This morning we hit the road early for the trip south to Nazca along the Pan-American Highway. With stops it will take about 9 hours. Our first surprise was our transport, we have a 30 seat mini coach to ourselves. Segundo, our driver, is a happy chap who just takes the traffic in his stride, meanwhile we’re still trying to get used to being on the wrong side of the road.
Our ride for the day..
As we head out of Lima the country side is changing. We leave the urban landscape behind and enter the lunar like desert that stretches down towards Chile. Its a stark inhospitable looking scene, endless dunes and rugged hills punctuated by sections of green where a small valley provides relief. The non-rain of Peru has been with us all the way this morning, constant light drizzle that seems to add to the bleakness.
The plan later today is to arrange flights over the Nazca Lines, just have to hope the cloud lifts by the time we get there. As we’re travelling the quality of the road is amazing, our road crews could learn a thing or two. Well paved, smooth and really well signed, even if the signs are in Spanish and we can’t understand them. The drizzle has stayed with us and at times become quite heavy showing one issue with the roads, a lack of drainage.
Along the road side are countless bodegas and stalls, seems hard to believe that they can all make money. There is also a huge mix of housing from luxury condos to mud shacks, but all with the constant lack of garden. Despite the drizzle its just too dry for a garden,water is too valuable to waste.
As we carry on south we pass through Chincha, a regional town sering the local farmers. The area grows corn and cotton, Peruvian cotton is apparently some of the best in the world due to the cool dry microclimate of the region. The drizzle has also stopped and a brilliant blue sky has appeared.
Next stop on our journey is Ica, where we have lunch. We stop at a supermarket and eat in the food court. It’s a self serve buffet type setup and you pay by weight. The food is tasty and cheap, lunch for two witha drink us 30 Sole, about $8. We also buy some apples, they’re the deepest red I’ve ever seen.
We’re about 3 hours from Nazca now.
The landscape is now completely barren, nothing but sand and rock as far as the eye can see. Oh apart from the odd shack that just appears from nowhere. Also every now and then people are working on the side of the road, no idea where they came from.
Well we’ve made it to Nazca and are about to go flying… ok, so hopefully you can tell I’ve been adding to this today as we’ve traveled. Helen and I are are just back from our flight over the Nazca Lines, the photos just dont do it justice.. we had been a warned that what the eye saw the camera would miss and that is just so true. It was amazing to see these ancient symbols from the air, when we get home I’ll try to sift the photos better and add some images..
What an awesome day, and we’ve still got dinner in Nazca tonight to come.