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20.11.2019: Arequipa to Camaná
Back on the coast we spent a night parked in front of a police station right on the beach in Camaná. There was loud music but it got turned off at 10-30pm so it wasn't too bad but then that got replaced by barking dogs! At around midnight someone tried our front door but we think it was just kids because they just walked on past.
21.11.2019: Camaná to Puerto Inca
It got very hot in the morning and by 8am we had to open our back doors. After breakfast a woman parked her little ice cream cart right next to our back bumper and complained that we should move forward. But the beach road was virtually empty and there was plenty of space so why did she put her cart right next to us?
Kirsten went to take some photos and I packed everything up for driving and then moved forward. Kirsten noticed that one of our brake lights wasn't working - we needed to put in a new bulb. We've been checking our lights every morning because we've heard about corrupt police along this stretch who will stop foreigners for no reason at all, then reach in and switch off their lights and claim they were driving without them ... then demand money as a fine! So we wanted to make sure that all our lights were working so as not to give any police a reason to stop us.
We continued north along the Pan-American-Highway with most of the traffic heading south and not so much going north like us. Parts of the road were bad which slowed us down but it was a great drive along a winding road that went up and over various hills. We went past huge sand dunes and the road actually cut right through one of them. We passed a huge wall of sand on our right which must have been at least 300m high and the rest of the dune sloped steeply down to our left.
We pulled off the main road and found a spot above Puerto Inca where we had stayed with Kumuka 17 years ago and did a pig roast on the beach. This time we didn't take the steep sandy road down but stayed on the top of the hill. We walked down the road afterwards to take a look. The bay had only had one hotel all those years ago but now was totally built up so the charm of having a bay virtually to yourselves was completely lost. We were glad we'd stayed at the top of the hill because it was a very quiet night.
22.11.2019: Puerto Inca via Nasca to Ocucaje
In the morning we rattled back along the washboard road to get back to the Panam and checked our lights again. We'd only been driving for 10 minutes on the main road when we got stopped in a queue at roadworks. Unfortunately we were right on a bend so I asked Kirsten to go out and tell the next vehicles to slow down. She put on one of our reflective safety vests so that she looked like one of the road workers! It certainly did the trick though!
We only had a 10 minute wait but, 10 minutes later, got stuck in the next road work queue. I'd been overtaking beforehand and as I came around a bend there was a single lane of traffic in a queue. No one would let me back in!! So I drove ahead and parked on the opposite side of the road in a parking area to wait for the traffic to be allowed through.
We had to wait over an hour before we could get going again and I managed to jump ahead of some trucks that were slower starting off. After the road works the road got really bad. It was full of pot holes and lots of sand and dust got thrown up by all the trucks. It showed us what the state of the road had been like before they started resurfacing so we didn't mind having to wait so long in the traffic queues!
Fortunately we got back onto a better stretch of road and then stopped just past Nazca to go up a viewing platform to see the famous Nazca lines. Kirsten paid 4 Soles ($1-20) for a view of three lines - the hands, the tree and the lizard. It was the same tower we went up 17 years ago. Now they've built a new, taller tower which will be opened next month on 20th December 2019.
17 years ago we took a flight over the lines so we saw a lot more back then despite the fact that one of the other passengers got sick on the flight!! I bet the flights are now horrendously expensive. We didn't even bother asking the price because we knew we wouldn't be taking another flight.
Half an hour later we re-joined the Panam and battled with truck drivers again. We just about managed to get to our spot for the night as it was getting dark. We stopped in a little town called Ocucaje just off the Panam. The camping spot was listed in iOverlander and was round the back of the town in a playing field with two goal posts.
There were quite a few trees on the side of the playing field so we parked under the largest one hoping for some shade in the morning ... that's if we were right about where the sun comes up in the morning! It's not easy to work out here because Peru is angled on a north west/ south east axis. Our GPS shows us our direction of travel and it can get really confusing sometimes because we think we're heading north but we're actually heading west or north west.
23.11.2019: Ocucaje via Huacachina Oasis to Cerro Azul
It turned out that we needn't have worried about getting shade in the morning because at 6-30am we were woken up by an excavator ripping up all the trees nearby!! We quickly got up and packed up so we could drive. Just as we moved off the excavator ripped up the tree where we were parked!!!! No more trees left. I guess that's the end of that camping spot - they obviously have other plans for the land!
Oh well, we moved to the square so we could have breakfast. Then it was back onto the busy Panam again. Our next stop was Huacachina. We'd been there 17 years ago to do some sand boarding down the dunes. Back then there was just one building, a hotel. Today it's completely built up and has lots of little shacks selling tourist knick knacks. It was extremely busy, dirty and dusty. We could hardly get through the narrow sandy roads but at least we managed to find the last parking spot so Kirsten could jump out for a photo.
The shocking difference from 17 years ago to today made us really glad we'd seen all the highlights back then and we certainly appreciated our Kumuka trip a lot more! We didn't spend very long there and headed back out and onto the busy main highway again. Shortly afterwards we got a real shock as a large structure on the back of a pick-up truck coming in the opposite direction suddenly broke it's straps, got blown upwards and then tilted over towards our side of the road!!
Luckily it didn't hit us and somehow everyone managed to avoid it. We have no idea what that thing was but hopefully they managed to re-attach it properly! For the next part of our drive there were several warnings on iOverlander about corrupt police. So if we encountered any police I wouldn't pull over. I would stop on the road and therefore block it. I would have my window open just a crack and would never pay any money. Well, I'm a retired police officer and I get really annoyed by any corrupt police.
So we were keeping our eyes open for them but then hit a brand new dual carriageway. It wasn't shown on our map as a dual carriageway but it was a super road. And ... no police!! They wouldn't really be able to stop vehicles now so they've probably moved elsewhere!
That night we stopped at Cerro Azul and parked on the sea front.
24.11.2019: Cerro Azul via Lima to Barranca
It seemed like a nice little place but we got woken up early by loud music and the noisy bin men collecting all the rubbish. The next day we drove straight through the capital Lima which was quite an adventure. 17 years ago the traffic in Lima had been horrendous. But today was a Sunday so we were hoping there would be less traffic and it would be easier to get through. Fat chance of that!!!
We got stuck in major traffic! It took us 1.5 hours just to get through the centre of Lima on the main Pan-American-Highway. Then our GPS took us the wrong way and it took us ages to get back on the right road. We should have got off the dual carriageway to continue on the Panam. Sounds ridiculous but we stayed on the main road which was wrong.
We encountered even more crazy drivers, roads that went from 4 lanes down to one lane with no signs to indicate that. And of course, no one lets anyone else in. Everyone just honks their horns. It got really loud and I wished our horn worked!
We finally got back onto the Panam and encountered more crazy drivers, crazy buses, crazy taxis. Every single vehicle here has dents, scratches, broken back lights, you name it. The buses have the most battle scars. The way they all drive ... it's really not surprising. I needed to have eyes in the back of my head and a lot of luck!!
Then Kirsten wanted to stop at a Vea supermarket and took us on a nightmare detour. First, the exit off the Panam on our GPS didn't exist! So we took the next exit which was past the supermarket. We couldn't turn right to get back to it because it was a one way street in the opposite direction.
So we tried to go around the block and ended up going down a road that had essentially been blocked off for roadworks! It was extremely narrow with huge pieces of the road missing - big holes. We barely managed to get by all of them and I'm sure half of our front tyre was driving over thin air! Eventually we made it to the supermarket which had a covered parking area and we found a spot. Kirsten went shopping whilst I sorted a few things out in the back and made us coffees.
We stopped for just over an hour and then drove back into the madness! We had to squeeze our way back onto the Pan-American-Highway and shortly afterwards nearly got hit by the bucket of a tractor that was coming from the right and wanted to get into my lane. I don't think he even bothered looking. It was definitely close ... and Kirsten was shouting "Watch out!" for the thousandth time that day!!!! I just said "Yeah, yeah!" and got through the narrowing gap!!
I have absolutely no idea how we managed to get through Lima without having an accident or getting dents, scratches, smashed lights. A miracle? Or just sheer luck? Or maybe it's because I had to drive like all the idiots around me!! But our adventures for the day weren't over ... once we'd got past the built up area of the city we stopped on the side of the road to buy strawberries from one of the sellers directly on the road.
We continued on the highway but about 10km later I noticed something flapping in the mirror. It looked just like our mosquito netting that we have across the inside of the sliding door in the back. I twisted to look behind and saw that our sliding was open!!! Oh s**t!!!
I pulled over in front of two buses and Kirsten got out killing herself laughing. After she'd bought the strawberries she'd forgotten to shut the sliding door because she'd been distracted by the seller. She'd opened the back door to put the fruit inside but then ended up putting the fruit in the front instead and completely forgot that the back door was open!
She could hardly shut the door because she was laughing so much!! We'd driven at least 10km and it's a wonder we didn't lose something! We got going again but then I nearly missed a speed bump that hadn't been signposted and had to stamp on the brakes! Our washing up bowl in the back went flying and the washing up got strewn all over the floor!
We ended up having to drive the last 40km in the dark - something we really try to avoid - but it had taken us too long to get through Lima and there aren't many places to park for the night. We got to a place called Barranca and headed through the really busy streets. Lots of people were out, there was a lot of traffic and I had to watch out for tuc tucs whizzing in and out. We finally got to the sea front which is listed on iOverlander as a safe place and parked up at 7-45pm.
What an exhausting day!! Thank God we're out of Lima and that was on a Sunday - supposedly the least busy day!! Kirsten must have said "Watch out!" hundreds of times and had lots of heart attacks. She doesn't know how I managed to concentrate for so long - 7 hours of driving!! I was just glad we'd got through without any dents and even our washing up survived being flung around!
Our exhausting drive along the Pan-American-Highway from Camaná to Barranca
