Almost more exiting than Machu Picchu and the Nasca lines was the knowledge we would get our first glance of the sea in the many months since leaving the Atlantic coast in Uruguay. After three months in Bolivia, the plan was to pass through Peru with haste, admiring the scenery from the back of the bike. That meant long days on the pan-American highway: almost 50,000 kilometres of road extending from Alaska all the way to Ushuaia in southern Argentina. The pan-American cuts through the desert along the coast of Peru. At its most beautiful it follows the wild pacific coast to the west, and winds through waves of sand dunes lining the road. At its worst rubbish lies strewn on either side dropped from passing cars in contravention of the many signs imploring drivers against this.