Huanchaco....outside of TrujilloJan 14, 2008
|
|
Hola all! We finally made it out of Lima after a few days of hunting down my backpack from the airline. We left Lima around noon on a nice autobus headed toward Trujillo on the north coast. It was a fairly nice day for an 8 hour ride, not bad though. the country was mostly arid there along that stretch and strange right along the coast, basically a desert with a ton of sand dunes. Definitely not what we expected along the Peruvian coast.
We passed quite a few smaller towns or barrios where shacks and roadside vendors were prevalent. it seems everyone here sells one thing or another. There were farms near each small polluted river/creek. I am not sure if it is based on lack of infrastructure or what, but the people here don't seem to concerned about the environment. Near downtown Lima, we smelled a waterway of waste before we saw the sewage spilling directly into the stream. On the other hand, the Peruvians do keep their streets and establishments super clean.
We arrived in Trujillo around 10:30 and found a taxi to bring us here to Huanchaco. The taxi drivers are pretty funny. All drivers on the road honk their horns every 10 seconds and this cab driver had a random car alarm hooked into his horn. We planned on staying here in this coastal town from Lima and found a hostel after finding out the one we had planned on staying at had no vacancy (no internet reservations avail.). so we found one down the street that was nice and went and had a couple beers after getting settled. An interesting little town with one main attractive thouroughfare with its reataurants, vendors, and its dirt soccer fields right along the beach. The ocean water is not clean enough to swim in, so we'll have to wait until Mancora. Overcast here anyhow. I guess Mancora is in a little pocket geographically and sunny always :).
Last night I turned on the tele after beers and the giants/cowgirls game was replaying. I stayed up until 2 watching. I saw that the Chargers beat the Colts and feel that the Pats just found their yellow brick road. I was thinking the Colts were the only ones that could do it, but who knows, I didn't see the Chargers play, and they obviously have Ladanian. The game was in espanol and pretty funny to listen to the comnmentators exclamations. ok, not so important.
So, this morning, we are researching Mancora for hostels and will be headed to Trujillo to reserve a bus to Mancora, leaving at 8 tonight. Today we are going to Chan Chan ruins which in between here and Trujillo. It is the largest pre-Columbian city, 29 sq km, in the Americas, and the largest adobe city in the world. I guess, at the height of the Chimu empire, it housed some 60k inhabitants. Only costs 3 american dollars, or 9 Peruvian soles.
Jas is rocking with her spanish and I am picking up a few things.
We're both looking forward to Mancora where we will spend our days relaxing in the sun on las playas (da beach).
Darin.....GO BIG TUNA
