The morning of Thursday May 5,1988 finds us enjoying a leisurely $1.50 breakfast at the elegant Hotel Bolivar, while catching up on world events with the Miami Herald. Outside, there is a scene of chaos. The latest financial crisis has people out in the streets with their entire life savings of collapsing Intis. The bank updated rates every twenty minutes. The day's rate had already fallen from 130 to 210 and it was only 10 o' clock. Since 1988,the currency has changed 3 times, usually by lopping 3 zeroes off the old denomination and then changing the name. The poor people are desperate to change everything into dollars but there's no takers. I change $40, enough to get me through the last three days in Peru.One doesn't want to be stuck with too many Intis when leaving the country as they are absolutely worthless anywhere else.

An 11 o' clock start on the southern end of the city. 52 cars and 8 motorcycles leave Lima. The most recent bike had disappeared on the Piura - Trujillo route day (while I was lost) when the racer ran out of gas. He hitched a ride to a village for a container of petrol. When he returned, the cycle was gone. The British racer becomes a copilot in someone else's car.

I am driving with a reporter for The Washington Times.

We overnight at a motel in Nazca, a pleasant little desert town by one of the true mysterious wonders of the world. For those who don't believe that extraterrestials visited this planet, a visit here may change your mind.