COUNTRIES

Scenery near Camana when driving from Arequipa to Nazca

It's desert everywhere apart from a few valleys where rivers provide the source of live

Pacific coast south of Nazca

Scenery is very beautiful and different from other parts of the country

The Panamerican Highway (Panamericana) in southern Peru

Panamericana runs along the Pacific from Colombia to Chile, cutting across Peruvian deserts

Desert and ocean. The coast is mostly cloudy this time of year (August)

Blue sky appeared between the clouds

Panamericana north of Nazca. Due to strong wind there were no flights over the famous Nazca Lines

Morning view of Ica and it's sand dunes. Surrounding areas are the traditional source of Pisco brandy

Paracas is a desert peninsula within the Paracas National Reservation, the only marine reserve in Peru

Cormorants in their thousands, with Ballestas Islands in the background

Ballestas Islands are often called "Galapagos of Peru" because of it's amazing wildlife

Pelicans flying over the islands

Thousands of Peruvian Boobies cover this rocky outcrop

Cormorants and Boobies live side by side, making these islands a very important source of guano

Guano is the excrement of seabirds, used as fertilizer. It's removed from the islands every 5 - 6 years

Band-tailed gulls

Red-legged cormorants

South American Sea Lions resting on rocks

They can reach 300kg and are not easily disturbed by tourists

Cormorant island. No wonder they cover these islands in guano so quickly!

Guano trade was so lucrative in 19th century that Peru paid off it's entire foreign debt with it

It was so important to the Incas that anyone disturbing the birds was punished with death

Birds are as lazy as people. It's easier for them to get food from humans

Plaza Mayor in Lima, the second largest city in the world located in a desert, after Cairo

The Government Palace, also known as House of Pizarro, renovated in 1937 by Polish architect Ricardo Malachowski

Lampa Street leading to the Monastery of San Francisco

Monastery of San Francisco. It's library possesses about 25,000 antique texts (most of them older than this car)

I hope to visit Peru again before this type of bus disappears from the streets of Lima