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The coastal area between Lima and Arequipa contains enough ancient ruins and unusual landscapes - including some of the best assortments of wildlife in South America - to tempt almost any traveller off the Panamerican Highway, the two-lane road that runs the entire length of Peru. Around Pisco , 200km south of Lima, the unspoiled coastline is superb for bird-watching, while the desert plains around Nazca are indelibly marked by gigantic, geometric animal and alien-looking figures scratched into the brown earth over a thousand years ago. And, off the beaten track, in the cooler hills above the desert coastal strip you can search out herds of the soft-woolled vicuna or see pink flamingos in their natural Andean habitat at the stunning Lake Parincochas . Transport is not usually a problem in this area, with local buses connecting all the towns with each other and with Lima and express buses ploughing along the coastal road between Lima and Arequipa day and night. All the major towns have a decent range of accommodation and restaurants, and wild camping is possible in many places, though only Nazca and around Arequipa have formal campsites.
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