In all of my travels through Mexico and Guatemala I had visited the Pacific and the Carribean and also the inner coast of the Gulf of Mexico. I had experienced tropical coasts and coast lines of drier climate with cactus growing near the beach. But nothing I had seen had prepared me for the coast of Peru.
     Almost the entire coast from North to South, at least the parts that I have seen, are an arid waste of gigantic sand dunes which disappear inland, resembling what can only be described as a Saharan landscape.
     Peru's coast is nearly without a port. There are no beaches, hotels, or resorts to be found. Just endless mountains of sand. I never saw sun on the coast in any of my travels, North or South, and the atmosphere is gloomy and surreal.
     Although almost unbelievable, Peruvian folklore recalls that in the time of the Incan dynasty the entire coast had been irrigated with aqueducts built and maintained by the Romans of South America. As to the authenticity of this tale, who could tell? The answers to this mystery remain buried in the shifting dunes.
ARTIST'S COMMENTARY (continued)

"The Peruvian Coast"
Sept., 1987
egg tempera on hand made paper
9 x 11.75 inches
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