Down the Peruvian Coast

We traveled 330 miles yesterday along contrasting views of sand dunes and barren, desolate, coastal mountains.  Even more contrasting and seemingly out of place, are the occasional narrow river valleys where large muddy rivers flowed west from the Andes into the sea.  These valleys are lush with rice fields and olive trees.  We stopped to sample the olives for sale in barrels, like pickles, on the side of the road...not bad...reminiscent of Morrocco last year.

At the end of the day, the road swung east toward the Andes, and Arequipa, a city of 750,000, nestled in a broad valley beneath tall volcanoes of 18,000+ft.  Our GPS worked wonders all day, and as we entered the labarynth of the city, she directed us to a right hand turn that would deliver us to a hotel in the historic center, near the Plaza De Armas. Consistent with our luck, the road was closed for construction, and things went downhill from there.  Not recognizing one way streets, the GPS tried repeatedly to kill us.  Hopelessly lost, we ultimately pulled over and gave up.  Like in scene from a religious movie, we happened to look up, and with angels singing, we saw the lights of a hotel a half block away.  We followed the heavenly shaft of light to the lobby, and Jim secured a room in what turned out to be a terrific botique hotel for $45.

Daily Police Report:  Stopped twice for no reason at all.  "Where are you going...Papers please?", they would ask...to our relief and good fortune, they let us go, likely their pity outweighed their greed.