Dec. 9th-Coming into Lima-A change and a new beginning

 The area around Caral is desert and an elevation of 800-1000 feet. Wind swept sand seeks refuge in the crevices of the stone mountains. Not a very hospitable place to develop a civilization of 4000 inhabitants that lasted over 1000 years

 One of the center stones between ritual pyrimids. The pyramids mimic the surrounding mountains and they, in an of themselves are considered sacred, power spots.

 Modern day removal of dried cane sugar from the farm lands. Note the age of the well kept truck.

Corn, the mother crop, laying out in the sun to dry. Beautiful.

 A house perched upon the top of a HUGE rock in a river. Note the spiral staircase. Anyone interested? Small tax lot.

The "zorro plateado"(silver fox)in honor of my Dad gets a washinging today and is ready for a 6 AM loading and flying south.

 The Hotel Antigua de Miraflores in Miraflores, Lima, Peru. Two days of luxury with a bath tub, shoes polished by the door and wonderful beds. Not the typical travel mode for me.

The last few days have been a whirlwind. First a stay on the Peruvian coast, 3 hours north of Lima at Barranca and a day visit to Caral, the oldest civilization in the Western Hemisphere.(5,000 years old) then a calculated early arrival on sunday morning into Lima with its horrendous traffic issues.(And getting stopped and hit up for 'speeding in front of a school'(on a sunday?) Cost me $38.00-street price- wish I had a helmet camera and caught it on film- that would have cost the policeman his job) Then a two night stay at an old and well appointed hotel in Miraflores, the upscale section by the water in Lima followed by a 5:45 departure for Jan to the airport and me toward Nazca 7 hours south. Jan Gunn has been my travel partner for the last month- from Quito to Lima. She's ridden through mud and rain, barren desert and high winds with nary a peep (she told me tonight she meditated ALOT) along the trip. I know that on occasion she also slept cause her helmet would slowly fall on my back. Not to be bothered by twisty mountain roads she moved gracefully through every turn, whether awake OR asleep! A couple of pictures of Caral, the desert civilization that seems to have caused quite a ruckus in Archeological circles since it has caused a re-think of previous interpretations of time,place and development of different cultures of the Americas.