We’ve finally come down from altitude, and our lungs are happy about it. The weather in Lima is terrible (grey, misty and miserable, which we can get at home), so we’ve headed north towards Ecuador, stopping at a few cities/towns on the way. We bumped into Jon and Jen in the bus station in Lima and all happened to be heading in the same direction, so have been travelling together. We spent quite a bit of time together in Bolivia and it was great to see them again.
First stop was Huanchaco, on the coast and close to Chan Chan, which was built 850AD by the Chimu people (who were then conquered by the Incas and then the Spanish like everybody else in this country) and was once the largest adobe (mud-brick) city in the world. A lot of it’s been eroded, but it still has some massive temples and a tomb for the king, in which the bodies of 42 wives have been found, who were sacrificed when the king died.
Probably the best thing about Huanchaco was being invited to a birthday dinner by the family who ran our hostel for some chicken, chips and a massive chocolate cake. A really nice family, and a great chance to practise our Spanish. Iain also spent the best part of a day playing his new Charrango (like a Bolivian mandolin) with Nil, the family’s guitar-playing son.
Next up was Chiclayo. The city itself was nothing much, but the Peruvian equivalent of Tutankhamun’s tomb was found nearby – about ten tombs containing Moche royalty and a lot of others who were sacrificed with them (basically their whole family’s, a tomb guard, some animals and a lot of pottery etc).
And now we’re in Mancora, and have finally found some sun, sand and seafood. Iain has a bit of food-poisoning, so it’s a bit of a tease, but we keep seeing “Langosta” on menus, which means lobster – hopefully tomorrow...
Next stop will be the Galapagos Islands, so it will be a little while before we write again.
(P.S. Don't worry, we're nowhere near the riots going on in the highlands and amazon at the moment, and it's in very isolated areas - basically one town)
