From Macara to Lima the Pan-American Highway took us along the Peruvian coastal Sechura Desert, one of the driest climates in the world. In this article we continue our drive south of Lima to Tacna at the Chilean border. Our stops south of Lima included Pucusana, Ica, Nazca Lines, Puerto Inka, and a side trip to the famous white stone city of Arequipa and then onto Tacna.
South of Lima to Puerto Inka
After dealing with an insurance issue in Lima we drove south to Pucusana, a small town just off the Pan-American Highway. In Pucusana we stayed at a small hosteria, Hosteria El Mirador, which overlooks a nice bay for two nights. Our traveling companions moved on after one night. We meet them the next day in Ica, a city 300km south of Lima.
In Ica we stayed over night at the Camino Real Hotel. From Ica we drove about 100 km south to the Nazca Lines on the Pampas de Jumana, a high arid plateau between Nazca and Palpa. It was a special treat to drive through the Nazca Lines area, a UNESCO world heritage site of ancient geoglyphs. There are hundreds of geoglyphs ranging from simple lines to more complex lines of animals, such as hummingbirds. The lines are best seen from the air, but you can get a good feel for them from a tower near the Nazca Lines. Scholars believe the Nazca Culture 400-650AD created the lines.
After taking some time to observe the Nazca Lines we drove onto our final stopover on Coastal Peru at Puerto Inka. At Puerto Inka we camped at the Puerto Inca Hotel on a beautiful bay. The bay was once a major fishing port for the Inka. The area had several excavations of Inka ruins. We stayed two nights, at what must be one of the best campgrounds in Peru. During our stay we saw several overland trucks from Germany, Australia, and Great Britain with groups of campers. However, none of these camping groups was only composed of people from one country they were a mix of nationalities.
The desert south along the coast from Puerto Inka was spectacular. Some distance south of Puerto Inka we took a road inland towards Arequipa. Arequipa is often called the White City because of the colonial buildings were constructed with white stone. Arequipa’s historic center was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 2000.
Arequipa and then south to Tacna
We drove to Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru from the coast. Just before we arrived at Hotel Mercedes in Arequipa the police stopped us one more time. They wanted to see our papers and insurance. We showed the papers. The officer said we needed a different set of papers to show ownership of the car. That is, we should have the same title document as a Peruvian citizen. This time we argued that we had the correct papers because we had a vehicle with a foreign title. When it was apparent to the officer that we could not be “bullied” he left us alone.
After a relaxing stay in Arequipa we were off to Tacna. The highway from Arequipa to Tacna went through some really desolate desert landscape. In Tacna, Peru, we were unable to get a room because of our pets. Also, there was no camping in the area, so we went on to cross the border crossing into Chile. Even though I was not feeling well, we were tired after a long day’s drive and it was getting dark we did the crossing.
We enjoyed our journey along the Pan-American Highway, which runs along the Pacific Coast of Peru. To say that it is mostly desert gives a false impression. As we traveled along Peru's coastal desert, we encountered small green agriculture areas, which were feed by rivers flowing from the high Andes. The coastal desert is broken by lush green agriculture filled valleys every 50 to 75 km or so. During our travels through Peru our only challenge was the police. However, throughout Peru the police were quite friendly, except in the big cities of Lima and Arequipa. Overall, our 1825 miles trip through Peru was quite fascinating. Peru has spectacular landscape and amazing archeological sites.
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© Sharon Parsons
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