Peru Part 4: Trujillo and Chiclayo

Ooh I forgot to mention we got a Dolph Lundgren film. It had been awhile. You know you are on a South American bus when you get a Dolph Lundgren, Steven Segal or Joean Claude Van Damme film. I took coffee and lunch with the French couple and then I slept the rest of the day, because I was injured. It was nice if somewhat expensive hotel and I awaited the others.

I met Lucy and initially went the wrong way to the dentists. She helped me by taking me to the doctor and translating for me. I had a severe ear infection, which was much better than the perferated eardrum I feared, not being able to hear anything. I am not allowed to go anywhere high up for 10 days. This would prove a problem as I was in the Andes and Helen had her flight from Quito in 8 days. Oh well. It would mean we would have to spend more time than planned on the Peruvian coast. Helen and Manuel arrived and we got a room. I was pumped full of medication and we went for dinner in a barbecue place with Lucy and her mum. The French couple left that day as well and we were down to just three from our boat group. Manuel would be with us for Trujillo and then he was heading south to Lima to meet his girlfriend.

The next day we headed out to the Temple of the Sun and Moon. They were interesting enough. Helen was wowed by all of it, but she loves ancient architecture. There were some cool mosaics and a lot of weird hairless dogs, that are definitely the closest I have ever seen a dog come to being ugly. We tried to climb the big sand mountain nearby, but failed miserably and it would have been quite risky to persevere. Afterwards we took a bus across to Chan Chan. I ended up not paying and the bus driver drove offf without giving Helen any of her change. A quick update. She still had not got her bag. Though Iberia eventually sent her compensation of around one thousand pounds. Eventually, mind you. Chan Chan is essentially a big restored sand castle. Its interesting to wander around in, because it is so vast, but I agree with the guide books that it is more interesting to imagine the history than to view the reality today. I wrote 'its not too amazing'. Trujillo is a nice town however except for one idiot. I asked him where something was and he said he did not understand. Now I was speaking Spanish and he was being facetious. So I decided to say to him it must be difficult not speaking Spanish and living in Peru and that he must be quite stupid not to have picked up the language. That surprised him and I think I finally snapped after dealing with so many idiots. Manuel got stung that night in a street scam. He had changed up $200 with a guy in the street and all the Soles he had got were fake. Shitty luck. Never trust those street salesmen. He started tearing them up, but I suggested he try to spend them at least. I still had my fake/not fake $10 with me at that time. This bill has been to eight countries. Not bad going. He will have plenty of tales to tell when he is in his next wallet or cash register. We met Lucy for dinner with her niece, but everyone was too tired to go clubbing.

We got up late and went to Huachica on the coast for a few hours and to get some lunch. Outside of holiday season its pretty deserted and these beach towns are generally always a little bollocks. I don't really understand why people want to spend time in them unless they absolutely love sand. Manuel left and we took an afternoon bus to Chiclayo. We arrived there quite late and had problems with accomodation, but eventually booked into a cosy little place in the centre.

Everything appears to be shut on mondays. Shitty. We went to the market and then watched Ice Age 3 in Spanish. I wanted to test my comprehension and can now safely say (especially 3 months later) that I can comprehend films in Spanish without subtitles. Helen on the other hand struggled, but at least it was a cartoon and fairly obvious. It was independence day somewhere, but no idea where. I then did some writing and that was the last time I updated this blog before todatçys marathon session. Really trying to bring it back up to speed, but still slightly over 3 months behind. We got a late night cheap dinner and we don't appear to have done anything on this day. I think it was symptomatic of my malaise that was creeping in after one year on the road. After three months in Bogota I am now raring to go and want to see a lot more new places.

The breakfast was not great and we went to somewhere that looks like Tucuman. Can't read my own hadwriting. Again it was not too amazing, but the mirador was kind of cool. We got a really, really cheap and very good cerviche lunch in the first restaurant on the right after you exit the bus. We then went to Lambayeque and the museum with the replica of the Sipan Lord's tomb. They even buried the llamas with him. This was a superb museum. Worth the visit. Seemingly I had lost out on the flat with Praveen as we were unable to rent the rooms and Helen's granddad died, which was a bad end to the trip for her. She would be back for the funeral, but its tough being so far away when something like that happens.

ONE YEAR ON THE MOTHERFUCKING ROAD. WOOHOO. Its the 5th of August for those who don't know. We ended up killing time in the morning. I felt bad for Helen's holiday, but I could not go up high without risk to my ear although it was steadily repairing and I was regaining my ability to hear some things. We set off on a bus to Piura and from there to Tumbes close to the border. It proved an expensive and long journey. We ended up staying in Tumbes as it was quite late and in the morning we would cross the border for my favourite country in the world: Ecuador.