If you’re doing the boat ride to Islas Ballestas to see the birds, that is not necessarily the highlight of your day. What comes next is grander, more spectacular, and quite outside your scope of imagination, even if you have seen pictures of it. The Paracas National Reserve. The desertscape set between the Andes on the east and the Pacific Ocean on the west. 

The vast, tree-less landscape is surreal and impressive. Whether you stoop down to investigate the bones of creatures embedded in the earth, or raise your head to take in the big picture.