We couchsurfed in Trujillo with Alberto or 'Beto' as he is called. When we got to the bus station Carol called him on the phone but they were unable to sort out his address before the money ran out. We trekked off to find a 'Locutorio' which has phones you pay after you make the call and still a problem so grabbed a taxi driver off the street who took the address and then us to Beto's home.
Beto speaks little english and was unable to understand Carol much so it seemed there might be a problem, however Gilles-Yann and Clara were there for that first night and acted as interpreters. Next day they headed to Huaraz and we headed out to visit Chan Chan a group of archeological sites about half an hour from the city. We did a ton of walking that day, each site was quite a long way from the next. Chan Chan was a big city of the Chimu people who irrigated the desert with canals and made the area great for growing crops and rice (of all things).
In the evening we went out with Beto to a bar, evenings start at 10pm in any Latin country, so out we went to a bar that looked to us like it was closed but no. Beto knocked on the door and we were admitted to a groovy little bar and served cervesa and 'pisco sours' which is a Peruvian drink made with pisco, a brandy made here in a place called Pisco (of course). After that we headed on to another bar where they had live music. The guys were pretty merry by now and set to enjoy the night but Carol was tired so after a decent interval we headed back to the house. Where Carol headed to bed and Kent and Beto sat up drinking and watching Black Sabbath music videos.
As you can imagine the next day was a bit of a writeoff, we stayed home and lazed, Kent slept. It was such a fun night we wouldn't have missed it for anything. Amazing how beer can make all languages equal!!!
There is a transport strike looming for the 7,8 & 9th so we decided to get tickets on the overnight bus to Huaraz. During the day we went to visit another site - Huaca del Sol y de la Luna. This site is not being restored but is being uncovered so that the culture of the Moche people is visible. The Moche were before the Chimu and also irrigated the valley there, they also practised human sacrifice but it seems that the sacrificial young men were volunteers... well that's what we were told. They had to fight other young men and the loser got the chop. In the murals they had a rope around their necks so perhaps they weren't really so happy about the situation...
Walked all over Trujillo in the afternoon but it wasn't as interesting a town as Chiclayo for shops and street venders and things like that. Then we found a dentist and remembered that Kent had a few holes so in he went. They were so great in there, oohhed and aahhed over his huge profundo (no! not that!) and proceeded to x-ray and drill away. They put in a medicated filling to leave overnight then discovered we were leaving on the bus in a couple of hours. So out came the med. filling and in with the drill again and a proper filling done. At 8pm he was finally released, our bus was due to leave at 9pm and we hadn't packed yet. They did a really great job, one huge filling and one even bigger one next to it and it only cost about NZ$35. (Haley take note!)
Rushed back packed and onto the bus with Beto carrying Carols pack for her (she just is a sucker for a gentleman) with 15 minutes to spare. The bus was a big 2 storied job and with comfortable reclining seats, drink and snack. Next stop Huaraz!
Beto's website for his new hostal is www.betosguesthouse.com
