Reserva Nacional de Paracas - el suelo lunar

Reserva Nacional de Paracas - suelo lunar, originally uploaded by fake fotos.

After Huacachina I headed south to fly over the Nazca Lines. My bus passed an airplane that had to make an emergency landing on the highway. I´m sure that sort of thing happens all the time.

After flying over the Nazca Lines, which was amazing, there is not much to see in Nazca and it was beastly hot. My guide advised me to take the next bus out of town. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for the town itself. From there I caught to bus to Pisco, the epicenter of the August 15th earthquake. A friend in Huacachina informed me that the government of Perú has emergency funds allocated for earthquakes over 8.0 on the Richter scale. The initial reports, according to said friend, came in at 8.4. After some consideration, the official score was 7.8 or 7.9. Just below the level needed to distribute funds. Close, but no disaster. A crazy conspiracy theory or just another notch on the belt of corruption?

The above photo was taken in La Reserva Nacional de Paracas, just outside Pisco. Perhaps some of my favorite scenery in Perú. The whole coastline is a long expanse of desert with shades of red thanks to iron and mineral deposits. Not unlike the red planet.