Overlanding from Lima to Cusco in Peru – Paracas, the Famous Nazca Lines, and Other Attractions

Paracas

Before heading inland again from the generally unattractive Peruvian coast, Mark, Maya, and I stopped in the beach town of Paracas on 9/11. The commercial center didn’t do much for us – it was touristy, expensive, and unfriendly – but when we arrived at a free parking lot late afternoon, we liked what we saw. This camping spot was big and relatively level, quiet, pretty, and litter free. Maybe we could stay a few days? The sun was present in a blue sky when we walked Maya, and later gloriously set over the peninsula that is Paracas National Park. Not bad…

(As always, click on or hover over the images in the galleries to read their captions.)

We watched in awe as local men pulled boats out of the water on a rusty trailer, pulled by an old, extremely noisy pickup truck, pulled by a newer truck. We deducted that they keep using the crappy, ancient truck to deal with the salty water and the fancier one higher up the beach for its power.

Mark and I had parked our camper next to a big, stationary power boat on a trailer that didn’t seem to have moved in years. It had bent axels and flat tires. We figured our spot was wise; out of the way and somewhat blocked by the trailer.

Imagine our surprise when, around sunset, a group of guys in pickup trucks arrived, inflated the tires of the trailer with a compressor powered by a generator, removed some wooden blocks, and, after a few attempts, managed to pull this mastodont with a truck pulling a truck, all the way to the street and out of sight, taking down an electrical wire along the way. The scene was insane!

The removal of the boat and trailer left us exposed and – apparently – now in the way of boats being pulled out of the water. As the pickup trucks revved their engines, skidding all over the soft sand in their attempts at pulling boats out of the water, we soon realized that one little slip or misjudgment or misalignment of boat on trailer might mean we’d get hit by a heavy projectile. Based on how Peruvians drive on official roads, we gave this outcome a chance of 90% and moved our camper further away from these uncontrolled procedures.

This was a place where we could see ourselves staying a while and – with our new Starlink antenna – finally get more work done. It was our first time in Peru, after a month and a half, that we settled for over a week, something we sporadically need and never had a problem with in other countries.

The following day brought the worst sand storm in a decade and the second-biggest one on record. Yes, it gets windy here, especially in the afternoons, but this was crazy. That once-a-year sandstorm was not something we enjoyed experiencing. Everything got sandblasted and kernels managed to get everywhere inside, even when we closed all the windows and hatches with temperatures in the upper eighties outside (30 degrees Celsius).

It was a miserable day on which we didn’t really know what to do. Leave again already? Where to? On top of that, the dust in the air was so thick, that our dish for internet couldn’t see the satellites! Maya and I braved nature’s lashing to buy groceries in town and get some exercise. The silver lining was that an Italian couple showed up in their van that day and we became fast friends!

Valeria and Davide are on a nature project in the Americas, called WANE (We Are Nature Expedition). As a journalist and photographer – and conservationists – they visit (remote) places and interview local people to spread awareness about the environment and make a positive ecological impact wherever they go.

From the moment we met them, and their dog Thabo, it clicked and we managed to spend quality time together in Paracas and later in Cusco. With all their press commitments, international engagements, and work assignments, they needed their Starlink even more than we do ours. I have heaps of respect for the pair, who manage to combine working hard with exploring North, Central, and South America on a tight schedule. We could not do that (anymore) and I certainly don’t envy them. It reminded me of when Mark and I ran a business fulltime during six of our eight sailing years… Never again!

Our new friends’ Starlink was acting up, so we gave them access to ours. An important phone interview for Valeria lead to her securing a PHD position at the university of Toronto next year. We were so happy for her and proud of her; this had to be celebrated! The wind remained heavy and the sky obscured for a handful of days, but time passed by quickly regardless.

Paracas National Park

All of us drove into Paracas National Park (dogs remaining inside the cars) on a Friday, to avoid extra tourist traffic during the weekend. Our first stop was a pink lagoon that was tricky to reach. Unfortunately, the sky was grey, so the colors didn’t really come out.

Mark and I hugged our friends goodbye here. They don’t have the luxury of time, like us, so had to keep moving. Big – and joyful – was our surprise when they headed our way in the park again half an hour later. They had changed their minds to spend more time with us. It was very cute, and fantastic! They had revised their route and schedule and concluded they could afford a couple more days in Paracas.

Since they’d already visited the area previously and had work to do, Mark and I explored the rest of the national park by ourselves, stopping at viewpoints, going for short walks, gazing at beaches, and driving all the way out onto a remote cliff.

After the Italians truly left, our two remaining days on the beach were less pleasant. On Sunday, a group of tuk tuk drivers and their families parked on top of us and partied all day, blasting loud music. We needed an extra day to recover, but our water tank was empty. Finding a five-gallon jug to transfer into our tank proved difficult and overpriced. Who would have guessed? Then, Mark’s computer kept crashing after an automatic Windows update happened overnight. He did a total reset, but still struggles with his laptop, which is under warranty in the US, but not something that can get resolved in Peru.

Huacachina

When we finally left Paracas and the coast, we had a day of driving and a little sightseeing on the agenda. Our first stop – after running errands – was the oasis of Huacachina. We had heard that it was a tourist zoo, so appreciated visiting on a weekday. It was tricky to find parking in the tight streets (now, why would they close off their big, easy-to-reach parking lot?), but once that was arranged with the necessary stress and frustration, the three of us enjoyed a stroll around the pond and a look at the dunes.

Pampa Geoglifos de Sacramento in Rio Grande

Along the drive east, we spotted a parking lot with a view towards the face of an Indian in the rocks. Pretty cool! Then, we were off again, following the wrong directions of organic maps to our end destination in Rio Grande. This got us in trouble twice, where we had to back out of skinny situations. Google had been right this time, but since it messed up earlier, we had switched navigation programs. Wrong decision…

Eventually, with the help of a friendly local, we found the narrow, bumpy access road to Pampa Geoglifos de Sacramento, a remote archeological site that we read had free and quiet camping. Except, around 10pm, a tuk tuk with teenagers showed up. They had a little party at the otherwise empty parking lot. Luckily, our fan could block out most of the music waves.

It is hot in this part of Peru! After we arrived, we hid in the camper until the sun disappeared behind the hills. At that moment, it was doable to climb the steps to the viewpoint of the Pampa Geoglyphs. It was our first glimpse of pre-Inca lines.

Palpa Lines

The following morning, we had to navigate a group of schoolchildren and a stubborn bus driver (why does he need to park on the single-lane access road while there is a perfectly fine parking lot close by?), before we could leave the Pampa area. We had planned a busy day playing tourists. I actually had to recreate our “to-visit list,” because Maya ate my first index card version.

There are a handful of stops and viewpoints to observe the Palpa Lines, which are actually older than the famous Nazca Lines (by many centuries), more abundant, and more interesting in our opinion. The geoglyphs embody people, animals, and geometric shapes and are around 2,000 years old. Maybe they are less known, because they were only discovered in 1997?

These “drawings” were created by the Paracas and Topara cultures between 500BC and 200AD and are believed to have had ritual astronomical functions. They were built by removing the darker stones in the landscape. To form lines, the indigenous peoples used straight sticks alongside their designs.

Nazca Lines

The best way to see any lines in this region is by taking a 15-minute flight over them. Because this experience is quite expensive ($70 plus local airport taxes) and is bound to make everyone motion sick (the pilot constantly tilts the plan back and forth, so every tourist gets equal chances to see the formations through their window), Mark and I stopped by an observation tower. From the top, we had a decent view of a few geoglyphs (where are the actual lines?) for a fraction of the price, while planes buzzed overhead.

Cementerio de Chauchilla

A detour over washboard roads brought us to an interesting necropolis, Cementerio de Chauchilla. It contains pre-Hispanic mummified human remains, bones, and archeological artifacts. The two mummies in the small museum were intriguing (since we had skipped the expensive Mummy Museum in Northern Peru earlier on) and the graves appeared original, but the way the human remains were organized and “decorated” was a bit strange. We heard that grave robbers had scattered these bones and skulls throughout the desert, so I’m sure they are authentic, but their presentation was too staged for us.

Acueductos de Cantallos

Our last visit for the day was one I had looked forward to: over 40 ingenious aqueducts built by the Nazca people 1,500 years ago. The aqueducts ensured the water supply to the city of Nazca and its surrounding fields, allowing the cultivation of cotton, beans, and potatoes in this arid region.

Entrance to the parking lot was blocked by a local car, so we had to back out of a narrow alley with our camper. Mark was annoyed at this situation and at having to pay more money for yet another site, so I visited by myself, while he and Maya waited in the shade. A pity, because this is definitely a worthwhile attraction.

Since it was hot at this elevation and we wanted to cover some miles (our Italian friends had ran into a serious car issue, a broken radiator, at a remote location and we weren’t sure if they needed our help, so we wanted to get closer to them, just in case), we drove for another hour into the foothills of the Andes Mountains to spend a quiet night in desert-like surroundings. It was the first time we used our Starlink antenna without any other means to get internet, mostly to chat with Valeria about their predicament.

Along a river in a canyon

It took us three days, and a nice, short detour once we knew our arrival wasn’t urgent, to reach Cusco. On day one, we dealt with road constructions, crazy truck drivers who didn’t stay in their lane, whether coming from the opposite direction or being passed by us, and crossing a pass of 15,000ft (4,500m).

The scenery lost its vegetation and gained llamas, alpacas, and vicuňas instead. In one of the towns, we closely avoided a collision with a dog and a llama. That’s why we never (want to) drive at night!

We made good progress, despite all the construction delays, but it was close to sunset (6pm) by the time we pulled into a wild camping spot by a river, out of view from the road, and settled in. Again, lots of garbage surrounded us. We used to pick up trash at free campsites, but in Peru this is a losing battle and we would never have enough space to carry it all out.

Casa Lena campground in Curahuasi

The second day of mountain driving was relatively uneventful, except for our pass through the city of Abancay, which has the worst roads we’ve ever come across in a town. Most gravel routes are more pleasant than the pothole-ridden pavement, dips, and sunken minefield that is called a road here!

Mid-afternoon, the three of us got settled at a pay campground called Casa Lena. The property is owned by a young Ecuadorian-Belgian couple that runs a non-profit educational project – with full-blown school, facilities, and volunteers – for local children in need. It’s called Oye Lena and deserves our admiration, support, and respect.

Unfortunately, the chitras (gnats, no-see-ums) were really bad, eating us alive, the water was non-potable so we couldn’t fill our tank, and, being frugal, self-contained campers, we prefer to stay in nature for free, so we only spent one night here.

A perfect river camp spot. Or not?

I’d been in touch with Ruben, an Ecuadorian man with a beautiful property along a clear, pretty river, where we hoped to spend the weekend. When we arrived around noon on a Saturday, nobody was there, so we got settled on the unlevel terrain, within earshot of the river. Later, Ruben swung by and welcomed us. We had a wonderful conversation (in Spanish) and agreed on a “voluntary” fee per night of camping in this lovely spot.

It was surprisingly hot in the valley, so we all enjoyed a refreshing dip in the river, before dealing with dinner and the like. We looked forward to a relaxing Sunday – our first in ages… What could go wrong, on private property, with all arrangements in place?

Well, the son of the owner could show up at midnight with a group of partying companions, waking us up with a start, bringing wood for a campfire by the river on his motorcycle, and – when asked what was going on – telling us that we should move. Did I mention we hate driving at night?

Knowing that there was no other easy, flat-ish spot on the property and being annoyed at this change of events, we packed up our camper in the dark, took Starlink off the roof, and retrieved our leveling boards from underneath the wheels. I helped Mark slowly back up the steep, narrow, gravel driveway and onto the road and we carefully drove to a truck stop nearby. We were settled again by 1am. Rumbling semi-trucks would leave before six. Happy Sunday!

Laguna Huaypo

No worries, this blog post ends on a positive note! By the time we reached the Cusco area and after a lot of back and forth, Valeria, Davide, Mark, and I came to the conclusion that our help was not needed, where our friends had been stranded, at remote Hidroelectrica (a crappy day’s drive from Cusco and the gateway for overlanders to Aguas Calientes, a four-hour walk away, and from there Machu Picchu – yes, this famous site is an ordeal to get to). A slow but successful plan was set in motion and we would see them in Cusco at some point.

All this is to say that we decided to spend a few calm and quiet days by Huaypo Lake, where we were not bothered the entire time. We were greeted with friendly waves from the indigenous farmers and by our first, serious hail storm, once we managed to get level on the sloped field.

This place was a nice little break from the road and before being swallowed by the hustle and bustle that is Cusco. We enjoyed our time here, despite being on edge a bit, expecting to be chased off or confronted in another way. I’m happy to say that I have nothing eventful to report!

After three days, our trio was ready for Cusco, tourist mecca of Peru. Without any expectations…

Next Up: Cusco and the Sacred Valley, as overlanders.

Curious about a previous ten-year chapter in our nomadic lives, which includes eight years aboard a 35-foot sailboat in the tropics with dogs, check out my compelling, inspiring, and refreshingly honest travel memoir: