Lagunas de Mejia, Peru

Today finds us at our last port of call in Peru.  We are docked in Metarani, another industrial port more used to cargo ships than cruise liners. 

We boarded a small bus and drove for about an hour to a wildlife preserve called Lagunas de Majia, which is a series of lagoons and grasslands bordering the pounding surf of the Pacific ocean.  Here, many different kinds of birds and animals come to breed and live.  Thousands of sea birds were congregated together on the fine black sand of the beach, and then suddenly they decided to become airborne -- such an amazing sight!

The drive to the Lagunas involved a lot of steep hairpin bends (with very few guard rails!), speeding cars, enormous trucks which all seemed to have signage warning us of their extremely flammable cargo, and buzzing motorcycles.  Also there were many crosses beside the road ... not very confidence-building, especially as our driver (a) fancied himself quite the Mario Andretti, and (b) drove the whole time with a hard hat firmly stuck on his head!