Costa del Sol Chiclayo

... are made of local fresh water reeds. They're sort of shaped like half a banana. Made by a load of strapped together reeds, with a hole in the middle for fishing paraphenalia and the day's catch. You can see them out beyond the breakers, with they seem to paddle through with infinite ease (and only a 20cm wide half bamboo pole for paddle). Then surf back in before lunging the boat back up the beach over they're shoulder's. Bearing ...

Feeling pretty tired from a sleepless night in Loja we head off at the crack of dawn for yet more bus journeys. We are making our way to Peru and have to go through our first overland border crossing...something that we were all a wee bit anxious of. We get to Mancara the border town and after the bus driver has stopped for lunch we make our way to the border, which is a bridge. There are armed guards on both sides and a sign thanking us for visiting ...

... managed to go to one of the sites I'd had earmarked from the beginning. This was a museum devoted to the Royal Tombs of the Lord of Sipan. It's an excellent and impressive museum (though I had to guess at some of the archaeological terms in Spanish) showcasing one of the largest and most important finds of the Moche (or Mochico) pre-Inca people. Numerous tombs were found in various levels of this temple, including that of the semi-god leader – the Lord of Sipan ...

... end of the 2 ― hours we were about ready to call it anyway. We must have climbed up that sand hill about 20 times each and their wasn’t a whole lot of shade in the sand on a 90 degree day. We left the hill with a lot more appreciation for ski lifts - and with lot of sand. We were finding sand on us everywhere: in our pockets, under our fingernails, even in our Kleenex when we blew our nose! We wouldn’t be able to shower until late that night and we were leaving trails of sand ...

... see the ruins we wanted to see, and get out of there again as quickly as possible.
So we managed to book ourselves a tour for the following day, and a bus leaving that evening. Two days was more than enough time in a place like this.
Again we opted for the organised tour (and with many places for havingmuch signage in english in museums and at the sites themselves you were usually more likely to get a guide ...

I had some really great pics for Chiclayo... but alas, someone in the jungles of northern Peru is probably enjoying them right now as they snoop through the laptop they stole from me. Iīll be right back I need a tissue to dry my eyes :(

Chiclayo (and the surrounding area) is home to several interesting museums and sites with artifacts from the pre-Columbian era, particularly of the Moche civilization. I took a one day tour(tour ...

... itself was supriiisiingly easy (on both sides). I say suprisingly because I had heard many oral accounts on how ****** the border is, especially on the Peruvian side, where they ask for bribes, there`s thieves, etc., etc. Thankfully, I had none of these problems and whizzed right by both borders. My fun was in store for later on, it seemed. I arrived in Piura around 9.30am or so, and then shared a taxi with a ...

Just another super quickie... I went to Pimentel on my own as Ricardo and Eva went to see a museum I had already visited. I talked and surfed with "Nano", the surf shop owner, which was great... Then I surfed some more.. . Then Eva and Ricardo finally arrived, we had lunch, and then surfed some more... Then came back home a bit ago, and will take off to Mancora in about an hour... Bye....

... city of Sican, tomorrow and then head down to Trujillo or the nearby Huanchaco for more archaeological sites (especially Chan Chan) and also the beach! Off to eat dinner now, then watch the England game on ESPN. The sizes of the portions they serve up here are quite phenomenal for not very much money at all, not a place to come to lose weight....

... day of riding ahead of us today, I manage to check CBC news on line and catch up on Canadian news. Itīs amazing how distant it all feels. As we left Piura this morning we are sent back driving through the desert. The Pan AM highway dotted with little towns for the first 40 kilometers.Again I canīt help asking myself how do these people live here or maybe I am just trying to ...