Nick Hudson, V.P. of Operations at Hudson Restoration is currently exploring sand dunes, sunsets and sanskrit in the stunning country of Peru, set in the golden Andes mountains in South America. In fact, PERU is an ancient SANSKRIT word which means “sun” or fire.
In our next blog, we will talk about the giant Andes mountains which Peru is most famous for…but lets talk about the deserts, which are stunning, massive and also run the coastline and which hold giant alien secrets in its palate of golden sand….
The Sechura and the Atacama
To native Peruvians, the wild, vegetated and relatively wet Sechura is located in the northwestern part of Peru, between the northern border and Peru’s equatorial forests, the Tumbes. The World Wildlife Fund, however, considers the entire stretch of Peru’s desert coastline to be the Sechura, while the National Geographic Society splits the coastline into two deserts: the Sechura from the northern border to the inland city of Nazca, approximately 200 miles south of Lima, and from there, the Atacama Desert, which connects with the northern border of Chile.
The Size of Peru’s Desert
The entire desert coastline covers nearly 189,000 square kilometers (72,973 square miles) of land. The desert reaches inland between 20 and 100 kilometers (12 to 62 miles), touching the base of the west side of the Andes mountains. The widest parts of the desert lie in the southern half of the country, beginning below the city of Chincha Alta.
The Desert’s Climate and Seasons
In the north, the Sechura desert supports a small variety of shrub and scrub vegetation in its arid but relatively cool climate. The Pacific Ocean regulates the temperatures in the desert, with summer temperatures ranging from 24 to 38 degrees Celsius (75 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit), and winter temperatures ranging from 16 to 24 degrees Celsius (61 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit). The summer is dry and sunny, while winter skies are often overcast. During El Nino years, the rains in the desert can cause flooding in the rivers bordering the desert, creating lakes. In the south, Peru’s desert is one of the driest in the world and consists of sand, salt basins, lava flows and sporadic geysers. (USA TODAY)
This is a picture of Nick’s first weekend in Peru, and, as you can see…life is golden….
Stay tuned for our next Peruvian adventure with Nick as we talk about the prodigious Andes, one of the world’s longest mountain ranges laden with pre-Columbian glaciers, volcanoes and rain forests….all of which have direct and indirect affects on weather patterns across the globe!!!!
And now you know!