Driving Down The Peruvian Coast               June 23, 2013

As we were leaving Ecuador, we drove past miles and miles of banana plantations.  The bananas while still on the trees were in these blue plastic bags. These bags I found out usually contain an insecticide called chlorpyrifos to protect the bananas during their growth.  Apparently this chemical leaches into the ground after rain storms.  After the bananas are picked they are treated with another chemical before being shipped.  Good to know!

Our first stop in Peru was  Mancora, a coastal town known for surfing and its white sand beach. The main street in Mancora is also the Pan American Highway.  It is a nice little tourist town with lots of restaurants and beach resorts. We were happy to stay one night and move on as we were looking forward to going to some of the more famous archaeological sites such as the Chan Chan ruins in Trujillo.

The Peruvian coast is primarily desert with some fertile valleys here and there. These valleys are irrigated by rivers flowing down from the Andes.  For the most part the scenery is very stark along the coast very similar to the coast in Namibia, South Africa.  This stark desert coast would be the back drop for the next couple of weeks.

Mototaxi in Mancora, Peru

These traditional reed fishing boats have been used in Peru for almost 3000 years.

Fishing Boats, Chimbote, Peru