Peru’s north coastal plain from Trujillo is mostly desolate desert except in river valleys or irrigated farms. This is the way it has been here for thousands of years. The few simple homes in the harsh parts were made of palm leaf woven mats for protection from the wind, blowing sand and sun. The road was excellent and well kept up. The towns we drove through were working towns and a bit light on the charm.
As I drove, the desert took on a vast desolate beauty -- with dry mountains, or the Pacific Ocean as the backdrop. I have been to comparable deserts: Parts of the Mojave through south Nevada; the Sahara desert on the lee side of the Atlas mountains, Takla Makun in Xinhuang, and parts of Baja are the ones I thought about. As my eyes adjusted to the light and colors, the desert’s beauty just snuck up on me – as always...
We passed by the mud brick fort at Paramanga that marked the southern frontier of the Moche and Chimu ‘nations’ that we visited at Chiclayo and Chan Chan. At Paramanga, we turned up the river valley toward Huaraz some 125 miles up into the high Andes. Carol took a beautiful series of pictures of the landscape above 12,000’ – 13,480’. We had police checks four times today to confirm our papers. No explanations for why, but we got navigational information from them as long as t
hey were slowing us down.
Our hotel is at 10,600’. I got winded going up the stairs. From our suite, the Cordillera view of the Blanco mountains above the Negro mountains is just Wow! We are staying at a German Swiss owned & run hotel. It has been 4 years since we were in Switzerland and we had unexpected, excellent Swiss food.
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