El Escudero Lodge Trujillo

... quad...which was fine until she used the front brake on loose gravel and went for a burton over the handlebars. Nothing broken but leg will be bandaged for a long long time and exhaust burns on the other leg to match. <br>Relaxed at hot springs that night which was just what we needed after night before, and the quading. Up following morning at 5.30am to leave Banos. Headed south for the border, running parrell with the Andes for 12hrs. Experienced first ´bush camp´ as the ...

We were fooked from our night bus and got ripped by the taxi driver for our 5 minute trip to Huanchaco from Trujillo, where we were to go take a look at the Chan Chan remains, an Adobe built city they uncovered in the desert with a few brushes and a lot of creativity. <br><br>Our hostel for the day was slightly over the odds at 50 soles (just over a tenner) but Nicki had a dodgy tummy from the weird eggy custard at the bottom of her plastic cup of jelly she had on the ...

... normally this temple will be totally revealed within 2 years. After our visit, we walked around in the city center of Trujillo, where we ate a menu (soup, main and drink) for 1 euro per person. It wasn´t bad, but we prefer the better kitchen (the one of 2 euro per person ;-)).<br><br>On Thursday, we took some surf lessons from really cool surfdudes. This was a great experience and we will defenitely try it again later on. Astrid was really good in getting on the ...

... to be at every national monument...so there they are!<br><br>So, once we had successfully navigated a wide circumference around the welcome comittee to avoid skin on skin contact we enter the temples and are pleasantly surprised, Amazed actually! The original artwork and carvings still exists in some places and everything has been well preserved by the sand. Although its partially less spectacular because of the masses of scafolding etc ...

... as if it were all a hilarious situation. But it isn't. These people have nothing. I was quite shocked about how some of the citty-type Peruvians were treating them. My faith was restored slightly by seeing some of them giving some money to other people stationed around the tourist route, as presumably those near the end receive less money than those at the start. But still, it's a grim situation.<br><br>So, after that doom and gloom, I shall sign off.<br><br>Later, potater...<br>

... alone) and I reminded myself that when I start paying rent in Edmonton, it will be significantly more than $20 a night.<br><br>So what does $20 a night get you in Trujillo? Well, I was a block and a half from the Plaza de Armas, I had a TV with 60+ channels (some in English), tile floors in the bathroom, and no ants (which had been a problem in Huacacina). Unfortunately, $20 a night will not get you a truly hot shower in a Peruvian city of 800,000. That'll have to wait for Washington, DC.<br ...

... 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.<br><br> One ...

... prominently by the handful of revellers in its rather sorry-looking "Discotequa" on a Saturday night.<br><br>In the evening we had to get a colectivo to Trujillo to get our bus tickets to Lima for the next morning. A colectivo is a battered looking mini bus; as the driver kerb crawls for passengers, another bloke hangs out the window shouting out the destination amongst inane noises (e.g. "Trujillo! Trujillo! La la la..." The vehicle moves painfully ...

... chances without overpaying a taxi to get us to the same destination. After shopping around for bus tickets for our next stops on our trips &#8211; me for Mancora and Wendy for back to Chile - we walked to the spot where we had to wait for our colectivo to Chan Chan. After a long wait and hopping onto the wrong one only to be told that it was wrong one, then hopping off back again &#8211; our colectivo finally came. We were seated near the back when ...

Trujillo is the first major city coming in to Peru from the north. The ruins of Chan-Chan are nearby, but they aren't much more than some lumps of mud that resemble a field of ant-hills more than a great civilization. A great civilization it was, though, a precursor to the even greater Incas ...