South to Arequipa

This was without doubt one of the scariest trips we´ve ever been on.

Andean foothills

The road south is across dry barren desert, bordering the Pacific. The road winds through weathered foothills of the Andes, often opening onto steep cliffs over the pounding surf. There were moments when the flimsy crash-barrier, for what it´s worth, appeared to disappear beneath the coach and I´d find myself staring down 3 or 4 hundred metres onto deep red rocks engulfed by the mighty Pacific waves.

The Pacific beckons.....

The driver sped relentlessly on, full-pelt round the bends. Often there was no barrier at all. As I was by the window I didn´t tell Jane and left her engrossed in her book, blissfully unaware!

No crash-barrier here      >:-@

Between these moments of excitement, the landscape was bleak, with the occasional fisherman´s bivouac made of brightly coloured plastic fertilizer bags and old carpets laid over crude driftwood frames.

The occasional dolorous donkey brightened up the landscape.

Then it was eastward inland to Arequipa, at 12.5 thousand feet.

Looking back north along the coast

Peasants on the distant beach collecting sea-weed 

for agriculture and pharmaceutical purposes