Into the Andes, and Arequipa

On the road, southern Peru.

While I would have enjoyed another day in Paracas, I had to go, many miles ahead of me, both horizontal and vertical, before I could get out of Peru and into Chile. There were a few places I hoped to visit as I headed south out of Peru. I felt like I had already been in Peru for too long, and my attitude was terrible. I did want to see Lake Titicaca, so the route was easy to plan. After leaving Paracas, I headed back down the PanAmerican Sur, south through Ica and the Peruvian wine country, and into Nasca. I would then head along the coast to Camana before heading inland, and up, to Arequipa and eventually Lake Titicaca. The climb from sea level to Titicaca would be over 12,000 feet, the first real test for my van. 

I made pretty good time to Nasca, with a quick stop at the oasis of Huacachina just outside of Ica. What a crazy little place, just nuts, packed with tourists, dune buggies, even "snow boards", plus many bars, shops and restaurants all surrounding a small lake, the oasis. I stopped for a beer, wandered around, watched the crazy dune buggies, huge things, hauling tourists by the hundreds up, down, all over the dunes. I guess you can also use snow boards and ride down the dunes as well. I had no time, or interest, place was just crazy.

The road to Nasca was fine, desert, some ups and downs, and always, lots of trucks. I stopped to climb a tower to check out some of the famous Nasca lines left by an ancient civilization, or aliens, no time or money to take a flight in a small plane. Found a great little hotel in Nasca, right off the main plaza (Plaza de Armas, every town in Peru has one), and with great offstreet parking for my van in a courtyard behind the hotel; they even game me a room overlooking the parking area. To bed early as another long day on the road to follow, and it turned out to be one of the most challenging days on the road I would experience for many weeks.

Next morning, on the road early, another day with nothing but blue skies, though was really windy early. At first, great road down to the coast, even with the wind, made good time. But once I hit the coast, that nice little drive along the beach I had hoped for based on the map vanished, and a crazy, and very scary drive ensued. The road was just nuts, carved out of the huge bluffs, mountains really, that came down to the edge of the Pacific, often with shear drops which had to be over a 1000 feet. The road curved around the edge of these bluffs, up and down, scary switch-backs, and downhills, and always, trucks and buses everywhere. And when you throw in some wind, it was brutal, I had no fun at all. By the time I got to Camana, I was crushed. Struggled a bit finding a place with secure parking, ending up in a little beach "resort" just down the highway from the center of town, area ironically called La Punta. Ended up in a hospejeda, total dive, but cheap, and with a big gate, locked, to keep my van safe for the night. I had to beg for a town and even toilet paper. I think place only cost me about US$10, and I was so tired after the brutal drive, I really did not care, as long as my van was safe.

The next day, the theme for the day became quickly obvious, all about climbing, and climbing,  up to Arequipa, from sea level to 7,710 feet (2,350 m) in elevation. Was nice to see mountains again, the Andes, and volcanoes, and chew some more coca leaves of course. The road was good, often even straight, even if it always seemed to be going up. And, experienced a first along the way, along a perfectly straight stretch of road, on another beautiful day, saw my first dead body along the road, covered in a sheet, but still, a first. There had been a recent accident, small SUV, driver side totally crushed in and vehicle thrown off the road a few meters, Policia National all over the place, and there by the SUV was obviously the body of the driver covered with a white sheet. Looks like another monument will be constructed soon. One (of many) interesting things about Peru, and Chile as well, is that they build little monuments at the site of traffic fatalities along the road, and, there are lots of them, even on perferctly straight stretchs of road like the road I drove and saw my first dead body. I think they are always in a hurry, pull out to pass a truck or bus, then they get creamed by an oncoming truck or bus. There are monuments along every climb, and downhill, along every straight stretch of road, and sometimes more than one on obviously dangerous curves, and extreme drop-offs. At first, kind of bothered me, but guess after so many miles and miles of driving, you get used to it, though is amazing how large and extensive some of the monuments are. And there are very sad monuments as well, like the ones with two large crosses, and three small crosses, the site where a family of five all lost their lives in an accident. Sad. But I survived, van climbed like a mountain goat (well, .......), and I made it to Arequipa without incident. Was another long day, but the scenery was often amazing, the high desert can be beautiful, even if just a thousand shades of tan and brown. And when you throw in the mountains and volcanoes, very nice, even if the roadside is lined with blue, white, and red monuments, all with crosses, and flowers, and other decorations. I was finally starting to enjoy myself a bit, the adventure had clearly begun, I was no longer in Lima.

Struggled a bit to find a suitable hotel, secure parking for my van always an issue, but ended up at a great place, even if pretty expensive, La Casa de mi Abuela. My room was great, and van, very secure. I decided to stay for two nights, had some shopping to do (still had no working stove, even though I actually had brought three stoves with me, will address in a later post), and was looking forward to chilling a bit, had been on the road for four days, crazy coastal road, lots of wind, and climbing, we were both tired. Plus, van was a mess, nothing really organized, as I left La Punta ina bit of a rush, need to spend some time in my van, and not behind the steering wheel. Although Arequipa a big city, think it is the second largest city in Peru, was tiny compared to Lima, and looked like an interesting place to explore. So, the final push to Titicaca would have to wait an extra day, I needed a break. 

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