Back to my home page 

In the summer of 1998, after an observing run at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Andy Stephens and I made a road trip up the desert coast of Peru north from Lima, into the heart of the Andean Cordillera around Huaraz, and over the Cordillera Blanca.  These web pages present some of the images from that trip. The guide below will tell you what is on the web now and when it was added.

A brief note on equipment used: Cameras:  Nikon F4s and N90 and an Olympus XA. Nikkor lenses of focal lengths 20, 28/85, 80/200, and 300 with occasional use of 1.4x and 2.0x tele-extenders. Filters: polarizing filter primarily on the coast, UV filters and 81A, the latter again primarily while on the coast with fog or overcast.  Also, a Singh graduated neutral density filter.  Gitzo carbon fiber tripod with Kaiser ball head, Kirk quick-release mounts.  The film was mostly Velvia with some Provia.  Some of the Velvia was pushed one stop to ASA 100.  The slides were scanned with a Nikon LS2000 scanner and SF-200 batch scanning attachment.  Subsequent digital processing was done with Photoshop 5.0 and 5.5.  Adobe Image Ready was used for the conversion to jpegs.

 

Mountains and Lakes above the town of Huaraz:  These images were taken during one magnificent sunset and on two trips across the Cordillera Blanco east of Huaraz.

The Avalanche at Yungay and Scenes from the Surrounding Countryside.   This was the greatest natural disaster to hit South America.  The surrounding countryside is quiet and peaceful.
Chavin de Huantar:  East of Huaraz and across the Cordillera Blanca, the Chavin culture flourished more than 2500 years ago with wide-spread influence throughout what is today Peru.
From Huaraz to the Coast Over the Cordillera Negra - scenes along the highway that links Huaraz with the coast via a high pass over the Cordillera Negra. 
Cerro Sechín, its stone wall of carved monoliths, and the nearby site of Pampa de Las Llamas - Moxeke Complex.  These date from about 1300 B.C.E.
The sites of Paramonga and Pañamarca on the Pacific coast a few hundred kilometers north of Lima.  Pañamarca is a Moche site and is the older of the two.  Paramonga is a Chimu site.
Trujillo, is on the Pacific coast about 550 km north of Lima. There are many well restored colonial buildings around the city center and a significant number of pre-Inka ruins nearby.
La Huaca Arco Iris, o La Huaca del Dragon - a Chimu site on the northern outskirts of the coastal city of Trujillo and not far from Chan Chan - the center of the Chimor kingdom.
Chan Chan, On the coast just north of Trujillo, this city, the largest in the pre-Conquest Western Hemisphere, was the center of the Chimor kingdom.

Sipan, North of Trujillo in the Lambayeque Valley lies the Moche site of the tomb of "El Senor de Sipan". Discovered in 1987. this tomb is remarkable as the only major site in Peru that had not been looted or distubed. Many of the precious artifacts are in display in the gold room of the Bruning Museum in Lambayeque.
Las Huacas del Sol y de la Luna - The "Temples" of the Sun and Moon, two immense solid adobe constructions, are on the Río Moche, just south of Trujillo. They are Moche sites.
The Desert and the Road - scenes along the Pan American Highway as we rolled north from Lima through the great coastal desert of Peru.
Back to my home page