Much of the Pan-American Highway in Northern Peru is incredibly unexciting. Straight for tens of kilometers, it weaves its way through farms, desert, and some non-descript villages. But, mostly, it’s desert, and not the spectacular type, with huge sand dunes. Just flat expanses with some shrubs and some thorny trees. 

We had the misfortune of passing through a leg that was under construction. A distance which would normally take no more than an hour to cover was taking over a couple of hours. It was getting dark and experience tells me, it’s not a good idea to look for a camping spot in the dark. Even the simplest obstacles can become colossal dilemmas. So, when we saw the first way off the highway, into the desert, we followed it. 

The Pan-American Highway is at the top of the frame here, in the distance. We drove a couple of kilometres through the sand, to stop behind some small trees. You can see from the tire marks that I got stuck at one stage and, it was a little bit of a struggle to get out. 

The next morning we were headed to Iiescas nature reserve. It’s one of the lesser known coastal reserves in Peru, but one of its more spectacular. The key detail though? It’s remote! About 40 kilometres of pure desert roads take you through to the last drivable point. After that, it’s only by foot or on a quad. 

Iiescas is vast. It’s wild. And, it’s spectacular. It’s one of these places where you feel the overwhelming power of nature. The waves in the ocean are huge. You don’t even think for a second to go in. You’ll either get swallowed up or smashed on some underwater rock. 

On the first day we made it towards one of the points which I was most excited about. A beach filled with sea-lions. I’d been here before and was treated to a beautiful sunset three years ago. This time, we were minutes too late to make photos. We fell asleep in the camper to the grows, snorts and screams of the sea-lions, the crashing waves and the howling wind. 

The next morning was a disappointment as far as weather goes. I was hoping for a wonderful sunrise, just like the one I had three years ago, but, it was not to be. 

The sea-lions were there though. It seemed like there were many more than last time. Three years ago, they didn’t seem to completely fill up the beach, but this time, there was no space to move. 

I remember that there was a secret way down, shown to me by the park rangers. It was somewhat challenging. You had to use a rope to help you get down. The rocky cliff you had to climb down was slippery because of the sea breeze and all the bird excrement on it. 

I went down, with the idea of getting closer to the sea-lions. But, I forgot one important detail. Last time I was here, the tide was low and I could walk around the rocks, which were now in the water due to high tide. I climbed back up, we saw the sea-lions from above and I decided to change our location for the evening. 

There was another place to watch sea-lions, but the beach there was much more accessible. Sure we couldn’t bathe, but at least Mia would be able to play in the sand. I parked on the edge of an elevated area. Above a sand dune. That’s the best view we’ve had from the camper so far. 

The sunrise might have been depressing, but the sunset was turning out to be spectacular. Of course, I wanted to photograph some of those sea-lions. They were all hanging out on a huge rock in the ocean. How much I love drones. It’s amazing how far they allow us to push the boundaries of photography and video. 

I got up pretty close to those sea-lions. They seem to be very chilled with the drone, until you get within just a few meters with it. You can actually never get so close physically. As soon as they see a human come up within 20 meters or so, they immediately move into the water. 

The sunset and Mia decided to play on the beach. This was her first time on a beach since we… I don’t even remember when. It’s been close to 2 years. For me, it’s been weird to be away from an ocean or a sea for so long. As someone who has pretty much grown up on the coast in Sydney, and has not been away from the coast for more than a year, since… well, since I was 10 years old, I was happy to feel the wet sand under my feet. 

Mia was happy too. Ecstatic in fact. The jubilation of a child reminds us to appreciate these things. She kept splashing around in water and running around the dunes until it got dark. 

The wind again calmed down, as the night progressed. A beautiful, serene scene with not a soul around for miles. 

I thought of spending the whole of the next day on this beach, but late in the morning, the clouds came to cover the sun and the wind picked up again. We decided to continue driving to our final destination – Mancora, in the North of Peru. 

The crosses on the hill facing the ocean are there for the fishermen who died in these rough waters. Some very sobering news in relation to this reached us as soon as we arrived in Iiescas. A boat had turned over close to the beach. The waves were far too rough and the fishermen, not experienced enough to realize that they should just stay back and wait. One man was found on the beach, drowned, right away. Two survived and one was still missing. 

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After three days at Iiescas, he was still missing. His family and friends were desperately searching for him, hoping that he would turn up somewhere, alive. 

There are many reminders of how death in the desert. Dead turtles, plenty of dead fish, pelicans, even the spine of a whale. Just like the garbage that people throw out, the death is on display. It has no place to hide. 

We decided not to drive out of Iiescas completely that day. We stayed in the desert, but a little closer to a road. The landscape was full of small trees and burrows. Tanya cooked dinner and threw some chicken bones next to one of those trees. As the sun set, a fox appeared out of nowhere and started to work on those left-overs. Then came another fox, and another. Wild-life watching, even in the most unexpected of places. 

When you’re not in a rush, it’s quiet and all your senses are switched on, you notice little things like these. The light from the camper is orange color, so it created this interested tint on the sandy ground behind the car. Far behind those hills is a huge mine of some sort. Red light right next to me. White light in the distance, the silhouettes of the hills… An interesting photo, precisely because it’s a little unusual. 

The next day we visited a beach amidst mangroves, but we decided to stay the night near another beach. A statue of an octopus and two flamingoes welcome you. 

Sadly, on the beach itself, what welcomes you are piles of washed up rubbish and more left-over rubbish further from the shore. Oh, and dead birds. Many dead birds, not only in the wild desert, but all along the coast of Peru. 

We weren’t in a huge rush to reach Mancora, so the next day we drove slow. We tried to stick to the coast-line as much as possible. One of the coastal towns was called - La Tortuga (The Turtle). 

La Tortuga is a fishing village, but not much fishing was happening on the day, because the sea was too rough to go out. Only a couple of the most daring boats could be seen in the distance. A passing by fisherman told me that they were actually waiting for the waves to calm down to come back to shore. 

The fisherman also told me that La Tortuga was forgotten by the government, by the world. A forgotten, strange place, with a weird name. I guess weird sights like the one above are to be expected. 

As we drove out of the town, we passed through a fairly large area which acted as the dumping grounds for all sorts of rubbish. Once again, we faced the disappointing fact of how we - humans, seem to screw up the most beautiful of places. We drove and the dumping grounds just kept going, for about 5 kilometres. 

Next stop… The port larger town of Paita. Less forgotten than some of the other coastal settlements, it still feels like it deserves more attention that it gets. There’s a historical centre, which is half dilapidated, half taken care of, and the part away from the centre, which seems just abandoned as the forgotten settlements. 

We didn’t stick around for long, but I did have to fly the drone over the port with all the colourful boats. One could stay there for hours, getting all kinds of combinations of compositions of boats in the water. 

The next day we finally made it to Mancora, but just before that, we stopped at Organos, on a quiet beach we’d I had come across when I first entered Peru. We had a picnic of sorts, with the giant prawns that we bought in Paita. Mancora and the region right around it is like a climactic bubble. It might be cloudy, foggy, even cold around it, but in and around Mancora, it’s sunny and warm all-year-round. 

Mia was ecstatic to take her first dip in the ocean in almost a couple of years. She kept repeating how much she loves the sea. I could see the joy on her face and I understood that I made the right decision to come here after so long. 

We’re laying low for at least a couple of weeks, but we’ll hit the road again soon, barring any unforeseen circumstances. I still haven’t seen much of the jungle in Peru and there’s a lof of jungle in this country.