Day 38 - Sunday 27 February

Dropped Jo at the airport. She is taking home important despatches such as the first 37 days of this log. The idea was for me to e-mail it home every two or three days, but the necessary grasp of the technological intricacies of South American telephone systems, as installed in hotel bedrooms, has thus far eluded me. So I cheated and sent Jo back with a flash card.

I have spent the rest of the day with Larry the trusty laptop, together with our roadbook notes, working out whether we can fit the various good bits of route into a coherent whole, while leaving it practicable for the vintage cars and enjoyably different for the 4x4s.

The good news is, yes we can. I have pretty much decided to cut out the rest day at La Paz in order to put in an extra overnight for everyone at Huancayo. The pre-1950 cars will have a whole rest day in Potosí and then take a shorter route to La Paz, missing Sucre. They will also have only half a day in Cusco (plus the Machu Picchu trip), and will split the long and demanding Cusco- Ayacucho leg at Andahuaylas.


Day 39 - Monday 28 February

Another day of legwork in Lima. Morning coffee with the British Ambassador, Roger Hart - he's very supportive and I collect my mail. Then an excellent second meeting with Miguel Gamarra, Vice Minister of Tourism, whom I first saw in November; his mother is British and he speaks perfect public school English. He reports good progress in his contacts with other Government departments.

An excellent telephone conversation with Alfonso Florez, effectively the head of Peruvian motor sport, who has been an enthusiastic supporter since we met in November. Finally, a great evening with three of the leaders of the classic car movement, who looked after me very well last time.

Mitzi has spent the day at the Mitsubishi dealers, having a thorough make-over. She certainly looks rejuvenated when we pick her up.

Tomorrow we will be four days late on my forecast schedule when we leave Lima. That's not too bad as we were that back at Foz do Iguaçu.


Day 40 - Tuesday 29 February

A disappointing day. First, a very late start because I had to finish some paperwork. Then we go up a mountain road near Lima which had looked a promising medal section, but which gets slower and slower. Finally, after a couple of hours, a local tells us that it's five more hours' drive to rejoin the Panamericana highway. We give this one up and backtrack, finally leaving Lima southwards on the Panamericana at five pm.

Tonight, at German's suggestion, we've checked into the small seaside resort town of Paracas, just off the main road. It's a delightful spot, whose excellent Pisco Sour and fresh seafood are at least a partial compensation.

No-one proposed to Jingers, so he remains a frustrated bachelor.


Day 41 - Wednesday 1 March

One reason we stayed at Paracas was that the map shows some promising looking gravel roads to the south. These start out promisingly, with excellent smooth surfaces through the stunning coastal desert terrain of a major nature reserve, but sadly the good roads peter out.

We have, though, found a great 70 km section for 4x4s, with spectacular scenery, deserted sandy beaches perfect for skinny dipping (but watch out for the tourist police), and some terrific driving on desert roads to a small fishing encampment on the shores of a broad lagoon, where little shops will become impromptu restaurants and fry you fish straight from the sea - one of those gastronomic treats you don't get on the package tours.

But all this took a lot of time to explore and chart, and it was five o'clock again before we got back to the Panamericana - just seven km from where we had left it the previous evening. So we hit the road for another southward dash, this time to Nasca.

This evening we met Josué, a local teacher who knows a lot about the roads round here. He has produced some promising detailed sketch maps of possible rally sections we can explore.

Lovely hotel, nice pool, Pisco Sours at nine on the Richter scale. These have become an evening institution for us - a great drink to get rid of the dust and loosen the stiffness of a long hot day on the road.

In Paracas Nature Reserve	Deserted beach in Paracas Nature Reserve - no ice cream or donkeys here
Fishing encampment at Laguna Grande	Jingers enjoying the morning's catch

Day 42 - Thursday 2 March

The Nasca Lines were drawn out in the desert as much as 2,000 years ago, but no-one knows by whom or why. They are shallow troughs and ridges made in the desert floor, which here consists of small rocks, stones and coarse sand. As it virtually never rains here, and the land is too barren and awkward for human use, such patterns remain undisturbed for centuries.

There are many straight lines and geometrical patterns (particularly 'runways' of long trapezoidal shape), together with a number of stylised images of birds and animals. They cover an area of dozens of square miles; each figure is maybe thirty to fifty metres across.

The Panamericana crosses the lines, and there are a viewing tower and a hilltop viewpoint where you can see something of the lines near the road; but the best way to see them is from the air. A fleet of light aircraft awaits the tourist at Nasca airport. We carried out a dawn raid, and I can report that, at US$55 for a 35-minute flight, it is good value. I made tentative arrangements with them to offer this to all our participants.

Then it was the usual tour of the town to see the municipal council - as usual, very helpful - and the hotels. Here we met a setback. Two of the establishments undergoing refurbishment - both beautiful old countryside haciendas - look to be way behind schedule, and we certainly can't rely on being able to use them next year. The Nazca Lines hotel is super, though.

But at the town of Ica, which we passed through 150 km back, there are a couple of good hotels, which actually fit in quite nicely with the Paracas 4x4 section. We trudge back north, see and like the hotels (one of which is in an oasis community at Peru's best wine-growing bodega), and then head south again.

Josué has come patiently with us all day, and the light is fading by the time we reach the first of his sections. Here, we stop by a 1,000 year old carob tree and explore the remains of a pre-Inca city, hidden in a lost valley, before setting out. The section itself is superb: good gravel roads twisting and swooping now through a gorge and now across the open desert.

Then we come to a big riverbed crossing. Normally it is completely dry, with a graded road across (as it will be in October 2001), but today it is impassable because of heavy rains in the mountains. We go round to find the other side, but it is dark and we fail. Have we lost yet another good section'

Not a completely satisfactory day, but good in parts. We're now five days late. Ah well, back to the pool and the Pisco Sours.

Nazca Lines Hotel	Nasca Lines monkey	'Hands' and 'tree' next to viewing tower
Roadside pause for freshly squeezed orange juice	1,000 year old carob tree - site of a time control	Lost city of Huayuri

Next: Nasca to Arica