A long day on the road through desert plateaus, coastal cliffs and scattered shanty towns, with vulture‑watched rubbish dumps, forgettable fish, and a dramatic arrival into the bright, bustling city of Arequipa.
Leaving Nazca.
Today, we set off early for a long drive down to Arequipa, retracing our route across the sun‑baked, arid desert plateau we had crossed the day before.
As the landscape shifted into more mountainous terrain, we followed a deep fissure carved into the earth by an old earthquake before looping back towards the coast road. Once there, we travelled along winding roads, parallel to the Pacific, with sheer drops to the beaches below. Small roadside monuments appeared with unsettling regularity, reminders of the many people who had lost their lives on these routes. It was a stark contrast to the roads back in the UK, and a sobering insight into the long, unsocial hours many Peruvian drivers work on rough, unlit roads.
Coastal Shanty Towns.
Shanty towns continued to appear along the coastline. Scattered between them were solitary, semi‑permanent huts where seaweed collectors and fishermen lived and worked. We stopped in a small fishing village for a break and a drink. I managed to get some striking photos of vultures perched around a rubbish dump beside the ocean. It was both sad and strangely beautiful, these magnificent birds soaring over the blue water while the man‑made rubbish heap slid slowly into the sea. Many of these settlements begin without running water, electricity or sewage systems, and even when services eventually arrive, the surrounding areas often become dumping grounds. The vultures and other scavengers thrive on what people discard.
We stopped again at lunchtime in another small village. The meal tasted better than it looked, but I wouldn’t rush back. My fish tasted like fish and smelled like fish, but it looked identical to the flat chicken steaks the others at the table had ordered. Peru’s reputation for fabulous seafood certainly didn’t begin in this restaurant.
Arrival in Arequipa.
As evening fell and daylight gave way to darkness, we finally entered Arequipa. The glow of the city lights around the coach made it feel vast. People were making their way home in cars, buses and on foot, all overseen by traffic police standing in the middle of dusty roads. It was clear we had arrived in a bustling, energetic city.
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