Chiclayo, Huanchaco, 28 June

We left Mancora and its beautiful sun on Tuesday the 28th of July with a bus that drove us straight to Chiclayo, another coast town on our way south. The drive was a short 8 hours. Buses in Peru are very comfortable, much more than those in Ecuador, so we got some good rest. The landscapes along the coast were always the same, very dry desert with only a few concrete and corrugated steel houses along the road. It is very different from Ecuador. One thing is that northern Peru seems safer than Ecuador which is a great feeling :-)
The next day after our arrival to Chiclayo we hopped on a minibus and went to visit our first pre-inca ruins, called Tucume. In order to get there we had to cross the whole city and get to the north terminal. We got to see real life where tourists do not go (and maybe shouldnt:)). It was fascinating. There were tons of street vendors everywhere, everyone seemed being in a hurry and was running somewhere.
Once we got on the minibus all was good up until the point when the bus stopped in the middle of the highway..it broke down. We did not know what was going on but knew that we could not go any further. Fortunately there were many buses passing by and we got to get to Tucume very easily. The ruins were very interesting but everything looked like big hills of dirt. It is only possible to visit one part of the cite as right now Peru does not have enough money to keep digging and preserving the whole place.

Tucume and the pre Inca ruins

 Scott in front of the very cool museum

The next day we visited a huge and extraordinary market where we could buy anything including medicinal plants. It was an incredible experience!

The mercado and its interesting goods...not that sanitary though!

and also some medicinal plants

My favorite- Ceviche de pescado!Mniam

Also Chiclayo is in the northern part of Peru. There are not as many foreigners (gringos) that come here because most just go to the south, Lima, Cusco, Machu Pichu and the lake Titicaca. Many Peruvians seemed very interested in us white folk and come to talk to us or just stare.

On Thursday we caught another bus and went south straight to Huanchaco a small, beach / surf town where we spent 3 days. It is very nice and laid back. It is located 10 km away from Trujillo, the third biggest city in Peru. Here we got to visit the largest Inca site discovered in northern Peru, called Chan Chan. Chan Chan is composed of 9 palaces,one of which was partially restored.

 Us in one of the 9 palaces in Chan Chan

On our last day in Huanchaco we visited the Huaca del Sol which is an adobe brick temple built by the Moche civilization on the coast of Peru. It has only been found 20 years ago and around it there is still a lot to discover. Next to the temple of Huaca del Sol there is another temple-Huanca de la Luna, which is still completely covered by dirt. Noone knows what it contains. Though in order to start digging more money is necessary.

 The stilled uncovered Huaca de la Luna and the remainings of the village that was there once

In the evenig we took a night bus and got to Huaraz, the starting place for treks in La Cordillera Blanca.