Back to sea level, Peruvian beaches, and then off the Ecuador (back at 2800m)

Post Machu Picchu.... knackered sums it up. What better way to come down than to hit some Peruvian beaches..... diod not realise what an epic, epic journey it would be to go overland to Ecuador. Fun though.....

First stop from Cusco was Lima - yes, that flight with that hangover.... man.....

Lima. Shitty, gritty, big dirty city.

The main square - look closely for the riot police!

Such a shock after the pristine conditions in the Andes! Being back at sea level though was a welcome relief.... no more painful sinuses from the dry and cold, although 95% humidity is a bit much (esp for my hair), and being back at 35 degrees C was also a welcome change.... Despite the shitty, dirty nature of Lima and the bad traffic, I managed to have an absolutely great time. Fiorella, our friendly Lima host had us over for a barbeque at her place on Friday night - awesome. Just awesome.... her two daughters and her family were there and they were so welcoming. We (not me, so I use the term loosely - I took pics of her daughters) helped cooked some Peruvian food, but we forgot the guinea pig at the supermarket (durr). Salsa, Samba, Merengue - and the best part was bing able to hang out in a proper house, with a fridge. A great night....

Lucia

Maria Gracia

I learnt the hard way at about 2 or 3 am that night that my hotel room door didn´t lock. I think the unwelcome visitor got more of a fright when I sat up in bed and screamed, than I did when I realised that someone was in my room (in a dodgy city in a developing country.... lucky me). Alls well that ends well though... however, after that, I didn´t get much sleep for the rest of the night....

A typical Lima vehicle (Peru in general actually) - millions of old bugs, and every single car in desperate need of some new panels... fnd tyres, and suspension.... the taxis are the WORST.

There was a bit to do in Lima - watching the permanently stationed riot police out the front of the Palace was a lot of fun (there were hundreds, and a real tank). The cathedral was gorgeous, and the catacombs underneath creepy and full of bones. Heading out to Miaflores on Saturday was great - a beachisde suburb a lot like St Kilda - however, Lima traffic is bad. All traffic on this continent is bad, but my worst whiteknuckle, grab the leg of the person behind me and swearing moments were in Lima.... I would have been happy to alk the 15km home from Miaflores, but I was outvoted. Note about Lima. Build a city in a valley between two deserts on a cliff - you get the worst combination of sea haze/pollution ever. There was no St Kilda like vista - just white....

I couldn´t wait to leave that shitty, gritty, dirty city - it was off to the ´real´beach at Trujillo... or sort of... We stayed at Huancharro on the water - the town of Trujillo was about 20 minutes away. I was sold a 5 hour bus journey, 9 hours later I was bored, hungry, tired with a flat i-pod and an exhausted Moy next to me.... The most exciting thing I saw out the window in that time, was a white rock in the ocean. Yes my friends, 9 hours of desert to the right, and desert (with a patch of ocean if you were lucky) to your left. Fun but slightly terrifying was driving through the Army reserve - big camoflagued watch towers every 50m - it was impressively scary. Moy was exhausted because I also flattened his ipod battery, and then talked his ear off.....

The beach at Huanchorro

It wasn´t just a remote beachside town that is a fave for Peruvians (but most travellers give a miss). There are some cool archeological sites there too. Pre Incan and Incan (I am now an expert, it seems).

First cab of the rank was Huan (I think, my Quechan isn´t flash) del Sol y Luna - temples of the Sun and the Moon. Below is the temple of the Sun (left) and the temple of the Moon (BIG pile of dirt.....). Basically - pyramids made of mud brick about a million years ago and once full of cool stuff (until they got looted) ..... They look ugly because of the effects of El Nino - much rain = much erosion..... Check out the desert haze in the back......

Once they started digging, they found well preserved wall paintings. There are so old (like, as old as Christ) - it´s amazing. What I liked best was this was a remote, underdeveloped area and the archeological sites are fairly new. It{s not fancy, and it feels really real. They won{t finish excavating for at least 20 years, and then, they don{t even know how far down it goes.... I was impressed.....

The next site was Chan Chan.... Incan ruins. Absolutely massive towns that were lorded over by the Kings..... When they died, all their wives, girlfirends and concubines, and the military were killed and buried with them. Kudos to them....

The hotel at Huancharro had a pool. Recipe for disaster:

It was after this shot that Mick realised that Fiorella couldn´t swim...... and only had one dress packed with her.

Lads.... I was asked to come in and attempt a fourth layer. I wisely kept painting my toenails on the sidelines....


After the spray I gave the waiter about my breakfast, I can never go back to that hotel in Huanchorro. Avoid people, avoid, at all costs. I{m too scared to write it down for fear of being sued (rude f%cker that he was). I wish that I´d had clothes washed so that I could not pay for laundry (again). Yes, I´m stealing things across the continent....

So my new thing to learn on this trip, is patience and tolerance, patience and tolerance.
I don{t think it helped that I had a cold and a fever, and had spent the previous 18 hours straight in bed (thanks for the room service, kids)....


The next day, more buses (with a fully charged i-pod) - about 4 hours to Chiclayo - reasonably large place, but essentially unremarkable. Enter: The Peruvian Experiment.

Unfortunately, I woke from my cold coma in a state. What usually happens in Australia is a I wake up and decide I can{t live with my hair in it´s state for one more minute and must have it cut and coloured immediately. Well, that happened in Chiclayo - of ALL places. So, I brushed up on some essential spanish (highlights, not too much off, not red, please) and headed to the local hairdressers. Julie did a top job - they pulled out the 1980 circa tipping cap and got to work. It doesn{t look that bad - it passed apparently. It feels great. It was mange after 10 weeks of abuse.... and I was only mildly anxious that the first person other than Mark touched it in over 6 years - it did feel like I was cheating on my husband...... (It looks Ok but I{m pretty sure that Mark will have a fit when he sees what has been done to it!).

From Chiclayo, the endless trek to Ecuador continued...... next stop Zorritos (little foxes in Spanish). I´ve repressed all the bus rides, but I think this was another 6 or 7 hour gig....

.... but it was worth it (check out the white dolphin to the right).....

Local boy fishing....

Instantly upon arrival, Zorritos became my new favourite place. Seriously underdeveloped, seriously remote, and seriously cool accommodation (wooden lodges, no hot showers - but ultra, ultra cool in a dirty, hippy ´oh my god there is a gecko in my bed´type way). They put on a dinner of seafood paella and salad and pisco sour for us - practically on the beach.... awesome. The best bit was before that though - kicking back in the afternoon sun and watching the sunset on the beach - the warmest water so far (love being almost at the equator).... and running up and down the sand playing chasy like a two year old (there was no one to see!). Also, the bonfire on the beach was pretty cool - the stars were amazing. I could have stayed there forever - but, the next morning, it was up early and off to Ecuador (my last stop on the continent - sniff!).

I{ve commented on my love of borders in the past - and this border was no exception. Vile, vile place. At least though we weren{t asked to bribe the officials the way we were when leaving Boliva to Peru (I´m still so scarred by that experience I´ve been as yet unable to write it in my blog).

First stop Cuenca - third largest city. Great old fashioned colonial feel and great to walk around. Yesterday was Good Friday (they are a week out of whack with Australia), and it was great to be here for it.

First, there was the never ending parade through the streets all morning ....

Mixed in with the general people watching, and sniper like photo taking of locals......

The market normally makes the streets alive, but check out the parade in the background - the town had an awesome vibe yesterday...

And in addition to the normal stalls, there were all these women weaving these palm leaf creations with flowers - I couldn{t quite get the gist, but they are some sort of offering to do with Jesus´s crucifixion.....

Ecuadorian tradition is that on Good Friday, you eat a soup of 11 grains - so we did. It was awesome and it had smoked cod in it - Wiseman, I know you´d be happy to hear that I ate smoked cod on Good Friday...To build up an appetite first - because this is the soup that eats like a meal - your fork stands up in it, we headed to the local soccer field to show the locals how it is done (ha, ha).....

Check out old mate to the left and his bemused expression.... I don´t think he´ll be asking me to join the local side any time soon.

I know that the above picture would lead the untrained eye to think that I can play soccer, but check out the ´girl prancing on hot tin roof´shot below....

What better way to end a good, clean Good Friday, complete with smoked cod, than to hit up the best steak restaurant in the country... I have no photographic evidence other than a conviction that that steak is the reason why I am NOT a vegetarian...

And yes, I{ve now eaten a guinea pig. I´m embarrassed to say that I enjoyed it, and the crunchy skin was better than pork crackling. Innocence lost... sorry Cuddles.

And right now... the trek back down the mountain to the Amazon Basin begins..... another joyous bus ride to Riobamba, coming right up.