The Desert Highway

Last time I came north on the Pan American highway, in August last year, I hated the desert landscape, dreary and uninspiring.

What a difference the sun makes. The Pacific coast is amazing, dunes which are mostly rock with a sprinkling of sand on top and so many colours - dull washed out yellow, gray gravel, black rocks poking through and copper streaks and patches adding warmth. Add to that a line of white surf as the Pacific waves break on their first shore line for thousands of miles and a blue blue sky. It's truely beautiful.

The hills and the dunes are endlessly different shapes and sizes, sculpted by what little moisture falls and El Nino events. Later we see "proper" sand dunes like whipped cream that has set in folds. We see much desert with no human sign of life other than the road and the power pylons keeping pace alongside. But on the shore, bird life is bustling along, with small wading birds running in and out of the surf to feed.

And then as one becomes used to the sterile beauty of the desert, suddenly splashes of vibrant green and red flowers where water makes the desert flush with life. Bizarrely this bare area of Peru, exports food like asparagus, because with water the desert is fertile.