Shiney's Deserts

Once past the mountains it reverts to normal desert.





Here is the only transport cafe in this part of the desert :eek:




And there weren't many vehicles in their car park :D . Notice they have planted a couple of trees to make the place more attractive

 

Hi LoL, actually they have fresh food delivered daily as the big artics are driving by all day long. They travel from the tiny, but busy, commercial port of Matarani to the city of Arequipa (1.2 million population).



Arequipa is a lovely city which I shall show when I do a thread on Peru

 

Hi strongy, I'll put it in the diary :D

 

Kandy :D :D

Once you start travelling north through the desert it starts to change and becomes a lot more attractive. 400 miles further north is the town of Pisco where the famous cocktail "Pisco Sour" comes from. Around that area is the Paracus National Park which is mainly desert and some offshore islands and is well known for its marine animals, fish and birds.

The desert comes right down to the sea and fishing is the livelyhood for a lot of the locals.






The colour of the desert is golden in some areas and red in others

 

The sand even runs to the very edge of the cliffs




One of the ways to see the desert is a 4 wheel drive safari in modern vehicles




or you could do it the fun way






Of course, you could go for the larger, people mover version

 

Still travelling on through the desert another 200 miles we come to an ancient site from the Ishmay Culture from 1100 - 1500 AD.

I just can't imagine living in that sort of setting.



The remains of a Pyramid Temple



With a guard making sure we don't run off with anything!




And nearby, some Inca ruins from the 15th Century




With some people riding the unique Paso Fino horses through the ruins.

 

Another 400 miles further north are the ruins of Chan Chan. This is the site of the capital of the Chimu Empire which flourished from 1000 - 1500 AD but some parts date back to 300 AD.

Close by are also some ruins from the Moche Empire that flourished from 100 - 800 AD.

At the moment they are concentrating on excavating the some of the Moche ruins.








The city of Chan Chan covered an area of almost almost 8 sq miles with a population that has been estimated at 100,000 to 250,000. A rather wide estimate!
They have been concentrating on excavating the Tschudi Palace which we were told housed up to 10,000 people.

It is very impressive and they have cleared quite a large area of it. Some parts need you to walk on narrow ledges to get to them.



One of the many courtyards inside the palace.



And one of the corridors that goes past a lot of rooms.



As you travel north from there the desert begins to peter out as it approaches Equador (where Panama hats come from!)

 

Hi Pal
It's not only the construction that they did. We came to an area where they had dug up mummified remains. They had been wrapped in cloth in a similar way to the Egyptian mummies but they have been dated back 10,000 years!!!

They also found that they had successfully performed brain surgery (Trepanning). They know that the patients survived because the holes that were cut on the skulls were then covered in gold and the bones had grown over the gold. :eek:

 

A couple of thousand miles north east of Chan Chan is what is probably the smallest desert in the world. This is in Venezuela and is known as the Sands of Coro. It is a narrow strip of land about 3 miles wide and 20 miles long between the sea and the mountains.

The sand is very soft and a beautiful golden colour. Because there is a constant strong wind it has formed the sand dunes into lovely shapes with some of them being up to 100ft high. It is also famous for the ripples that are formed in the sand.

It was very windy when I was there so the ripples were being blown away.








It was great fun running down the dunes



but very hard getting back up