Lunch at Paracas Beach

My submission for one of those "Life Is a Beach" posters

I was the only one on my trip down from Lima and into the Cessna who was doing this as a day trip.  Everyone else was staying over night in the city of Paracas to take a boat trip to Ballestras Islands, which are islands best known for being covered in bird poop.  I am deadly serious.  The "guano," as they politely call it, from the Ballestras was once the world's most valuable fertilizer.

Not my scene.

So I had an hour to kill in Paracas.  Time for lunch at the beach.

Paracas looks like every beach town everywhere.

So let's race off to the beach.  It will make us happy.

And this is the beach:

I'm guessing that the greenery is some sort of seaweed that the gentleman is harvesting:

Boats:

Now to the lunch spot, the Punto Paracas:

For a ceviche mixto, heavy on the octopus:

Why did I choose this beachfront eatery among all the others?

It had a penguin statue in front.

Reason enough.

The boardwalk (which I guess they call "malecon" in Latin American beach towns) has a few marine life statues.  Such as the sea lion:

Kodak photo spot(TM):

And a dolphin.

The hour was just about up.

Photo-snapping time is over.

This beach has gone to the dogs: