Leaving Trujillo we found mile after mile again of wasteland, where nothing grows and no one lives. My kingdom for an I-pod. The starkness of the landscape creates its own beauty by simply being like no other place on earth, but after 2,000 kms., it loses some of it's allure. It now becomes a test of not going cuckoo for Coco-puffs. We are merely plowing ahead, trying to make it to the next town before dark, hoping there are accomodations with decent beds.
We finally saw the smog and faint lights of Lima as we rolled into town much later than we had hoped. The stories of corrupt cops swirling in my mind was now becoming an obsession.Both Aaron and Robert had been hit up by the cops and ended up forking over some money. Several days before, we had received news that Robert, from the Panama ship, was no longer able to make it to the bottom of South America. Some lady had run a red light in Lima, and Robert had T-boned her, writing off his new GS 800 motorbike. He was O.K. but the bike was totalled. Now we had to find a room, while keeping our head on a swivel, hoping to avoid a police checkpoint. Other riders we have talked to have disconnected their headlight, so they can travel under the cover of darkness. Traffic is becomely increasingly oppressive as rebuilding is going on a major artery into town, squeezing 5 lanes of traffic into 2, winding it's way thru neighborhoods. Even with our high-visibilty jackets we become invisible to trucks and buses and are forced to make critical decisions as to move forward or not, with the distinct chance of getting rubbed out. We try several off-ramps for hotels but only found over-priced love motels charging high rates for seedy conditions and no parking. We finally find a hotel with parking very relieved that this day has ended.
Big cities in general don't interest Carol or myself, especially when a major concern is theft of your personal belongings or mode of transportation. Paranoia is a powerful motivator, unfortunately it also negates the opportunity to see some amazing sights. Many of the things to see in South American cities involve churches and after seeing so many in the past, I can't remember a single one other than Mexico City, with the church built on an old swamp and it's road-side amusement floor that defies the human eye. So we left Lima as soon as humanly possible to alay fears, unfounded by us, of a city riddled with crime, mostly done by the police. Another time, we hope to give Lima the chance it deserves.
South of Lima for perhaps 100 kms. the Pan-American highway is lined with resorts of all types and sizes. Then once again, miles and miles of windblown sand dunes. The road itself is very good but you have to watch out for drifting sand across the road which is both hard on the eyes as well as slippery for the bikes.
Outside of the city of Ica, lays Huacachina. This little lagoon oasis is featured on the peruvian 50 Soles note. It is surrounded by several hundred foot sand dunes which you can sandboard down or take a ride on heavily converted 4-wheel drive vehicles with massive roll cages. This town of 200 used to be a get-away for the elite of Ica and many beautiful buildings ring the lagoon.
Riding south we entered the Nazca line area, where a variety of large depictions of animals or plant are only truly visible from the air. Discovered in the late 1930's when an American flew over the lines, the history of the lines is steeped in mystery as to why. There is a scaffold like structure right on the Pan-American highway and for a nominal fee we climbed and were able to see several outlines of a hand, lizard and tree.
Leaving Nazca was more mind-numbing stretches of unmemorable road, sand and rocks until we entered the canyon areas around Arequipa, our eventual home for a couple of days till we sorted out our tour to Cuzco, Macchu Pichu and Lake Titikaka. These canyons were a nice change of scenery from the coastline we had been riding along for 6 days.