The final time at Leo's at Punta Negra.

Leo's House, the one behind the blue gate. We have just spent the last six days there and it really was the last six days as Leo moves out next week just prior to him flying back to Australia for six months. Leo has decided to move back to Lima when he returns in April, 2009. It was rather sad as we have spent many wonderful hours at his house and it will hold fond memories for us.

Marion had a marvellous time assisting with the wrapping, packing and general cleaning of cupboards, shelves and drawers. I constantly remained on the lookout in order to short circuit any attempts by either of them to relocate items to our place of residence in Montenegro!
I may well have been accused of being rather selfish in that I did not want to have to repack anything again in January. Possibly an accurate assumption!

We had great delight in pointing out to him that now that he is leaving they are constructing a rather flash paved promenade right outside his front door and stretching all along the beach front.

When you mention the beach you have to realise that it falls a long way short of our Australian beaches. Our sand could be white or even golden, over here it is grey; our water may sparkle, over here it is grey; our skies are usually blue, over here it is grey! Nevertheless, it is still great to go down to Punta Negra and just smell the sea air and watch the Pacific Ocean pound the shore twenty four hours a day.

I have to admit that the surf is scary; the sets of very large dumpers arrive quite regularly and crash down very close to the water’s edge. If you are brave enough and do venture into the water you must do two things, stay close to the shore and always watch the incoming waves. The undertow is extremely strong. During the summer months the beach is patrolled by lifesavers, however, very few take to the water. They prefer to just sit on the sand under umbrellas.

The fishermen are amazingly patient, every time we come down there is always someone on the rocks fishing. The only time they are missing is when the waves are breaking over the rock pillars!

The brown and white bus in the foreground is the bus we use to travel down from Lima, a journey of about one and a quarter hours – depending on the number of stops. The trucks higher in the background are travelling along the Pan American Sur. This main highway virtually links all the countries of South America along the western coast. Initially it was intended to extend from the United States right through to the south of Chile.
The landscape in the background is basically what you experience for kilometre after kilometre – rock and sand with little to no vegetation.