Today after leaving Chiclayo we crossed the Sechura desert of Northern Peru. This is a 100 mile section of road that passed through a vast expanse of flat sandy nothingness approaching the city of Piura.

Piura is a bustling city with three wheeled motorcycle taxis everywhere. We had a little run-in with a couple of local traffic police who seemed to object to the fact that we encroached on a pedestrian crossing while stopped at a traffic light. They seemed not to notice that the rest of the heavy traffic seemed to ignore any traffic rules one could think of.

From Piura north, the countryside continued dry, and desolate. We marveled that people actually seem to scratch a living from this forbidding place. Interesting Nina is reading a book about an American family trying to live a self sufficient life style on a farm. One of the interesting facts that the author shared is that the introduction of goats into the communities of Northern Peru has made a significant reduction in the the levels of malnutrition in those communities. The goats provide meat, milk and cheese and also help to re-establish the mesquite forests that were destroyed by previous generations.

Late in the day we decided to call into the town of Talara - the center of the Peruvian oil industry. I was expecting a reasonably prosperous company town. But that's not what it is. It's a dusty wind swept place with a reasonably modern center but the outskirts is just one large shanty town. A little farther up the coast we came to the small town of Lobitos where we camped for the night.