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Chile 4: Valparaiso and P.N.Radal – Siete Tazas

We slowly made our way down Chile – a country some 4300km long and 756 000sq km in size and were looking forward to visit Valparaiso, whose Historic Quarter on Cerro Concepçion is a World Heritage Site. Since 1844 Chile is independent.

Wir freuten uns auf Valparaiso – eine Stadt, welche durch ihre geschützte Altstadt und auch auf Grund seiner bemalten Wände und Graffiti bekannt ist. Allerdings gibt es dort keinen Campingplatz.

Next stop on our southbound route was P.N. La Campana, a park with the high Chilean palms (Jubaea chilensi or the Chilean wine palm) and quiet, shadowy camping spots and walking trails. The park is 60km east of the city of Valparaiso which was next on our agenda to visit to see their prolific street art and murals.

The vintage electric busses reminded us of the seventies in Cape Town, when the last of these were phased out in our city.

Valparaiso did not have any camping site and we ended up camping in the one-way street outside Villa Kunterbunt, known for hosting many bikers that pass through Valparaiso (they also offer a service of receiving and shipping motorcycles from here).

It ended up being one of the noisiest nights on the trip as the busses passed through this one-way street during the night. Worst of all was the fact that we could not enter the Villa during the night for a loo pitstop. However, as many bikers were accommodated here at the time, this was the best Martina and Enzo could offer us.

Valparaiso (also nicknamed the Jewel of the Pacific) is unfortunately known for not being the safest of destinations and we were warned not to flash around camera gear when visiting the city. We decided to walk and take one of the three old furniculars called “ascensores”, the Ascensor Artilleria, closest to us.

The charm of the old buildings and the many street art murals and graffiti certainly made for an interesting and worthwhile outing.

Continuing, our aim was to miss the capital,Santiago, as we were not in the mood for more cities. From Valparaiso we went further south via the towns of Laguna Verde, Casablanca, San Antonio and aimed to overnight in the bird park R.N. Yali (a RAMSAR site) – at the gate, after we had driven many kms, we were informed that it was closed due to the bird flue – we were not excited, as a sign board earlier on could have warned us and would have saved many miles driving. Maybe we were expecting too much.

So we pressed on to Rapel, where we found a spot along the Rio Rapel at Camping Calicanto. All fine, except the next morning we found out the duchas are “natural” –no hot water as promised, as so often. En route from here we saw what looked like a volcanic eruption – it was the start of Chile’s most devastating fire in a hundred years and it would rage on for the next 14 days and would make it difficult at times for us to skirt around.

We proceeded towards Pichelemu on the coast –a town known for its excellent surfing wave ( at Punta de Lobos). The town was busy and abuzz with surfers and other holiday makers.

We continued inland at Bucalemu, then on to the Ruta de Viná, passed Paredones, Lolol, Santa Cruz to Teno. On the way we bought our first sweet and aromatic strawberries of the season, at farm stalls we ate Blueberry cake etc. Everywhere plantations of fruit and vineyards, many wine cellars were on this route.

At Teno we were back on the Ruta 5 PanAm for about 70km and turned off towards El Radal to reach the Parque Naćional Radal Siete Tazas – a stretch of rough dirt road ending in a beautiful wooded park area with many camping spots and the scenic seven pools ( 7 cups) where the Rio Claro drops down. We camped at Siete Tazas amidst holiday activities, but had no problem finding a spot to camp, then moved on for two nights to the quieter private San José de Frutillar camping y cabanas where we camped on the forest edge and enjoyed watching the parrots.

On the way we stopped at the Salto Velo de la Novia (Bridal Veil Falls) which had little water at this time and walked to the impressive 1000 year old Conagüe tree with a 9m circumference.

This post cover 15th to 20th January 2017

Chile 3: Parc Naçional Las Chinchillas and the Chilean Coast

Every day a new surprise. Who would have thought a national reserve existed for rodents? The Chilean Parque Naçional Las Chinchillas takes care of a species close to extinction.

Manch einer mag sich an die Modewelle der Chinchilla Pelze erinnern. Auch hier hat der Mensch eine Tierart an die Grenzen der Ausrottung gebracht. Ein einzigartiger Park in Chile überraschte uns mit seinen Anstrengungen, die wenigen Chinchillas zu retten, die es noch gibt.

Our route took us back via Huasco, then via Valleñar on Ruta 5 to Serena and on to Coquimbo, which afforded a shopping opportunity at the Lider Supermercado. For the night we drove towards Guanaqueros, where we camped at the well organized and clean camping site Mar Azul, run by Hernan. We parked less than 100m from the sea and spent a quiet night.

From here the harbour can be reached on foot, being a pleasant 1.5km walk along the beach. We took a stroll next morning and enjoyed freshly shelled raw scallops (tasting very similar to oysters) and subsequently stayed for lunch with a starter of seafood ceviche followed by one of the best, freshly prepared seafood empanadas at one of the stalls. A note of caution: make sure the ceviche or camarones have been kept on ice! (a friend we had recommended this place to had a problem a few days later).

We returned to Serena and took the Ruta 41 eastwards to Vicuña, on the way we stopped at the Puclaro dam and took a stroll along the dam wall, strong winds prevailed. Although no kite surfers were active, it apparently is a very suitable expanse of water for this sport.

The area was arid, yet along the valley it is lined with vineyards and fruit trees right up to the little village of Pisco Elqui, a town wit its own pisco distillery and an abundance of little eating places. At our camping site Camping Refugio del Angel adjacent to the clear cold Rio Claro, we met our friends from Iquique New Years Eve party again – Laima and Mindaugas. This was a good opportunity to enjoy a pisco for sundowner and a joint supper among the shady weeping willow trees.

This area is known for its observatories that can be visited – we were not in luck as it was full moon.

In the morning we walked through town, enjoyed a pisco ice cream on the shadowy plaza. We found the camping site with its many trees a comfortable place to stay for the day and only left next morning back to Vicuña from where we turned into a small gravel road with plenty of mountain passes, cacti, colourful parrots and observatories visible on the mountain peaks.

We drove past Ovalle and ended the day at the Parque Naçional Las Chinchillas – the friendly staff gave us special permission to stay for the night in the parking area. We were not aware of this reserve beforehand and it highlighted the plight of the Chinchilla to us: There used to be 20 million animals before it became fashionable to wear pelts made of the fur of this little, nocturnal rodent. Today, they are almost extinct save for the small 20 000 population cared for in this reserve. Boris, the guide, took us into the nocturama – a underground cavern which houses a number of different rodents from the reserve and that can only be seen during the dark of night. However, the little Degú can be seen at dusk and dawn and it gave us the opportunity for a few closeup photos.

We journeyed further to Illapel and Los Vilos and along the coast to Los Mollos, a coastal resort where we found Camping El Chivato, close to the beach, where we took long strolls amidst many holiday makers enjoying this area at the summer time of the year. Here we met Laima and Midaugas yet again and settled down for the now customary sundowner and a delicious camping supper.

Los Mollos offers scuba diving trips and has a large park worth visiting. We decided on the latter and walked through the Bio Parque Puquén with its interesting birds, cacti and cliffs. We observed whales and dolphins and marvelled at the effort sea lions go through to get up on the island cliffs, having to time their ascent with big waves.

This post covers 8th Jan – 15th Jan 2017

Chile 2: El Tatio Geysirs to P.N. Llanos de Challe

San Pedro de Atacama reflected the vibe of this desert -desolate yet vibrant. We started here and finally ended on the coast in a national park.

Das höchstgelegene Geysir Feld El Tatio war etwas mühsam zu erreichen -aber doch beeindruckend. Wir setzten unsere Reise durch die Atacama fort und wurden immer wieder von einsamen, tollen Landschaften begrüsst. Alles andere als langweilig, wenn man Wüsten liebt. Ansonsten kann die Einsamkeit bedrohlich verlassen wirken.

As the last musician drifted back home from the evenings party, we left at 4:15am to beat the traffic on the atrocious road to the El Tatio geysirs, almost 2 hours away. We arrived in bitter cold conditions just before sunrise together with some bikers who had left even before us and who seemed frozen stiff. The temperature had dropped from 13° at San Pedro to -3° C at the 4300m altitude.

El Tatio is the highest field of geysirs in the world and the best time is to see them is early in the morning as the steam is more prominent. Although some visitors took a steam bath in the natural pool, we decided against it, but it was tempting.

Only while we drove back did we see the beauty of the area, the vulcanos, the vicuñas and flamingos (including the rare James Flamingo with its bright red tail feathers) as well as Moorhens, Andean Avocets and Andean geese.

We left San Pedro at midday and continued to the Lagunas Miscanti and Miniques only to find that they closed 18:30 and camping is not permitted anylonger in the reserve. This prompted us to drive on in the direction of the border towards Argentina where we found a wonderful riverbed 6km away (at 3850m altitude) and suitable to camp in between rock faces and not visible from the road. Again, it paid off to be under way in a 4×4 ( S23°44.9879, W067°50.4649). Here we were lucky to observe a South American Gray Fox (Chilla Zorro), some vizcacha hares and different bird species.

After a cold and clear 4°C night we returned next morning to the reserve at the foot of Cerro Miscanti and Cerro Minques, where we spent some relaxed hours at the equally named lagunas – pity there were no flamingos to be seen during this time of the year.

From here we decided on a detour via the little town of Peine on the edge of the Salar de Atacama, a huge, dry salt lake. Lots of Lithium mining takes place here and the crust is hard and rough – nowhere to be compared to the beauty of the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia.

The road we took is the main track to Antofagasta from here, but we decided to turn off to the B55 southwards towards Estacion Pan de Azucar. This dirt road is deserted, no traffic and we got pleasantly surprised that at deserted Estacion Imilac , directly on a dry salt lake, a spring delivers cold, clear and sweet water and made this remote station a good place to replenish our drinking water and obey the demand to leave some behind.

Further on we traversed two huge mines, Minas Escondida and Zaldivar (watch the huge ore haulers – simply massive vehicles), then had some tarred road to Oficina Oriente where we continued on gravel road. Desert landscapes mesmerized us along the way – not a person in sight for the rest of the day; we passed eerie graves and towards late afternoon decided to camp before Yungay at a lonely spot with a view, reachable by 4×4 on a ridge. The earth around us was a salty crust devoid of any life at 1003m (S24°02.3695, W069°47.1399)

Although the night was clear the morning presented a thick blanket of fog with everything being dripping wet. We pushed on to Paradeiro Barazarte on the Pan Americana Ruta 5 and continued southwards with a stop at the well-frequented Mano de Desierto –the large concrete hand sticking out of the desert sand along the route, sculptured by Mario Irarrázabal in 1992 in honor of the victims of injustice by the then regime. (the hand at Punta del Este in Uruguay is by the same artist).

Along the PanAm we regularly saw decorated graves, complete in some cases with the vehicles in which the occupants died as well as paraphernalia like hard hats, caps or other items associated with those who perished. In cases where children are involved, often the toys are also left at these memorials.

It should be noted that service stations along this stretch are infrequent – however,it did not pose any problems for us with a tank reach of around 1200km. We filled up at Aqua Verde and continued to Chañaral through the Sierra Colorada, again with beautiful vistas of the Atacama. From Chañaral we turned northwards along the coast to reach the Parc Naçional Pan de Azúcar where we camped at the Lodge Pan de Azúcar with many camping spots and a kitchen lapa and warm showers.

After an early walk into the sleepy fishing village we drove back via Charñaral along the Ruta 5 PanAm to Cadera, an endless stretch of desert again illustrating the enormity of this desert expanse to us (more than 1000km long straddling Peru, Bolivia and Chile). Here the Pan Americana changes into a dual lane double highway, allowed us to make good headway to Copiapó and southwards where we turned back to the coast at Algorrabal, had tarred road to Canto del Agua, then via Punta Carrizal into PN Llanos de Challe known for its cactus landscapes. We found a quiet camping spot behind a rock amidst all the holiday activity prevailing.

Before sunset we went for a walk and tried the cold, crystal clear Pacific ocean. At this campsite various animals could be observed, including zorros chilla (false fox) and some owlets early the next morning.

Chile 1: Atacama Desert – Arica to San Pedro

We were ready to explore the next country: Chile. Although Peru has been a wonderful country to visit, the amount of rubbish everywhere started working on us and we had heard Chile to be quite different. As we started along the Pan Americana we realised that this country was organised and clean -what a pleasure. What surprised us, however, was the sheer size of the Atacama desert.

Was Chile uns wohl bringen würde? Es war an der Zeit,in ein etwas besser strukturiertes Land zu kommen, wir freuten uns auch auf die Wahrscheinlichkeit,auch eine breitere Palette an Produkten zu bekommen. Wir wurden nicht enttäuscht, jedoch die Ausmasse der Atacama Wüste überraschten uns.

From Arica we started right in the north of Chile along Ruta 5. Soon we reached three modern petroglyphs, the “Presencias Tutelares”, representing Aymara beliefs and were created by the Chilean artist Juan Díaz Fleming, honouring the ancestors of this region.

Just off the Pan Americana we took a track to the west until we saw the Geoglifos de Tiliviche –large stone figurines, on the side of a hill, of a Llama herd and their shepherd trekking.

Next was El Gigante de Atacama – the largest geoglyph of 85m on top of a hill – pretty disappointing as it was not visible as a complete figure, maybe more exciting to view from the air or using a drone. The wind picked up and we had a sandstorm and plenty dust devils.

Next we made our way to Oficina Santiago Humberstone – a deserted nitrate mine (Salitrera) and its processing works that were operational from 1872 to 1960 – today it is kept as a museum that reminded us of Kolmanskuppe in Namibia (deserted diamond town). The product at the time was both important as a fertilizer as well as for gun powder during the world wars.

The city of Iquique was situated against a massive dune and we camped on the camping site & cabañas outside the city, named Tres Islas and run by owner Thomas.

We decided to stay for New Year after meeting new travel friends Laima and Mindaugas from Latvia, as well as Otto and Elisabeth from Germany and Maria and Heinz from Switzerland.

Together we spent the day in Iquique, visited the old part of the city (it used to be a major harbour for nitrate exports, now it is the biggest producer of fishmeal), then visited the fish market where we bought fresh Reinata for the evening grill and later enjoyed a massive and splendid fireworks display over the city at midnight.

After New Year we carried on along the coast on Ruta 1, on the left we had the Cordillera de la Costa, then drove inland on the Ruta 24 up to Calama. This time of year many people camp wild along the barren coast of Chile.

Before we reached San Pedro de Atacama we turned off to have a look at the Yerbes Buenas petroglyphs depicting mainly Llamas.

Then we drove further into the Valle de Arcoiris – valley of the rainbow mountains. Very prominent and colourful mountains and sandstone formations, we wild camped far in and had one of the quietest nights on our trip so far. Cold and clear skies during the night with with a wonderful and soft light dawn awakening us.

Mid morning we carried on to the viewpoint above the death valley “Valle de Muerte” with a wide view over the valley and the dunes frequented by sand boarders.

Then on to the Valle de Luna, where we climbed through the salt caves and visited the very old salt formation “Tres Marias” (one has unfortunately toppled over) and made our way into the nearby salt mine with its eerie crackling sound of the salt as the day heated up.

On our way back in the excessive midday heat we came across two cyclists ( Benjamin and Louisa) that were just too happy to top up their water bottles from our tank in order to get back to San Pedro in the day’s excessive heat. The view from the surrounding hills was stunning and we climbed one of the peaks despite the temperatures – it was worth it.

Finally we arrived in San Pedro de Atacama where we found a camping spot at the Hostal de Campestre run by Urzula – not a quiet night as the town had music until 2:30 am and the owner also celebrated his birthday with friends at the hostal.

This post covers 30th December 2016 to 2nd January 2017

Peru 13: Colca Cañon and southern Peru Coast

Following a relaxed Xmas time in Arequipa, we still wanted to observe the Condors at Colca Cañon and then make our way southwards into Chile.

Nach einer ruhigen Zeit in Arequipa hatte wir noch den Colca Cañon vor uns, wo die Chance, Kondore zu sichten, sehr gross war. Also machten wir uns auf den Weg dorthin, bevor wir dann entlang der Küste Perus auf Chile zusteuerten.

Leaving Arequipa we drove back to Tambillo and turned north passing through Huacán and Huambo before we got to the the Cruz del Condor viewpoint above the Colca Cañon.

We arrived at the viewpoint towards afternoon and were lucky to see some Condors flying along the deep canyon.

There was a possibility to camp in the older parking area although we found a small track going further down – here we decided to spend the night with a splendid view of the canyon. The surrounding mountains reached between 5600m to 6300m and, although our site was lower down at approx 4000m, it turned out to be a cold night, only tempered by the hot tea with a shot of rum before we retired.

Next morning we drove up to the viewpoint at around 10:00, the time when it is expected for the Condors to have sufficient thermals to rise from their perches. We saw only 4 in the distance after the mist had lifted and were grateful for the previous afternoon’s sighting. Many tourist groups gathered at the viewpoint and also we were required to pay the substantial entrance fee of 70 Soles pP (especially considering that we did not see any Condors close up). However, we were rewarded with some hummingbirds feeding on the flowers on the canyon edge.

We returned to Arequipa via Maca, a small town with a quaint old church and known for the women wearing skilfully embroidered clothes and hats.

We continued via Chivay, Chucura and Yura to Arequipa, where we spent another night at Grace Valley hospedaje, conveniently situated around the corner of Plazavea supermercado so we could still do some essential shopping before dark.

Next morning we continued south through La Repartición, La Joya, Moquegua, Camiara to Ité on the coast.

On our way to La Boca del Rio, we found a convenient wild camping spot at the deserted Club de Pescadores along the beach just below the main road, a few kilometres before we got to the town.

A pair of seagulls were repetitively diving towards me while photographing, although I could not spot their breeding spot.

Next day we travelled past Tacna and crossed the border into Chile without too many problems. The Chilean customs officials were thorough in their search for fresh fruit and vegetable, which cost us one apple and two potatoes after scanning the luggage. Even our top box was scrutinised. The border crossing took approx. one and a half hours.

Eventually we stayed just north of Arica at Camping Josefine where owner Paula, ably assisted by her lovely 6 year old daughter, runs the site. Not the best camping site but adequate for a night. The beach area, 2km away, teemed with terns and gulls.

This post covers 26th – 29th December 2016

Peru 12: World’s deepest Cañon and Xmas in Arequipa

Peru has the highest Andes mountain peaks in South America – not surprisingly also the deepest Cañon in the world. Cañon de Cotahuasi is very remote and difficult to get to – and we did not expect the surprises along the way.

Wenn wir schon die höchsten Gipfel der Anden bestaunen konnten, wollten wir uns den tiefsten Canyon der Welt nicht entgehen lassen -allerdings mit ein paar unerwarteten Überraschungen auf dem einsamen Weg dort hin.

Once we had left Nasca we took Ruta 30A eastwards via Puquio, a road with many curves and wild Vicuñas grazing. Underway we met Axel & Erika in their bright yellow Unimog who are already travelling for 3 years with their dog.

The day ended with us camping wild at Laguna Yurira at an altitude 4400m – we were prepared for a ice cold night as it started raining a few drops. Following a quick supper we crept into our roof tent to shelter from the cold. Since we could feel tingling in the hands and feet and had altitude headache, we decided to take some Diamox as it has been a climb of almost 4000m within a day -not good. In the morning we observed some Andean geese, Yellow-billed Teal and Giant Coots (as well as one lonely sheep -we named him Shaun). Less and less herds of Llamas were seen.

Next morning we carried on along the 40A and turned off close to Rocruzca onto Ruta AR105, a small and rough road. At the turnoff our details were recorded at a boom -not to sure for what purpose.We discovered some southern Viscacacha (chinchillas), cute with their curly tail.

As we drove along AR105 the area became very desolate and remote – virtually no people left except one herdsman who walked up a hill when he spotted us photographing. A few provisions made his day.

Towards afternoon a thunderstorm was developing, dark grey and threatening, but beautiful. We were reaching a height above 5000m.

The temperature dropped and suddenly our road was obstructed by a small landslide. We could not squeeze by and had to start shovelling and rolled some boulders out of the way which we barely managed. As we were shovelling the first sleet came down and then it turned into a snowstorm within the next 30 minutes – giving us just enough time to reach a reasonably level clearing where we could park.

We could not see any tracks any longer, it got dark and within a short while we were covered in about 5cm of snow. At this point we decided to call it a day and crept into our tent. The altitude here was 4900m ( we managed still to come down from the 5100m we had reached an hour earlier). Not knowing how long we may be caught in the snow, I decided to restart the vehicle twice during the night and let it run for approx 20minutes.

Luck was on our side – next morning the Cordillera de Huanzo mountains were clear, the snowing had stopped and within two hours of brilliant sunshine enough snow had melted for us to see the road again. We continued albeit a little nervous about further landslides as there was no oncoming vehicles we could ask.

The road continued through the mountain ranges, up and down winding passes and through little remote villages like Puyca, Alca and Tomepampa.

Finally we reached the Coatahuasi Cañon (3535m deep), where we stopped and camped at Mirador Bañadero del Condor with view of the distant town of Toro.

This viewpoint/camp can accommodate maximum 2 vehicles and there was even a loo! 200m further is a lookout from where at times Condors can be seen bathing below a small waterfall high up on the opposite wall -we were not so lucky.

We found the journey to the Cañon exciting and one of the most remote and quiet areas in Peru. The cañon itself was maybe a little disappointing as we had envisaged grandeur like the Grand Cañon in Nevada or Fish River Cañon in Namibia. Cotahuasi is different – not so visible.

We continued through Puna landscape past the Nevado Solimana (6323m) and Nevado Coropuna (6613m), the landscape dotted with hardy green plants looking likes stones.

Wind picked up while we drove through the Pampas de Majes where we could barely make out the sandstone petroglyphs Toro Muerto in the distance -not the day to explore further due to incredibly strong winds and dust.

Barren mountains lined a very fertile and dark green valley with vines and rice. A lot a cacti grew on some of the slopes, the mountains pink and grey.

Near Tambillo we turned into the stony desert and camped under clear skies full of stars, faintly aware of only a very distant rumbling of trucks along this stretch of road.

Soon we reached Arequipa and found a pleasant place to stay, Grace Valley B&B with Diana and her mother running it and making us feel very welcome -especially since it was Xmas.

While in Arequipa we could get the vehicle serviced at Mitsui Toyota on short notice,a professionally run workshop with one assistant in sales speaking English to translate. We relaxed in the comfort of the client lounge with view of the workshops.

While in Arequipa we found our vehicle’s starter batteries failing ( the Landcruiser VX100 has two in parallel that are best replaced as a pair) and we managed to get two suitable replacements (Panasonic brand to get a one year warranty in all the countries we were due to visit).

We also found that from Grace Valley we could reach the old city on foot and the Arequipa Clinic by taxi, all very conveniently. Although it is possible to stay in the vehicle roof tent at the B&B, we suggest taking a room as the traffic noise can be loud. And maybe you are lucky getting the same blanket on your bed – a very homely feeling for us from Africa.

It was a pleasant stay at Grace Valley and Diana tipped us off to book at Zigzag restaurant for Xmas dinner – an excellent suggestion. We toured the old city, had a haircut and looked for a laundry. The central plaza was abuzz with families showing their kids the nativity play – little Jesus was missing (it only appear on Xmas Eve after the mass).

Shoe lace specialist merchant.

Unfortunately the Santa Catalina monastery closed early and we missed seeing the inside which we believe is worth seeing. This made our decision easy to relax with a sundowner of different Pisco cocktails before going to supper.

Santa Catalina Monastery

We decided to stay the 25th and got served a traditional hot chocolate, turkey and Italian cake for breakfast.

When in Arequipa for Xmas – stay up after midnight, as this is the time when the fireworks everywhere started which lasted two hours.

This post cover the period 17th – 25th December 2016

Peru 11: Reserva Naçional de Paracas and the Nasca Lines

Although the coastal area of Peru is mainly desert, we found a visit to the Paracas National Park attractive as it reminded us of our home country, Namibia. Having a closer look at the mysterious Nasca lines reminded us of books of Erich von Däniken we had read many years ago. So we decided to have a closer look.

Ein Flug über die Nazca Linien klang reizvoll. Hatten wir doch über die von Däniken Theorien gelesen, dass diese Linien und Geoglyphen für oder von ausseridischen Wesen stammen könnten.

The PanAm Sur to San Vicente de Cañete is a good stretch of highway with many holiday developments along it. It is close enough to Lima to be conveniently reached for weekends.

Past Chincha Alta we briefly stopped in the town of Pisco. This area was hit by an earthquake during 2007 but most is reconstructed. The famous Pisco liqueur is distilled in this area and shops along the road offer many variants of it.

We turned off into the Reserva Naçional de Paracas, then visited the small natural history museum past the entrance gate before exploring the coastal desert park itself.

After some calamari at La Tia Pili in Lagunillas (a fishing village in the park) we camped near Playa de la Mina on the parking area – all new toilets had been built at various places in the park, but the water was not yet connected. We spent a cold and quiet night with many Inca terns and Peruvian Boobies breeding in the sand cliffs nearby.

Next day we toured through the park, realised that entry to the harbour Puerto General San Martini is no longer possible (mining export?), then enjoyed the beautiful dark red beach at Playa Roja, drove past “La Catedral” a natural formation near Playa Yumague.

We camped at Mendieta Playa meeting Christian and Sarah from Austria who were enjoying kayaking around the formations. The fishermen left at sunset and we had this wonderful spot to ourselves and it was a good time to observe Royal Terns and both, the American as well as the Blackish Oystercatchers.

Early morning we walked up the cliffs and had a wonderful view of the rock formations and observed breeding Peruvian Boobies, Red-legged Cormorants, Black skimmers and red-headed Turkey Vultures.

Mid morning we decided to proceed down to Laguna Grande, a fisher settlement and then took a path through the dunes eastwards back to the PanAm. The area was desolated and incredibly barren but scenic.

Past Guadalupe we reached Ica where we turned off to Laguna de Huacachina with plenty dune buggies racing on very high dunes – adrenalin galore for the visitors. The laguna itself looked rather dull and polluted.

As we drove further south on the PanAm Sur we passed the viewing tower which we ascended to have a view of the three Nasca line formations that can be seen, albeit not very well. They were supposed to be the hands, the lizard and the tree. We could really only make out the hands(but had a good view from the air next day).

Reaching Nasca we made a flight reservation for early morning and then put up our camp at Hotel San Marcelo, negotiated the use of a bathroom and enjoyed their pool.

Next morning we left early to the Nasca airport and took the flight across many of the Nasca formations.The arid area is colourful from the air, Nazca itself not the most beautiful town. The first geoglyph we identified was the whale.

Besides the many geometric figures and lines, which reminded us of landing strokes and signage for alien craft visiting ( although apparently used by the Nazca for rituals praying for rain) we could clearly make out the “Astronaut” figure cut into a hill side and the large monkey geoglyph.

Other animal figures included the hummingbird, Condor and spider.

It was a rough flight but worth getting a proper overview on the extend of the many geoglyphs,lines and symbols drawn into the landscape at Nazca and we could not but wonder, how they were made without an aerial view at the time, as they are really only clearly recognisable from the air. As we returned we had a glimpse of excavations dating back to the Nazca people and the entry points of the Cantalloc aquaducts built by the Nazca.

This post cover the period 14th to 17th December 2016

Peru 10: Along the Northern Coast to Lima

Note from the Editor: We have upgraded WordPress and suddenly all line breaks are omitted which makes the text difficult to read – we apologise for this inconvenience until we find a solution. .

The northern coast of Peru is barren and mostly desert. Nevertheless it offers much to see in the form of museums,pyramids, temples and adobe cities of past civilisations.

Die Nordküste Peru entlang des Pazifischen Oceans bietet viel Sehenswertes. Überreste vergangener Zivilisationen zeugen von Besiedelungen weit vor den Inkas und Moche.

We left our favourite camping site Swiss Wassi at Zorritos where I tried to solve my Apple-harddrive storage problem without much success but got my backup drive operational again.

Around Mancora

We drove through Mancora, did essential shopping in Sullana, then drove via Piura and the Desierto de Sechura, past Lambayeque and Chiclayo (in very strong winds-dust & sand everywhere) and decided to call it a day in Pacasmayo where we found camping at El Faro Adventure Resort -beautifully overlooking the ocean and known for its very good surfing and windsurfing conditions (one of the longest wind-surfable waves in the world). Jenny, the owner explains that it was started by her father and today her sons are also involved. For US$40 you could rent all windsurfer gear from Jaime, the instructor.

Beautiful view -super waves

El Faro -The Lighthouse

Next we made our way via the village of Magdalena de Cao, celebrated because of Señora de Cao – probably the only female queen of the Moche period and her grave was not plundered and the mummy intact.

Xmas was coming -also to this remote region

Her grave was in the El Brujo Archaeological Complex, with its Moche temple and grave at El Brujo (400-800AD)

Then our route took us back via Santiago de Cao to the camping site in Huanchaco, where we made our base again at Huanchaco RV Gardens Hospedaje

Meeting Willi & Gabi Cordes again -nicknamed the “bomberos”due to the fire red vehicle.

From here we explored Chan Chan – the biggest adobe city in the world where part of the mud walls are still preserved and it is possible to see the extend of this once flourishing city during the Chimú Kingdom period.

It is an Unesco Heritage site since 1986. This city was only captured by the Incas 1470 after they cut off the water supplies to the 100 000 inhabitants.

South of Trujillo we visited the pyramids Huaca de Sol y Huaca de la Luna, the biggest adobe structures built in the Moche cultural period. Approx 130 million adobe bricks were used, each with the signature of the provider in it. As with Chan Chan the years of very wet El Niño period wreaked havoc with the mud constructions, which are now under roof to a great extend while being excavated and partially restored.

Research has revealed that these temples where used mainly for blood ceremonies where captured warriors blood was drunk by the high priests of the Moche. The ancient city in the area, Cerro Blanco, is named after the whitish vulcanic peak behind Huaca de la Luna.

We carried on via Chimbote and to the coastal town of Tortugas, where we had a special lunch at Restaurant Tarawasi. Run by Julian, a Spaniard, and his Peruvian wife, they cooked up a tasty meal of seafoods.

They have rooms to rent but unfortunately there is no camping, so we continued through Huarmey and stopped again on the coast,where we had previously camped at km228 before Barranca. The local fisherman welcomed us once more to his beach area.

Scenic but a lot of litter spoils the setting – a manifestation of the world-wide problem of pollution of the oceans and with that the remote coastal areas.

At 7am the fishermen launched their boats and we decided to push on to Lima – along the PanAm running along the dunes dropping straight down into the ocean.

We were not looking forward to visit the 30mill inhabitants of Lima, but our entry into the city was smooth and with luck we found Llantas Heintz without too much of a problem – here we hoped to find the same Coopers tires to replace the burst one. We were not disappointed: an absolutely professionally run operation, third generation Japanese owned operation and within 2 hours we left with 2 new Coopers tires, wheels balanced and rotated. If ever you have a need for new rubbers -try them.

After successfully getting new wheels we proceeded to the suburb of Miraflores where we camped in the parking space of the Hitchhikers and Backpackers Hostal . We parked and slept in our vehicle – only annoying part was that each person entering has to ring the bell -which goes virtually right through the night and is next to the vehicles – we had quieter nights on our trip. Bonus: very close by was an excellent Sushi place (Edo Sushi) and we really enjoyed having something different to eat after 8 months on the road.

Hitchhikers and Packpackers Hostal

On the following day we decided to do a walking tour with one of the walking tours organisations starting at Kennedy Plaza, Free Walking Tours – it is a service which is tip based and you decide how much it was worth to you. The walkabout was most interesting, well organised and professional -worth doing.

We visited the central Plaza where the presidents palace is, did some Pisco tastings and sampled different chocolates. We visited the Mario Vargas library, the old post office and railway station as well as churches in the area.

Before we departed, we visited the 3-storey computer centre close to Kennedy Plaza and finally got some advice of how to fix my Apple-external harddrive problem. About 100 shops offer all you need in computer and communications at this centre.

This post covers the period 7th -13th Dec 2016

Ecuador 6: The Butterflies in Mindo

Mindo also offers an excellent opportunity to see many of the butterflies of Ecuador. A good place to start is at the local mariposarium (Butterfly Garden).

Südamerika’s Schmetterlinge sind prachtvoll. Mindo bietet dafür eine gute Gelegenheit im Schmetterlingspark, welcher etwa 2km ausserhalb des Dorfes liegt und auch per Fuss zu erreichen ist.

Enjoy!

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At the butterfly sanctuary we saw, amongst others,Papilio thoas, Owl butterflies on a tree trunk, Morpho elenor,Celtinas with their transparent wings,the red and black Heliconius melpomene toma.

Following our visit to the butterfly sanctuary, we departed and drove from Mindo via Santo Domingo de los Colorados to Quevedo, where we found a parking spot inside the security area of Hotel Presidente owned and run by Señor Wellington and his wife Sunet. Pictures on the wall testified of better times when even presidents of Ecuador stayed over here. Today it is no longer in the class for presidents, but we were happy to camp in the yard and use a room’s bathroom, all for US$8 for the night. It was quiet and safe.

Hotel Presidente -found a safe campsite in their parking at the new part being constructed

Next day we travelled from Quevedo to Babahoyo, then on to Milagro (past Guayaquil). On the way on a very busy single lane road a rear tyre burst and we were somewhat nervous while changing the wheel due to the traffic of heavy vehicles.

Heavy traffic in both directions -not a good place to change a burst tyre

Our next stop was past Naranjal where we camped at Kaluz Hosteria and Spa with the hot Balneario de Aguas Termales in walking distance, which were run by the local Shuar people in the village. Breakfast was included in the tariff at Kaluz and we were permitted to use the clean bathroom of a vacant cabaña. The breakfast consisted of a piece of indescript queso (cheese) and deep-fried platanas, a bland and fairly tasteless banana – not quite what we would normally have ordered if there had been a choice.

Camping at Kaluz

A wonderful specimen of a Travellers Palm in the Kaluz gardens

The Shuar are part of the Jivaro tribe, known for the shrunken head trophies which were only outlawed in modern times by the Ecuadorian and Peruvian governments.

Balneario de Aguas Termales

From Kaluz camp our route took us back to the trunk road and on the way we spoke to Shuar farmers harvesting the large red cacao fruits.

Harvesting Cacao fruit

On her way to school

Then on to Santa Rosa, from there to Arenillas and ultimately to the border at Huaquillas from where we aimed to get to Zorritos in Peru for the night, knowing that a pleasant campsite awaited us. Border formalities were without any hitches although it took approximately 2 hours.

Soon the magnificent trees of Ecuador started making way for boring banana plantations as we got closer to the border

Post cover period 4th to 6th December 2016

Ecuador 5: Hummingbirds (Colibris) and other Birds in Mindo

South America is endowed with beautiful birds – hummingbirds and colibris are just one of the many groups present. So we had to find a spot that would allow us to observe some from close by.

Südamerika hat eine Vielzahl schönster Vogelarten. Die Familie der Kolibris ist eine der faszinierensten Gruppen. Wir hatten gehört das auf unserem Weg gen Süden der Ort Mindo dafür bekannt ist. Aber vorher musste noch etwas am Wagen getan werden.

Galápagos felt like a 14 day holiday for us being on the ship. For a change we had super bathroom facilities, a roof over our heads and all food that was prepared for us in place of having to cooking outside no matter what the weather conditions were. By now we had travelled 7 months in our vehicle and we had done just over 21 000km exploring 6 countries.

However, a few things needed fixing before we could continue – especially our fridge. Luckily parts had arrived in Ibarra when we got back and we could get them out of customs for the moderate sum of US$130. This amount was little in comparison to the DHL courier freight costs from South Africa for the few items we needed. Fellow traveller Stefan Sigl assisted to get the compressor brazed back into the fridge circuitry ( with assistance of local technicians in Ibarra), we also repaired the ARB air compressor ( the over-heating protection sensor failed) and did general maintenance, cleaning, washing etc. Then it was time to say our goodbyes to new friends we had now met going up north and coming back south and a good occasion was a farewell braai! Not to forget Fred & Elisabeth Smits from New Zealand in their 1957 Mercedes who had to leave their trailer behind to be able to tackle the high Andes.

View from Finca Sommerwind

Stefan & Petra at Finca Sommerwind Ibarra-1

Farewell Petra & Stefan

Our route took us past Ibarra, Otavalo, Cayambe, then past Quito to Mindo, where we camped in the parking area of Jadin El Descanso hostal where we hoped to be able to observe hummingbirds in their extensive gardens. Mindo is a good place to see birds as everywhere are bushes and flowers and many restaurants and hostals put out feeders that ensure that Colibris have sufficient nourishment in the area. We were not disappointed – despite it raining almost all the time.

White-necked Jacobin

A pair of White-necked Jacobins

Rufus-tailed Hummingbird

Rufus-tailed Hummingbird

Green-crowned brillant Hummingbird

Green-crowned Woodnymph

White-whiskered Hermit

Unidentified -please advise if you know

Unidentified -please advise if you know

We were able to identify the following Colibris: Andean Emerald, Green-crowned brillant Hummingbird, Rufous-tailed Hummingbird,Green-crowned Woodnymph,White-necked Jacobin and White-whiskered Hermit.

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Post covers the period 28th November-6th December 2016