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<\/a>The refugio<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Our campsite overlooked the Santa river valley.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>We awoke to a great view the next morning.<\/p><\/div>\n
The next morning we resumed our drive to Lima. We would drop from over 14,000 feet to sea level in about four hours. As we descended the terrain became drier, and eventually only the river bottom had any plant life at all.<\/p>\n
We had heard reports of unusual rains in the region – Our host in Huaraz, Isabel, had warned us that the main route to Lima had been washed out earlier but had been re-opened. As we headed down the valley we saw evidence of the flooding.<\/p>\n
<\/a>We were stopped a few times as crews worked to clear the roads.<\/p><\/div>\n
That night we camped in the small Lashay Nature Refuge<\/p>\n
<\/a>The park actually has trees, which are rare on this desert coastline. Also, it’s about 500 meters above sea level, so it’s a little cooler too.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>I went for a hike around the perimeter of the park and spotted lots of birds.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>“Christ on a Crest.” Great term. Thanks Melanie!<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Picnic tables! Can’t remember the last time we had a campsite so well equipped.<\/p><\/div>\n
After a quiet night in the park we drove back to the Pan Americana and continued South toward Lima. We hadn’t planned to stop (as we visited there once before), but then we found some fun things to do with Quinn, and Jen found a family living there who wanted to meet up. We’re glad we did; we had a fun day there.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Our first stop was the electricity museum. The draw was an electric trolley, but they had lots of cool interactive exhibits too.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>I tried to explain to Quinn how this old jukebox worked, and how we have 1000x as much music stored on a thumb drive as fits in this big machine. I don’t think he got it.<\/p><\/div>\n