Beachfront Property, Super Cheap

No facilities, no services, no neighbors, no trees, no shade. But you can build right on the Pacific Ocean and your back yard is several thousand square miles of beach.

The coastal areas of southern Perú are one of the naturally driest deserts in the world. That’s because they lie west of the Andes Mountains, which are so tall that few rain clouds get past.

Perú coastline

Traveling north from Lima, the landscape is still desert yet it’s somehow different. The vast, barren desert is punctuated with larger swaths of only semi-arid land and even some quite pleasant greenery. (Areas east of the Andes, and even places like Cusco and Machu Picchu which lie in the heart of the mountains, are quite verdant and lush because the mountains capture all the rainfall.)

I think part of the difference between southern and northern coastal Perú is that, north is closer to the equator. I’m not sure why that should make a difference if there’s no significant difference in rainfall so perhaps there are other factors as well. Maybe there are more westward-flowing rivers in northern Perú.

At least on the days I traveled, there was certainly a lot more offshore fog. That could translate into misty rain but the earth’s rotation should naturally move that westward and out to sea. Unless the currents and winds are strong enough to overcome that and push the fog inland.

I know only enough geology and meteorology to make some semi-intelligent speculations so please don’t take any of my musings as authoritative. That would be a big mistake.