Is this the way to Huacacina?

---

Leaving Lima on our southbound bys we pass through the ghetto onto the the Pan American highway which follows the entire coast N - S and that´s alot of road. Southbound it´s a never ending stretch of coastal desert, and the scale is extraordinary. Our destination, Ica, is about 250km, or 5hrs on the bus. But the seats are well comfy, Angelina is being Lara Croft on the TV so the boys on the bus are happy happy.

On route we pass through Pisco, famous for the bodegas producing wine and it´s namesake grape brandy which we ´sampled´the night before. This is where the earthquake happened this time last year...7.9 on the richter scale. The devastation is plain with hardly any building untouched. Many of the 60k population are living in charity provided tents, it´s a humbling sight to witness people stoicly rebuilding their houses. Puts things into perspective...we freak out over small fluctuations of interest rates and variations in the virtual monetary value of our homes, and I can´t help but think how badly we´d cope if faced with a natural disaster on this scale.

I´m learning that Peruvians are made of tough stuff, but there is alot of fun and laughter. We are being greeted warmly everywhere we go and have witnessed some very familiar banter and windups.

From Ica it´s a short taxi ride to Huacacina, a palm lined oasis in the middle of some serious sand dunes.

---