Day 266 - Nazca Desert

(Ursula) The journey continued on the Panamericana up the Peruvian coast.

In the Nazca Desert, we had a nice view from the top of a hill and spotted faint drawings miles ahead on the Desert floor, or at least we thought that's what it was. We had read the books by Erich Von Däniken and knew about their existence. Of course, they can best be observed from the air, but our limited budget didn't allow that luxury.

When we saw the sign "Sitios Arqueológicos," we were confident that's what it was, and when a Ranger stopped us because we wanted to turn off the road to investigate, we were genuinely convinced that's what we saw from the hill. Wow!

Later, as we approached the coast, there were irrigated fields of corn, cotton, fruit plantations, and vineyards. Further up the coast, an awful smell from the Pesca-Peru fishmeal factories made breathing difficult. Fishmeal is sold worldwide as fertilizer or feed additive for fish, pigs, and chicken farms.

People often mistake the Swiss flag on our spare wheel for the Red Cross, which was handy today. We stopped at a roadside stand to buy fresh fruits and were asked to pay with painkillers instead of money. We gladly handed over a bunch of Tylenol.

When we came to a shallow river, we washed the car and camped there for the night. A bunch of village children hung around our camper and made me nervous. They stared, watching my every move, as I prepared our dinner. They were cute but stuck around like annoying flies!

Stats: Miles 259, Expenses $2.90Read more