Huanchaco Gardens

... br><br>The next day we went into Trujillo town, not much there. We came back to pick up our bags via Chan Chan - the largest remaning mud town in the world - fairly impressive although a bit dull.<br><br>When we got back to the beach town, the sun had come out and it was glorious...but we had a bus to catch. We went for dinner in a veggie place becasue we fancies the falafels, but ended up having the meal of the day which had been described as ...

... leuke ervaring en we zullen dit zeker nog eens doen. Astrid was super in het rechtstaan op de plank, maar Ellen was beter in het blijven staan op de plank. ;-) Nadien hebben we verder genoten van het rustig leventje aan de zee van Huanchaco, een aanrader voor elke voorbijganger in het noorden van Peru.<br><br>Morgen gaan we de verschillende sites van Chan Chan bezoeken, dit is een deel van de Chimu beschaving in Peru. Nadien gaan we nogmaals de bourgondiër ...

... onto the hook... and off we went... within about 5 minutes Al had caught a fish... a big fish really - it was a Chilaco, we had no idea what to do with it, whether to let it back in or ... well, we didnt know. I tried to summon a little kid over but he just looked scared of me and ran the other way, so I went and got the lady who was really impressed and surpised that the "gringo" in town had caught a fish... we took pictures (as it was Als first time at catching a fish - despite the ...

... to stay and immediately crawled into bed. <br><br>When I finally got up to do some exploring I found that Huanchaco completely lived up to my expectations. My rather low expectations. It's a gringo hotspot and is full of cheap surfer pads, bars and over-priced restaurants. I was not so impressed, particularly as the weather was unwaveringly cloudy. <br><br>My main reason for visiting the area was to see the World Heritage Site called Chan Chan. This dates from pre ...

... the country is working towards safety, starting with a real push to get people to wear seat belts - a first for developing countries I've travelled in. Additionally, there are armed guards and police everywhere, as well as more high tech measures. Arequipa had the most of it. The town was filled with papers with tips for tourist safety and getting into a taxi from the from the bus station, I was surprised to find myself being videotaped by a policewoman. She asked for my name and where I ...

... we went on what turned out to be a hideous marathon trek outside of town in search of a cinema (the girls were eager to see the new Harry Potter). After taking several wrong turns, wandering aimlessly and asking directions from random people, we finally arrived at a very modern and attractive shopping mall, a stark contrast to the rather shabby streets leading to it. We found the cinema, only to discover that there were no showings with English subtitles. Bugger! We now had hours ...

... it, thinking nothing of it, I ch*nged * $10 bill inste*d. (I l*ter discovered in Hu*nch*co th*t I h*d * f*ke $20 note *nd *m convinced this sne*ky b*st*rd h*d switched it on me).<br><br>We were gr*teful to get out of the de*th-c*b 5 minutes l*ter, *nd m*n*ged to find the Line* offices. Luckily there w*s * bus to Chicl*yo *n hour l*ter *t 9*m so we only h*d * short *mount of time left in this horrible pl*ce.<br><br>At Chicl*yo * few hours l*ter there w*s * huge queue for ...

... them? "We can´t drop you at the terminal, we can´t get in there today" Yep, they´d stopped 4 blocks away and we found them 10 minutes later at the terminal ******* against the wheels. *******s.<br><br>Well, from here we caught the first bus to Trujillo. Again, nothing to do there unless you´re into ruins - and it was hardly beach weather.<br><br>On the bus i´d bumped into a couple that run a hostal in Huaraz, so we left our bags at a local hostal run by friends of ...