Driving from Arequipa to Lima – 1000 kilometers across the desert

In contrast to our drive from Lima to Cusco; from Cusco to Puno; and from Puno to Arequipa, the scenery along the 1,000 kilometers between Arequipa and Lima is fairly uninspiring. Especially in the wintertime, when you don’t even have beaches to look forward to. Thus, we drove from Arequipa to Camana, and then from Camana to Ica, with few stops along the way.

Sand Storm Zone - a frequent sign along the way.

It took us about six hours of driving along the coast to get from Camana to Ica. We hoped we would at least have a great meal of fresh fish along the way, but the fishermen along the way told us the sea had been too rough to go out. So, we had lunch at a roadside restaurant that consisted of lapa (a shellfish) stew for Nando and estofado de pollo (chicken stew) for the rest of us. The food was decent, but the bathroom was horrible. Luckily, we found a nice, clean bathroom at a gas station a little further along. The kids proclaimed it must be the cleanest bathroom in Peru.

Occasionally, you get a nice view of the wintry beach

Near Nazca, you go far enough inland to actually see the sun!

The one thing we wanted to do along the way was to stop at La Huachachina, a small town outside of Ica, where you can go sand boarding. We made it into town just as the sun was setting, but took the kids to see the lagoon and sand hills despite the darkness, as they were very excited about playing in the sand.

We stayed at The Silva House, a decent hotel that is one of the more reasonably priced in this touristy town. We also had dinner there, and I was glad to have criollo (coastal) food as I prefer it to serrano (mountain) cuisine. We woke up early to do our sandboarding and sand buggy tour early. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and was surprised to find that the purpose of the sand buggy is not simply to get you from one sand dune to another, but is an adventure ride. I found myself screaming in sheer terror as the sand buggy began to speed across the dunes and up and down hills. Admittedly, it was fun. But, also scary.

Tatiana, Raymi, and Soraya with the sand buggy

Tatiana and her sand board!

Our sand buggy driver, Gustavo, took us to a large sand dune and showed us how to ride down the dune flat on our stomachs. Nando went first, then the twins. I was still a bit scared, but did it next, as Raymi was too scared to ride down the dune. It was thrilling, but also scary. Kind of like a roller coaster. Raymi decided not to ride down, and instead ran down the big dune. Raymi only slid down one dune – the smallest of the three.

The whole experience took about an hour, which was plenty for me. The girls wanted a bit more, so we let them play on one of the huge dunes while Nando and I went to pack up the car. I bought some delicious tamales and we began our 300 kilometer drive towards Lima.

La Laguna at Huacachina

We stopped for lunch in a fabulous roadside restaurant at Kilometer 92 of the Panamericana Sur called “El Buen Horno.” The grounds are beautiful, with green grass and fields – an oasis in the middle of the coastal desert. In addition, there is a trampoline for the kids to jump on as well as these roadster tricycles that they could ride. The kids were very glad to burn off some energy while we waited for lunch. El Buen Horno specializes in bread, and their cheese bread is amazing. We ordered three sandwiches – chicken, beef, and ham and cheese. They were quite tasty. To my surprise, Nando’s dish – tallarin saltado con lomo (beef with noodles) – was the best. Honestly, it was the best tallarin saltado I have ever tasted. The beef was tender; the noodles and vegetables were perfectly cooked; and the seasoning was just right with hints of soy sauce and ginger. Satiated, we relaxed a bit before continuing on to Lima.

Raymi and her roadster tricycle

Just before entering the city, we stopped to get the car washed. That took nearly an hour, which meant it was too late to return the rental car. The Budget office in San Borja closes at 4:30pm on Saturdays, and doesn’t open again until Monday. We had the option of returning the car to the airport. However, after getting a bit lost and driving around the seedy neighborhood of El Agustino for half and hour, we decided to head straight to my sister-in-law’s house in Comas and wait to return the car on Monday.

Looks like we're back in Lima

Hillside "barrio joven" in Lima near Zarate

We arrived at 6:30pm, after a long day of driving, and were glad our road trip was finally completed. It was an amazing drive, but I am looking forward to doing the next leg of our trip – from Lima to Piura – by bus, where we can all sleep and let someone else worry about the driving.