dot Peru’s coast—as well as an anchoveta reduction factory to learn more about the commercial harvest and processing of the 4 inch fish.
The coast of Peru south from Lima lies within the Andes rain shadow, creating a barren landscape. Temporary poultry sheds can be seen in the distance.
Mike Hardesty ’05
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On their second day in Peru, students enrolled in the Chesapeake Semester boarded a bus and headed south along the coast to Paracas and the Marine-protected Ballestas Islands. They saw the abundance of Peru’s guano birds for the first time. The concentration of guano spurred the Peruvian economic engine of guano (fertilizer) export to First World countries up until the turn of the 20th century. Today the guano harvest has dramatically decreased and is heavily regulated by the Peruvian government. Despite the decades that have elapsed since the guano glut, the method of harvest has made little advancement. Labor is still supplied from the same two remote Andean villages that have supplied labor for generations. Under the government’s supervision and scientific management these workers migrate seasonally up and down the coast selecting harvests sites based upon guano volume, bird migration, and nesting habits for less impactful mining. -
Traversing Peru from West to East: The Chesapeake Semester team has gone from the desert coast at Punta San Juan by bus to the Upper Andes in Cusco by plane, to the Cloud Forests of Machu Picchu by train and foot. Now they arrive by plane and boat to the Amazonian jungles of Tambopata National Reserve for a three night stay. -
Students in the Chesapeake Semester took a sunset cruise on the Skipjack Martha Lewis with special guest Michael Helfrich, the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper, who discussed challenges facing the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
