Guinea pig for lunch, anyone?

Another country, another post. We’re currently hunched over a computer in Huaraz, an Andean town in northern Peru. We got here three days ago, and spent the first couple of days acclimatizing to the altitude, 3km above sea level. This involved sleeping lots and drinking coca tea, a traditional and widely recommended restorative in the Andes. Today, we took it easy and visited a mirador (viewing point) above the town, for fantastic views across the Cordillera Blanca, and then a trout farm where Marilena got covered in fish poo. (Sorry, no pics. Mari wouldn’t let a camera near her.)

We left Mexico sooner than we planned. Firstly, our diving was cut short by Neil coming down with a dose of typhoid. The vaccination probably stopped it from getting too bad, and the fever went down after just three days of hefty antibiotics. It was ironic that he caught it in the most developed town we’ve visited so far (except Miami, of course). Secondly, Hurricane Emily decided to come our way. Before we learned it was definitely heading towards Cozumel, we were wondering why the normally pushy restaurant and shop touts were subdued and solemn. Then, in the evening, after we were alerted by a friendly restaurateur, we phoned American Airlines and got a flight out of Mexico the next day. The queue at Cancun airport was a nightmare, 3.5 hours to check in, but apparently this was normal. We’re certainly glad we didn’t wait until the last minute and got caught up in the evacuation. We later found out that our original flight was cancelled because of the hurricane, and dread to think how we would have got out (if at all). All this meant that we spent four unplanned days in Miami before we flew to Peru. We didn’t mind as we like the place. However, we got a nasty surprise as Mari got her Visa card cloned while there. Luckily, her bank noticed it straight away and no damage was done.

We flew into Lima on July 19, straight into the Peruvian coastal winter. Fog, grey skies and chilly nights in the middle of July; we felt immediately at home! We didn´t get much time to sightsee, as we flew out to the North almost straight away, but we´ll have time to take in a tour of the capital when we get back there in ten days’ time. Our first impressions, though, were that Lima is a very European-style city with lots of grand, colonial architecture.Our next stop was Trujillo, on the northern coast, a pretty colonial town full of colourful buildings. The only drawback was the constant honking of taxis trying to get our attention. The main draw for us there was the ancient adobe (mud-brick) city of Chan Chan, which originally covered over 40 000 square kilometres. The mouldings enclosed within high walls were really impressive, with their rainbow and fish net motifs. On the same day, we saw another adobe ruin, the Temple of the Moon, with incredibly well preserved coloured murals. We finally stopped off for a huge seafood lunch at Huanchaco, a seaside resort just north of Trujillo. They seem to have healthy appetites here because the ceviche starter alone filled a huge dinner plate. The main course was even bigger.We’re really enjoying Peru at the moment. We’d heard dire warnings about thefts and muggings, but we have found the people to be very friendly and have had no trouble at all so far. People here have told us that you just have to be careful, aware of your surroundings, and you should be OK. Just like London, then… And the food is great! (Although, we haven´t tried the guinea pig, yet.)

We have a few photos for you. We have finally completed the Belize pics, put up all the Mexico shots, and started the Peru folder. Enough to keep you all going for the moment. We’ve almost become part of the furniture in this Internet cafe…

Tomorrow we start the serious stuff in the Andes. More of this next time. Until then, Adios.

20:25:42 - Wednesday, 27.07.05

This entry was posted on 27/07/2005 at 08:25 pm and is filed under travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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