Conquistadores Trujillo

... tienes pelo amarillo?" in a whiny voice. "Why do you have yellow hair?" I reply, "Por que mi madre tiene pelo amarillo." Because my mother has yellow hair. Not good enough. She asks again. I turn the question around. "Porque tienes pelo negro?" Why do you have black hair? She doesn't think she needs to answer and moved onto my eyes, why are they celeste? (light blue) Because God made them that way (neither of my parents have blue eyes and lying to a child seems in poor taste) She seems to ...

... tomorrow for Chachapoyas. So we turned around to head to the market when a motorcycle with two cops pulled up right beside us. The first cop jumps out and immediately separates us. 2 more cops walk up from around the corner. I could hear the guy shouting “vamos a terminal para comprar boletos” (we’re just going to the bus station to buy tickets). The cop asked me what I was doing and why I was with this guy. I told him the guy asked me questions ...

... in seafood, reading a book in cool cafes (there's a Belgian woman here running a cafe that makes perfect banana pancakes) - on the whole, Huancacho is just what I needed. Its sometimes hard to believe I'm still in Peru. The atmosphere here is so dfferent from anywhere else I've been and a whole world away from somewhere like Iquitos. The smell of the sea air and the constant soundtrack of the ocean is very relaxing.

One ...

... and I took a photo of Claire and Nicki imitating one of the designs on the outside wall. There were also several hairless dogs parading around the place for our amusement. Back in the taxi and we drove north to the third and final site, Huaca Arco Iris. This was a similar pyramid to the previous, ad was fairly uninspiring, set in a rather scratty area of Trujillo´s outskirts. There were more hairless dogs too, some flaunting their mohikans, some ...

... out with them for the day, so we were able to be bored together basically.
Ruins visited were all pre-Incan, including the sites of Huaca de la Luna, Huaca el dragon (also knows as the Arco Iris), and finally the Chan Chan ruins (massive complex of temples, palaces, workshops, houses, etc).
However the highlight of the day would probably have to be the dogs that we saw at each of the sites... hairless apart from some ...

... of nice restaurants to waste our money in.

Then another bus journey, only 6 hours to the city of Trujillo on the north coast of Peru. Not the most interesting city we have visited so we decided to stay in the little seaside resort of Huanchaco 12km from Trujillo.

Huanchaco, Peru stevemartina

After the a quiet time in Lima, our next stop was further up the Pacific coast in the surfing village of Huanchaco, 10 KM away from Trujillo. Rather than stay in the bustling town of Trujillo, we decided to base ourselves near the beach in Huanchaco and got our first hostel with ocean views! The reason to come in Trujillo was to see the Moche and Chimu culture's adobe (mud brick) cities. Our first stop was the Huaca De Luna temple, a 1500 year old complex on the side of ...

... of antiques. The menu is a cornucopia of traditional Peruvian cuisine, just about everything you can imagine. As with most buffet style restaurants, it's quantity rather then quality that counts. Nonetheless, the price is reasonable at S/. 24.00 (US$ 8.00) for all you can eat, so you can hardly miss out on this feast. Keep in mind if you want the very best in Peruvian cuisine, the Mochica ...

... with them if I couldn't get a ticket to Trujillo. Alas, I did (the bus ended up being only a third full) and I was on the Panamerican highway northbound to Trujillo. Left Lima at 9:30 pm, got to Trujillo at 6 am, was able to check into my hostel immediately (!) and took a long hot shower before taking a morning nap to get ready for some city sightseeing. Started by walking four ...

... vieille de 4000 ans, très prisée par les locaux, dont quelques spécimens en chair et en os se baladent encore autour du site.

Ensuite nous reprenons le bus pour les ruines Chan Chan (complexe Tschudi), d'origine Chimú, quelques kilomètres plus loin. Avec ses 28km², c'est la plus grande ville en adobe du monde. Et c'est grand en effet. Des kilomètres de rues, murailles, des dizaines de pièces, d'immenses plazas, des temples et maisons... Il n'y a plus un ...